Chick Kastrinos and her mother, Elaine, drove to Bismarck on Thursday to tell state lawmakers what they think of budget cuts made to the state Department of Human Services. It was in a car that Chick's life was changed irrevocably.

A car accident left her a quadriplegic, in much the same condition as actor Christopher Reeve, and within four months, her $1 million in insurance was gone. She cannot walk, drive or use a restroom without the help of her mother, and although she is able to speak, a cold kept her from speaking to a House committee working on the Human Services budget.

She didn't have to.

Her mother told the committee that the Senate sent them a budget that is seriously flawed, and potentially fatal to people like Chick. She is paid $2,900 per month to provide 24-hour care for her daughter, because it saves the state from having to pay $8,700 per month if she were in a nursing home.

"Some of the items that are being removed from the Department of Human Services budget are a matter of life and death for her and others," Elaine Kastrinos said. "When the Senate passed this bill, they must have pulled numbers out of the air. I don't think they realize that there are human beings behind the numbers."

She's referring to just one line item in the budget in which lawmakers cut nearly $1 million from the department's budget to buy "durable medical equipment" - which buys everything from oxygen to prosthetics to wheelchairs for people on Medicaid.

The federal government doesn't require North Dakota to pay for the items; it's optional. But person after person told lawmakers that what's optional to the government is crucial to them. "Without a respirator, she'd be dead in two minutes," Elaine Kastrinos said of her daughter.

Kastrinos said she knows disabled people who are hungry and have to choose between buying groceries, catheters or medicine. Without the help of medical equipment, Kastrinos said her daughter would no longer be able to live at home with her and would most likely have to go into an institution. She's been there before, and her mother says she was emotionally and physically abused and neglected.

"I won't allow my daughter to be institutionalized again," she said.

The Kastrinoses and other disabled and elderly North Dakotans squeezed into a Capitol hearing room to explain how their lives would be affected by $4.6 million in cuts the Senate made to home- and community-based services.

Republican Sen. Bill Bowman, of Bowman, said Thursday he stands behind the cuts made to the budget, noting that senators restored funding in numerous other areas of Human Services. He and other senators said they are not ashamed of the spending adjustments they made to the governor's proposed budget and said that in most cases the funding is still higher than in the current biennium.

But many of the people at the Capitol said lawmakers may not be able to identify with their lives and needs but should realize that at a moment's notice, they, too, could find themselves similarly dependent upon the government for help.

Chick Kastrinos was a testament to that.

"She wasn't drinking, speeding or doing drugs," her mother said.

Many people said by cutting programs that help people stay in their homes, the state is setting itself up for a flood of people heading to nursing homes.

They oppose the Senate vote to tighten eligibility requirements for people to receive Service Payments to the Elderly and Disabled, or SPED, which helps elderly and disabled people continue to live in their own homes, and reduced funding for an expanded SPED program. They receive help getting out of bed, using the bathroom, dressing, preparing meals, cleaning, doing laundry and taking medications.

The cost of helping them stay home averages $416 per month, compared to $2,815 if they lived in an institution, according to the North Dakota Disabilities Advocacy Consortium.

The Senate changes would leave an estimated 456 North Dakotans ineligible from 2003 to 2005. Due to a budget shortfall, the program has already been frozen by the state since December, and has a 200-person waiting list. AARP North Dakota says several people have died or been forced into institutions while waiting.

Often, family members help elderly and disabled people continue to live in their homes.

John Larson told the House budget committee that he and his wife sold their 2,200-square-foot house in Colorado Springs, Colo., to move into a 600-square-foot apartment in his wife's parents' home in Williston, so they can care for them. They've left the house three times since August, for an hour at a time to eat at a restaurant, before rushing back to provide 24-hour care with no respite.

For all this, his wife receives $2,000 per month from the state to provide services that would otherwise cost the state about $6,000 per month. Although changes made in the Senate would not kick them out of the SPED program, they are an example of the efficiency of keeping people in their homes, rather than forcing them into nursing homes.

Another example was provided by Beatrice Naasz of Mandan. Her 91-year-old father and 88-year-old mother moved in with her family in 1996, and she cares for them and receives $14 a day from the SPED program to do it. Her willingness to do it, combined with the state's financial aid, means a couple who have been married for 70 years can continue to live together, as a couple, for $14 a day rather than separately, in a nursing home, for $129 a day.

The House committee is not likely to take action on the budget until near the end of the session.