SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - Santa Cruz County's lone adult day health care center may soon have it's doors shut for good, a victim of the latest Schwarzenegger administration proposals to cover a $24 billion dollar budget deficit.

As part of a plan to save money, the governor is calling for cutting the state's adult day health care centers as a Medi-Cal benefit; according to officials at Eldercare--the only care center from Santa Maria to Half Moon Bay, that would eliminate 94% of it's funding, guaranteeing a shutdown.

"This kind of proposal is tragic and cruel," said Sheri Anselmi, Elderday program director.

Anselmi says the $117 million in savings the administration hopes to gain from the cuts will wind up costing the state even more in the end.

"We're seeing the people who need services and we're seeing the caregivers who are stressed out, broke, on the verge of losing it."

Currently, Elderday has 133 enrolled participants and sees an average of 81 participants per day. The center provides care for seniors that require medical attention for a variety of needs; the center also provides a much-needed respite for families unable to care for their loved ones during the day.

"There was a woman here who said 'What am I going to do with my mom? I can't work'," said Anselmi. "Well now that here's a person who goes on unemployment."

For Elderday caregiver Clara Munoz, not only would she lose her job at the center, she would also lose a place for her grandfather.

"I'm so scared," Munoz said. "When elder care goes, he gets depressed. And when (seniors) get depressed they go down."

Anselmi says the center could shut down in either next few days or sometime before the end of the fiscal year. She says the best hopes now are for adult day health care centers to remain on Medi-Cal, either through an adjustment of benefit days or reductions in reimbursement.