SANTA CRUZ -- Stanley Mitchell and Nancy Jimenez are worried about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut services for the elderly to rein in the state's $24 billion deficit.

At stake is the future of Elderday, which is like a home away from home for 133 senior citizens, including Mitchell's mother, 96, and Jimenez' father, 59. They get door-to-door transportation to the adult day health center, which provides physical therapy, mental health and nursing services, meals and recreational activities at a cost of $106.58 per day.

Eliminating adult day health centers as a Medi-Cal benefit would save $117 million and leave 36,000 families who depend on the services in the lurch.

"Medi-Cal is 94 percent of our funding," said Sheri Anselmi, who oversees a $2 million budget and a staff of 22 at Elderday in Santa Cruz.

"If this is passed, Elderday and 90 percent of all adult day health centers would close."

State legislators on a budget conference committee reviewing the proposed cut Monday decided more discussion is needed.

"Is there some way to hang onto a semblance of the program, particularly for needy Californians?" asked state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto.

Mitchell and Jimenez hope that will be the case.

Mitchell's mother, who lives in an apartment complex close to downtown Santa Cruz, has been diagnosed with dementia. Once she went to Longs Drugs and had to be "rescued" at Dominican Hospital. She's been going to Elderday since February.

"She's in good physical health, but she's not quite sure what to do hour to hour," he said. "This gives her structure. She likes the activity."

Caregivers paid by another state-funded program, In Home Support Services, come by to prepare meals and give her a bath, and a social worker in the Multi-Purpose Senior Service Program stops in monthly to assess her condition.

She qualifies for Medi-Cal and receives Social Security payments, which cover the cost of the services she gets.

Mitchell, 60, a software engineer living in Mountain View, is grateful, especially with his brother in Massachusetts too far away to help.

"Cutting these programs, my mother would be a candidate for a nursing home," he said. "That could cost $6,000 to $8,000 a month. I don't see the savings."

Jimenez, 37, who grew up in Watsonville, said her father had a stroke that paralyzed him on one side a year after her high school graduation.

"Dad was the main breadwinner," she said. "My mom had to put the house up for sale."

Her parents divorced, and Jimenez cared for her father all through college. Eleven years ago, degree in hand, she moved to New York to pursue opportunities in graphic design. Her father, who lives in a senior complex in Freedom, wants to be independent but his memory and vision are poor due to the stroke and diabetes.

"It worries my brother, who is in San Diego, and me -- we're far away," she said.

Her father goes to Elderday five days a week, where nurses check his blood sugar levels and keep track of his medication. He enjoys meals and participates in activities like yoga and singing.

"He tells me all the time I love coming here,'" Jimenez said. "It's peace of mind."

Her father receives $1,400 a month from Social Security and his share of cost for Elderday is $705.

"He is living paycheck to paycheck," she said.

Simitian, who represents much of Santa Cruz County in the state Senate, is loath to see such a program disappear.

"No matter how significant the shortfall is, it behooves us to hang onto the program because once it's zeroed out, it's very difficult to resurrect," he said.

At the same time, he warned "programs won't be funded at the same level" because state revenues have dropped 27 percent in one year.