A 96-year-old widow is terrified of what might come next after her DHB said it will cut off her home support services.
Trixie Belle Cottingham needs help to clean and maintain her Levin home, but a new policy will see that help taken away because she's deemed to be too independent.
Ms Cottingham has lived on her own in her Levin home for the past 31 years, after her husband John died.
All she asks for is an hour and a half of house cleaning help per week - but as she found out in a recent letter, that tax-payer funded help is being cut off.
"I just had a good cry - I cried my eyes out really," she told Newshub.
"It was just so devastating. I thought, 'What are they doing to me?'."
A new MidCentral District Health Board policy now links together personal care support and home support - meaning if someone doesn't qualify for personal support, then they're not eligible for home support.
Ms Cottingham says it's punishment for being too independent.
"I've been here for 68 years and this is my home. This is where I belong, I want to die here."
Ms Cottingham says she would ask her family to help, but her five children now live in Auckland, Sydney and England.
Her predicament caught the attention of new Horowhenua mayor Michael Feyen, who turned up as Newshub was speaking with Ms Cottingham.
He's also a newly elected board member of the MidCentral DHB, which brought in the policy last year.
"I mean, when I look at [the letter] I think, 'You've got to be joking'," he said.
MidCentral DHB said in a statement it's reviewing Ms Cottingham's situation.
It went on to say its limited resources means it must prioritise those most in need of support.
Ms Cottingham says she can't afford a cleaner out of her own pocket which means that if the decision isn't overturned, she could be forced into a retirement home.
Newshub.
