The impending government shutdown will cause many people who are dependent on state aid to suffer, according to local residents.

“Some people are not going to be able to get their medication,” said Joyce Bakke, an Austin resident who, along with a number of local health care workers and concerned citizens, went to protest at the Capitol Tuesday. The protest, organized by the National Association for Mental Illness, was meant to showcase displeasure with both a government shutdown, which would leave people in need stranded and the GOP-proposed cuts to the state Health and Human Services budget, which would eliminate funding for services and programs.

“There’s a lot of meds (people) need,” Bakke said. “You just can’t go cold turkey on meds. There’s side effects that could happen.”

She wasn’t alone in her worries. About 30 people joined Bakke at Riverland Community College Tuesday afternoon, waiting to be bused to St. Paul for the rally. Many were concerned parents like Crystal Dennison, whose four-year-old daughter was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea and seizures.

Her daughter already has diabetes and will most likely take medications for the rest of her life.

“My daughter can’t go through a government shutdown,” Dennison said.

Amy Tollefson and Aubry Slape agree, as they and their children will be affected by a government shutdown as well. Both said they are on medications for mental health issues, and both were worried about access to other forms of state aid as well.

“If I was taken off (medication) I wouldn’t be able to go to work,” Slape said. “I wouldn’t be able to take care of (my son).”

Tollefson is concerned about her nine-year old son Myles, who is autistic. If a shutdown happens, Myles’s Personal Care Assistant won’t be able to help him in the summer, which he said makes him upset.

“I need my PCA with me during the weekday,” Myles said. “If I don’t it’ll make it just harder.”

Shannon Doll is well aware of how much her clients need her. As a personal care assistant and home health aide for Alliance Health Care, she has taken care of patients suffering from colon cancer, leukemia and other ailments on and off for the past 18 years.

She received a letter from Alliance dated June 17 that said, in part, that if a partial government shutdown were to occur and home health care wasn’t deemed an essential service, Alliance workers “would continue providing services to their clients.” They would be paid as soon as the shutdown was lifted. If a full shutdown were to occur, she wouldn’t have to report to work.

Yet one of her clients received a letter from Alliance dated June 20 that said Alliance workers would still provide service regardless of whether a full or partial shutdown were to occur.

“I have to work without a paycheck,” Doll said. “Or else I get let go.”