Date
Dear [use correct address and salutation, like senator ____; also put in the RE line of the email your constituency and specific concern]
I am writing to you as a deeply concerned constituent of Washington State because I recently received the devastating news that funding for the Maxillofacial Teams will be terminated by December 31, 2007. I am the friend/family member of _________________ who is monitored and cared for by the maxillofacial team, otherwise known as the cleft lip and palate team in _____.
[Write about how you saw your friend or family member go through this journey or about how your friend or family member talks about how this has changed his/her life and family.]
[Reflect on how you would feel if this was your child.]
A cleft lip and palate is NEVER just a cleft lip and palate: simple sewing is not the reality that cleft lip and palate families face. [Talk about the support you give to your family/friends as they take care of their child during their development past their 18th birthday. Please know that your support is invaluable, and we families thank you. Our gratitude cannot be measured.]
Please imagine yourself taking home a baby with such complex needs, and imagine what you would do without the guidance of the team lead by Laurie Vessey. I ache at the thought of our families in 2008 abandoned and left on their own. The help from the Maxillofacial Team is invaluable, far too vital to be dissolved. Statistics from the CDC show that the cleft lip and palate is now ranked as the number one occurring birth defect in the United States, and Spokane statistics reveal that our area has twice that rate, one in 350-450 births (2003-2005). Our [family’s or friend’s] children face a lifelong struggle of surgeries, treatments, and care to reach their full potential in life. (For more in depth information of care, please consult the 50+ page book Critical Elements of Care on Cleft Lip and Palate on the Washington State Department of Health’s website under Maternal and Child Health Programs.)
To maintain this honorable program statewide (we must remember our community statewide) costs about $153,000 for one year, which is truly a small price to pay for a huge benefit. For Spokane/Eastern Washington, Medicaid ($61,000) and the Spokane Regional Health Department ($35,000) match the funds the program receives from the state. Without state funds, these two resources disappear. If you truly believe in health care for all children, please do not neglect this large group of children and families. Please keep our most precious resources smiling.
I deeply thank you for your taking the time to address this critical issue and the crisis facing our cleft palate families should this program be terminated. George Washington Carver’s statement should be the theme of all of our lives: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong—because someday you will have been all of those.”
[Write your byline. Include your name, address, email, and phone number.]