Parent Action Committee Meeting

Aug. 30, 2007

Kari Almeida – Parent Coordinator – Spokane Smiles

Kari has contacted Debbie Oliver at Cleft Advocate and people at About Face USA.  She has also spoken to Kim Matthews from Ohio where they had the same predicaments.  Funding from the State Dept. of Health has been cut and the whole cleft team will be disbanded as of January 1, 2008. 

We need to educate our Legislators from the Senate on down to our local representatives.  The Federal DOH has made cuts to state block grants.  This is how the Department of Health funds child health services.  The State of Washington DOH chose to cut entire Maxillofacial program.  $155,000.00 is the entire budget from the State to fund all three programs in the state.  The governor can give funding for one year in order to find new funding.  The other programs cut were a PKU clinic in Seattle and a genetics program in Seattle and a nutrition program in Lewis County.

Some ideas of things to do were to write our Legislators, the media including KREM, KHQ, The Spokesman and 2 On Your Side.  We could also reach out to the West side of the state and maybe nationally.  Letters e-mails and phone calls to Cathy McMorris, Gov. Gregoire etc.  Send pictures with the letters.  Links are available on the Spokane Smiles Web Site to all of your legislators.  Include information about how this impacts you and your family and maybe even your friends.  How does this impact city and the school systems?  How are parents going to know how the feed their children?  Failure to Thrive, medical care and g-tubes are ongoing issues for parents of cleft effected children.  Where do we go to find appropriate care and how many kids will fall through the cracks without the team?  This is a 45 year program in Spokane County.  The CDC shows this as the #1 craniofacial birth defect.  Spokane has at least two times the national average.

Ohio got the Children’s Hospial in the state to support.  Could we contact the Guild School, Shiners, The Scottish Rite, St. Luke’s or Holy Family.  Maybe physicians on the team. 

Team funding comes from $50,000 from DOH seed money and then Medicaid matches the money with $61,000 per year.  The local health district contributes $35,000 to complete the funding.  If the DOH seed money is not there then all of the other money is lost. 

Kari is also going to try to invite the Governor to Review Board or to our meeting.