A Plea for "Wisdom"
to Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
San Jose, April 21 -- More than 200 workers and county clients packed the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors chamber on Tuesday to plead for "wisdom" as county leaders consider slashing healthcare funding by more than $100 million in the coming year.
The areas to be hardest hit are the county's Health and Hospital system, which includes the Public Health Department. Some functions of the Public Health Department include: helping to prevent communicable diseases, promoting public education about dangers like tuberculosis, and helping with high-risk infant/pregnancy cases.
"You all know that the cuts are drastic for Public Health, where two-thirds are going to be cut. Think about years ago, when HIV and AIDS was a problem. We need to have a cushion. Who's going to take care of patients who come in with new communicable diseases that need investigation? We do not want moral failures."
-- Velia Esquivel-Ferguson, Public Health Nurse II
After seven years of cuts the county is facing a $230 million budget deficit. The board is considering $160 million in departmental budget cuts, with 65 percent of the so-called "savings" coming from health-care related services. If adopted, the county’s safety net that serves the neediest among us would unravel for tens of thousands of families in Silicon Valley.
Cutting public health, mental health and drug and alcohol treatment programs will result in higher costs for communities by increasing the use of emergency health/psychiatric services and police services, leading to higher incarceration rates.
"The Health and Hospital network is suffering out of proportion. It is unfair to keep whittling us down to the bare bones when we save the county money by linking our clients with faith-based organizations and other community resources out there."
-- Gerald Witters, community worker for DADS (Department of Alcohol and Drug Services)
"When someone flies over Santa Clara County and sprays anthrax, I don't want the headline to say the Board made cuts that put us in jeopardy. This is all too real."
-- Tim Hill, Public Health Nurse II
"Twenty years ago, we started out with 20 regional offices, then 7 then 6, and now we're down to 2. The county is in great danger if services continue to be cut and workers laid off."
-- Rosemary Romo, Public Health Assistant, Public Health Department
The budget proposal would lead to: - Cutting more than $100 million from health care and safety net programs operated or funded by the county
- Cuts that would hit the population most at risk: working families, children, pregnant women, recent immigrants and minorities
- Higher cost in emergency health, psychiatric and police services
- Increased incarceration of mentally ill and homeless who lose basic county assistance
Santa Clara County will be cutting or eliminating the very public health programs that over the past ten years have proved successful in reducing the incidence of the most serious communicable diseases in the county.
The Board of Supervisors budget workshops and hearings are scheduled in May.
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In the news:
Santa Clara County families piling into social services offices as economy worsens
MercuryNews.com, 04/21/2009
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12196199?IADID
Hundreds Speak Out Against South Bay Health Cuts
cbs5, 04/21/2009
http://cbs5.com/local/santa.clara.county.2.990456.html
Hundreds protest health service cuts
abc7, 04/21/2009
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=6772675