Many in the community have seen the statistics — monumental cuts in the First Steps and Parent Child Health home nurse visiting services and Child Care Health Programs. Recent ABC news coverage reminds us that it might cost a few thousand dollars for home nursing visits, but a premature baby in the NICU can cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. These Snohomish Health District cuts will leave on average 1,000 high-risk pregnant clients unserved in Snohomish County. Providence Everett Medical Center alone averages 300-plus births a month. Multiply many more premature babies together, and there’s the start of the new courthouse!
In less than two years, the world’s eyes will turn toward Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The I-5 corridor is being readied for the hopefully tens of thousands or more international visitors to move up and down it. Remember how SARS got into Toronto? A recent CDC news release tells us that 99 of 131 measles cases in the first six months of this year were linked to importations. Whidbey Island had its own outbreak of whooping cough this summer, causing cancellations of Little League games. With Avian flu fears, and diseases like polio still found in other parts of the world, this is not the time to cut our ability to immunize and treat diseases by 40 percent or more! Nor is it the time to decrease our ability to track and treat tuberculosis — including the multi-drug-resistant kind; or eliminate West Nile surveillance and STD treatments.
Please, County Council and Board of Health members, now is the time to find a way to backfill funding for 2009, and find a way to invest in the future of public health — for the health and well-being of all our communities.
Paul and Julie Martin
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