Remarks to the Title
V Maternal and Child Health Partnership Meeting
Prepared Remarks of Elizabeth M. Duke, Ph.D.
Acting Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration
Fourth Annual Federal-State Conference
Washington, D.C.
October 29, 2001
It’s
my pleasure to welcome you to Washington this morning for this
4th Federal-State Title V Maternal and Child Health
Partnership meeting. This
is my first opportunity since I became Acting Administrator
to meet with all our MCH state leaders. I want to thank
each of you for your tireless efforts to safeguard the health
and well-being of the Nation’s children.
The
theme for this conference is “Opening Neighborhood Doors: Strengthening
Community Partnerships.” And what a fitting theme it is.
HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau draws great strength
from its longstanding partnership with you in our 59 states
and territories. To continue to successfully meet the
needs of our mothers and children, we need the sustained and
dedicated efforts of leaders like you at the local level.
Working
together, we’ve made great strides. More women are receiving
quality prenatal care, thousands of at-risk babies are getting
a healthy start, child immunizations are at an all-time high,
and teen pregnancies are on a downward trend.
Our
mission at the Health Resources and Services Administration
is to improve the nation's health by ensuring access to comprehensive,
culturally competent, quality health care for some of the country’s
most vulnerable families and individuals. Your commitment
helps us in this mission and complements President Bush and
Secretary Thompson’s goal to ensure greater access to quality
health care for all Americans.
Like
you, President Bush and Secretary Thompson want to see an America
where good healthcare is a steppingstone to childhood success
and fulfilled ambitions. We all want an America where
children everywhere are able to enjoy active, productive lives.
Our children are the hope of tomorrow, and we all must do what
we can to help them meet their full potential.
In President Bush’s proposed FY 2002 budget, HRSA will weave
together an ever-tighter health care safety net for American
families through three critical presidential initiatives:
- The
first, the Health Centers Presidential Initiative,
asks for $1.3 billion for health centers, an increase of $124
million above the FY 2001 appropriation.
These additional funds will allow health centers to
create or expand 200 access points and serve up to 1 million
additional patients, almost half of them uninsured.
The added funds represent the first installment of
the president’s plan to increase or expand health center access
points by 1,200 over five years and eventually double the
number of people served.
- The
second presidential initiative looks to reform and improve
the National Health Service Corps.
This initiative will look at several issues, including
the ratio of scholarships to loan repayments, and will consider
amending the Health Professional Shortage Area definition
to include non-physician providers and J-1 and H-1C visa providers
practicing in communities.
These efforts will enable the NHSC to more accurately
define shortage areas and target placements to areas of greatest
need.
- The
third presidential initiative, called the Healthy Communities
Innovation Initiative, will create a partnership among agencies
in the Department of Health and Human Services to target existing
resources to areas where health needs are greatest.
Under the plan, HRSA would make available about $220
million through current grant activities, with other funding
coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
HRSA activities that may contribute to the goals of this Initiative
include the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, Community
and Integrated Service Systems, and the Healthy Start program.
The Secretary has also challenged us to
find ways to improve health care access to the 65 million Americans
who live in rural areas.
To meet this challenge, an HHS Rural Task Force has been
formed with representatives from all HHS agencies and staff
offices to develop strategies that will enhance health care
services in the Nation’s rural communities. The task force
will make a full report to the Secretary this week. And
you can be sure that strengthening rural families will be a
key part of the recommendations to the Secretary.
As
you know from news reports since America was attacked on September
11, the Department has been front-and-center in the Nation’s
response to this tragedy. I want you to know that we’re
looking closely at maternal and child health state block grants
to see how we can best meet some of the emerging needs resulting
from this crisis. The
New York state MCH office operates more than 100 school-based
clinic sites in Manhattan for children from kindergarten through
high school. We
know we need to bolster their mental health components.
The emotional trauma will be great throughout the tri-state
area for children and adolescents who have lost family and friends.
We
know, too, that the MCH programs will have to focus on treating
asthma attacks. Even
before the attack, the New York City area had a severe problem
with asthma among children.
As all of you have seen on the news, the collapse of
the towers produced a choking dust over a wide area, and the
ruins continue to smoke.
Air quality is terrible and we have to get ready at MCH
programs and at the health centers for an influx of asthma victims.
Additionally,
MCH programs in the five states affected by the multiple attacks
– New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia and Pennsylvania
– are:
- monitoring the MCH hotline calls for increases
in requests for mental health
counseling;
- assessing the need to distribute material
on post-traumatic stress disorder to children and families;
and
- checking their prenatal programs for increases
in domestic violence and post-partum depression.
I
believe September 11 has given all Americans a renewed appreciation
for the vital national role of our government, of the Department
of Health and Human Services, and of our grantee partners.
I
agree with Secretary Thompson when he says, “We’re the Department
of Compassion.” We’ve
proved that by our work since September 11.
And we prove that everyday to the many who count on us
for vital care.
We
can be proud that our work improving maternal and child health
has a tremendous payoff for the Nation.
With you -- and people like you in communities across
America -- working collectively and collaboratively to build
quality systems of care, I am confident we can do an even better
job of meeting the needs of mothers, babies, children, and youth.
Our
enduring partnership gives us a firm foundation upon which to
build all future efforts.
Your deliberations over the next three days have tremendous
importance for all of us who provide health care services to
America’s children and youth.
Let us know what is important to you ... what works and
what doesn’t...and what barriers need to be overcome.
We’re all on the same team. And it’s vitally important that
federal and state efforts continue to work in concert.
At
HRSA, our pledge to you is this: when you talk, we will listen
and respond.
Thank
you. And now, it’s my pleasure to turn the program over
to Dr. Christopher Kus, President of the Association of Maternal
and Child Health Programs.
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