We are very pleased that the Ohio House of Representatives fully restored state funding to community health care clinics in Ohio!!! The clinics are most often used to help those who are low-income without health care insurance. They help thousands of people with their health care needs around the State of Ohio and are a wonderful investment of our taxpayer money.
Below is Mary Causey of Cincinnati’s testimony in front of the Ohio Finance Committee. We are pleased to say that her testimony was well received by the members of this Committee, both Republicans and Democrats.
Testimony
for Ohio House Finance Committee
April 29, 2011
by Mary Causey, Cincinnati, Ohio
The People’s Empowerment Coalition of Ohio
(former Ohio Empowerment Coalition)
Steering Committee Member
Good afternoon.
Please restore funding to the community health centers. Otherwise what is going to happen to the people? To the people who depend on these facilities who are uninsured and cannot afford to pay for their health care? They also cannot afford to pay for transportation to go elsewhere because they go to the health centers in their neighborhoods.
I have been going to the Northside Health Center for the last twenty-five years. I have had breast cancer and had surgery. I have been treated for liver cancer. I would never have been able to afford all the health care I have received from the Northside Health Center all these years. It was a lifesaver for me. The Northside Health Center also has helped my two grandchildren whom I have raised since they were small. I am a kinship caregiver.
I am also asking you to restore funding to the Kinship Permanency Incentive Program. Please do not take away this funding. I know how much it costs to raise grandchildren. One of my grandsons is 6 ‘ 3 “ tall and weighs 200 lbs. The “baby” is now 6’ and weighs 300 lbs. He is also ADHD. All the years I have raised them they never stopped eating and outgrowing their clothes. It costs a lot to raise children! However I would never have considered putting them in foster care because they belong with me, their grandmother. They know who they are and they have family who will always stand behind them. Please do not let kinship caregivers down in Ohio!”
Note:
The Ohio House Finance Committee also listened to the kinship caregivers and restored half of the funding to the Kinship Permanency Incentive (KPI) Program. We appreciate this and encourage the Ohio Senate Finance & Financial Institutions Committee to restore the funding completely. Kinship caregivers already save the State of Ohio thousands and thousands of $$$$ by not placing the children in foster care. They are true heroes in our midst!
