UMC's life-threatening budget cuts and action letter

As you may know, University Medical Center (UMC) in Las Vegas has just approved additional cuts on an array of critical services.

From Nancy Whitman, Health Care Reform Project:

"I just returned from the Clark County Commissioners meeting on the UMC
program closures. The Clark County Commission approved the closure of
the following programs:

1. High risk O.B. unit (acute partum testing)
2. Outpatient Oncology
3. Coumadin Outpatient Clinic
4. Mammography
5. Outpatient Dialysis
6. Women's Center (pre-natal care program)
7. Hand Clinic

Some of these programs are the only ones available in Clark County and
we did not hear of the capacity of other providers to pick up those who
will no longer be able to receive services at UMC. The Clark County
Commission suggested that UMC convene a group to discuss the health
issues impacting providers and to discuss solutions. Unfortunately,
there were few individuals testifying at the public comment portion of
the meeting and it was all around oncology since we did not know about
the other closures."

Please see below for more information from the Susan G. Komen folks on action planned to address the oncology cuts:

Dear Cancer Community Leaders:

As you know, our community is very unique in that we have only one county hospital, University Medical Center (UMC) and this hospital provides the majority of oncology care to the uninsured and low-income women and men diagnosed with cancer in Southern Nevada . Through the generosity of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure grantees and their programs, we have always been able to find assistance for the women that have fallen through the cracks, but UMC has been the only option for most. In the past month we have seen UMC start to turn away patients and now we know that UMC will be closing their doors to out-patient oncology services and we must act now.

As UMC is now refusing new oncology patients, we have realized that this situation needs immediate attention before the crisis grows. We are asking our key community leaders to come together and help find both short term and long term solution(s) to this situation.

Here are ways you can help:
We will be holding a meeting for key stakeholders in the cancer community on Friday, November 21 at 10:00am at the College of Southern Nevada, West Charleston Campus, 6375 W. Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89146, Building I (new library), Room 108, (enter off W. Charleston between Jones and Torrey Pines, past Building C on the right). Please attend if these cuts will directly affect your programs.
Finally, I have also attached a letter we have sent out to our supporters and elected officials and would suggest that you send something similar to your supporters.
This situation cannot be ignored! If you have any concerns or issues, please call me at the Komen office at 702-822-2324. On behalf of Jackie Brown, Executive Director, and myself, thank you for your support and advocacy steps to action in our Southern Nevada community. Together, we will save lives!

-- Stacey A. Gross, MPH, CHES
Community Programs Manager
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Southern Nevada Affiliate
P: 702.822.2324 F: 702.877.2455
4850 W. Flamingo Rd, Suite 25
Las Vegas , NV 89103
www.komensouthernnevada.org

P.S. The action letter is available at the Komen website, listed above.

Kudos to all on a great lobbying workshop!

I came back energized after last weekend's fabulous lobbying workshop. The turnout was phenomenal- we easily had over 100 people show up, on a Saturday, to spend 5 hours learning how to navigate the Nevada political process. Thanks to all of you who attended and asked great questions. A special thanks to Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Senator Joyce Woodhouse, Commissioner Lawrence Weekly and Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian and lobbyists Dylan Shaver, Sabra Smith-Newby, Piper Overstreet and Jason Frierson. And of course, a super thanks to Launce Rake of PLAN and Jon Ralston, who moderated the panels and fielded great questions from attendees. Perhaps the biggest thanks goes to the wonderful women of the southern NWL Steering Committee, who put all of this together: Constance Brooks, Tiffany Hesser, Barbara Straight, Emmily Bristol and Bobbie Gang. Thanks also to Lynda Savage and her son David for capturing the event on video. I know how busy people are, and most people probably wanted a little break after the election, so we were especially pleased to see how many people were interested enough to show up. We are looking forward to partnering with attendees on critical issues that need our attention.

Learn how to lobby with NWL!

Nevada Women's Lobby is sponsoring a lobbying/advocacy workshop in Las Vegas, Saturday, November 15, 8:30-1:30pm at the Clark County Government Center. This workshop is free and open to the public. Meet legislators, city and county elected officials and lobbyists, and network with like-minded individuals. For more information, or to register for this event, email nvwl@aol.com.