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.

IOUSA documentary in Reno and Las Vegas

If anyone is interested, a documentary titled IOUSA will be shown in cinemas on Thursday 21, at 7:30 pm. It is about the economic crisis we are facing, and will be followed by a panel discussion including Warren Buffett. In Reno the Summit Sierra will show it, as will a number of cinemas in Las Vegas. More details are at:http://www.fathomevents.com/details.aspx?eventid=728

Access to Care Symposium Lake Tahoe Aug 20-22

I will be attending Great Basin Primary Care Association's Access to Care Symposium next week, August 20-22 at beautiful Lake Tahoe. on behalf of the Lobby. It promises to be a great opportunity for building an agenda around access to care issues, and a great time for networking and finding allies. Please consider attending, if you are able. For you social workers, the Symposium has been approved for 9 CEUs. For those on a budget, the Symposium may have scholarships available. For more information, click here: http://www.gbpca.org/symposium/.

Redefining abortion

From the Houston Chronicle: "The Bush administration has consistently opposed providing funding for international birth control programs, but until now has not tried to limit the use of contraceptives inside the United States. That could change in the president's final months in office. Health and Human Services officials are considering a draft regulation that would classify most birth control pills, the Plan B emergency contraceptive and intrauterine devices as forms of abortion because they prevent the development of fertilized eggs into fetuses."

To read more, click here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5935532.html.

To take action, click here: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/issues-action/birth-control/stop-president-bushs-massive-sellout-womens-health-care-21522.htm.

Aug 14 rally cancelled, BDRs and public meetings on the budget and TANF and childcare policy changes

First, the August 14 rally re: proposed TANF/budget cuts has been cancelled.

The bill draft request (BDR) list is available online at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/BDRList/. It includes a number of bills that NWL will be following in 2009. Be sure to check the list often for updates.

There are some meetings coming up that may be of interest to you. The Legislature's Interim Finance Committee meets Thursday, August 14, at 10:00am to discuss/approve the latest round of budget cuts, including cuts to K-12, higher education and health and human services. You can attend in person in Carson, Reno, Elko and Las Vegas, or view online. To view the agenda and more, go to http://www.leg.state.nv.us/74th/interim/Interim/IFC/index.cfm?committeename=Interim%20Finance%20Committee.

The Department of Welfare and Supportive Services is holding two public meetings. The first meeting, scheduled for August 19 at 9am in Carson City and Las Vegas, is a discussion of the proposed changes to TANF, Medicaid, food stamps and the child care program. The agenda and lcoation information is here: http://dwss.nv.gov/dmdocuments/Gen_081908_Agenda.pdf.

The second meeting is scheduled for September 30 at 9:00am, also in Carson City and Las Vegas, will focus on child care policy changes. That agenda can be found here: http://dwss.nv.gov/dmdocuments/Gen_093008_Agenda.pdf.