I was joined by the Honorable State Senator Jill Vogel (by phone), Susan Groom from the Winchester School System, concerned Autism Advocate Cass Purtlebaugh and the staff of what was the Winchester Child Development Clinic.
First off, I want to thank a few people. Senator Vogel has been a staunch supporter of our cause and I am so very pleased that she is fighting along side of us! She was absolutely awesome tonight! Susan Groom brought up some very good points at the meeting and it is obvious that she has the best interests of our area children at heart. The City of Winchester is VERY lucky to have her. As for the staff of the CDC... they are the reason we are all together in the first place! Its their tireless devotion to special needs individuals in our area that brought us to this point!
But, the meeting left me with more questions than answers...
- The budget was asked for and mentioned several times by our group, but no one on the other side of our virtual table said ANYTHING when it was brought up. Where were the cuts made? How much money was allocated to JMU to hire more employees in order to take on an increased case load? We need to see the budget. Why cant those monies stay in our area?
- Being that they now (obviously) have more money to hire and evaluate, whats their quota for seeing children from our area? The local CDC had been fully evaluating at least 150 children per year, not to mention all the other services they had been undertaking. Is the JMU facility going to keep up that pace? You will find the answer to that later on in this blog. Prepare yourself, its disappointing.
- The state used to have satellite offices for each of their CDCs. The Winchester CDC had offices in Leesburg and Warrenton. Why couldn't the JMU facility open up a satellite office in our area utilizing space provided by one of our many generous non-profit organizations (and the money I mentioned above)?
- If the state is serious in their intent to help us keep services in our area, how long is it going to take? What can they guarantee us? What tangible help will they provide? (The money which was formerly allocated to the Winchester CDC would be a GREAT start). How much weight will they carry?
The JMU facility has 7 children from our area scheduled for evaluations for the month of July. Our local CDC, prior to being closed, had 14 children scheduled for evaluations. Thats 50% less. HALF. Wheres the efficiency? What happened to "seeing more children"? This looks like seeing LESS. That's 7 children this month who wont be able to benefit from Behavioral Therapy, OT, Psychological Therapy, Environmental Modifications, Skilled Nursing Services, Assistive Technology, etc. 7 kids who will suffer needlessly in school because the groundwork won't be laid for them to have the tools they need to succeed.
How long will our area have to wait before local services are returned? How many children wont be seen? 14? 28? 56? When did that become acceptable? Remember the autistic children who eloped and were found dead? Environmental Modification can help to prevent instances like that. 50% fewer children will have that safeguard. Unacceptable.
Theres no favorable way to see that number. That glass IS NOT half full. It's up to all of us, advocates and State Health Department, to fill that glass back to the top.
Our next meeting with the state will have many more people "In the Know" involved. I will also be asking the news media to join us.
Get involved. You owe it to your children.
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