The politically correct filter

I received a letter from the health department today. It was a letter to tell me to expect a letter. I'm guessing I must have caught them off guard. If you read my previous post you will see my letter to them asking why they've been dragging their feet in their communications with us.

So, the letter I'm about to post below must be a placeholder for me while they run their actual response through their politically correct filter...

Please feel free to comment let me know what you think
.......................................................

This is in reply to your recent email to the Virginia Department of Health regarding child development services in the Winchester area.  Thank you for contacting us to express your concerns.

 

We are currently researching the questions that you raised in your email and will be in touch with you shortly with a more specific response. 

 

Should you have questions in the meantime, please contact Sidnee Dallas, Program Administrator of the VDH Children with Special Health Care Needs Program with the Division of Child and Family Health.  You can reach her by telephone at 804.864.7716, or by email at Sidnee.Dallas@vdh.virginia.gov.

 

Cynthia C. Romero, MD, FAAFP

State Health Commissioner

109 Governor Street

Richmond, VA 23219

Another letter to Richmond...

I've emailed the Virginia Department of Health YET AGAIN. They have been lax in their openness with information. I believe they are of the idea that as long as they can drag their feet with us, the less they need to do. They probably are hoping we will go away...

NOT GONNA HAPPEN

Here's the email...

Greetings,

I am emailing to communicate with you about our progress and open communication with the JMU staff. We have had a very productive open dialog with the staff at Harrisonburg. They have been so very helpful and informative about the possibilities of a satellite office in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. They have also voiced concerns about the lack of consistent communication on your side of the equation. "It's almost like the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing," Zingraff said. "It doesn't help that all of us have talked with several key players, but never at the same time or about the same issue." For example: the files still at the CDC in Winchester, which we had mentioned to you on several occasions, WERE NOT refused by the JMU staff as you had informed us. They had actually prepared space for those very files!

We have been in constant communication with your office about all aspects of our work toward serving the special needs community in our area, but your responses have been slow and lacking any true information. Doctor Devine has constantly been in the know as far as our progress is concerned.

When can we expect an answer as to how the state can help the special needs community in our area? The longer the personnel in your office remains inactive, the greater the number of children in our area aren't served. Your inactivity is negatively impacting a growing number of children.

Please open the lines of communication with us. And supply us with facts, ideas and answers.

Jack Starry
540-692-6136
www.nsvar.org
facebook.com/nsvar
twitter.com/nsvar

Musical Chairs and more unwashed hands

Our meeting with JMU was a lengthy and fruitful one! We were very pleased to have Rhonda Zingraff, director of JMU's Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services, and Kim Hartzler-Weakley, director of the Office on Children and Youth join us! First and foremost, I want to thank them for their candidness and openness. I hope we can continue to enjoy such an open dialog with them.

Leading up to the meeting, our local TV3 Winchester friend and reporter Hattie Cheek aired a story about the CDC and our fight to keep services local. Hattie has been a great supporter of our cause and has enabled us to keep our fight in the public eye. Her news story can be found here: LOCAL WOMAN FINDS SERVICES SHE NEEDS AND HELPS TO KEEP THEM LOCAL

Thanks Hattie!

At the meeting, we were joined by Kim Walter from the Northern Virginia Daily newspaper. She took copious notes during the meeting and the article was published today! You can read it here: JMU CLINIC SUPPORTS IDEA OF CHILDRENS SERVICES SATELLITE

Its a very well written article and clearly sums up our meeting! We value and appreciate Kim for her time and attention to the matter! Thank you, Kim!

Now... on to the meeting.

One of the things we had been asking for was an explanation as to where the money went. We went forward with a Freedom Of Information Act request, and this non-answer is what we got:

Kinda looks like a case of "Hide The Money" doesn't it?

 

 

As I am sure you read in the newspaper article, the JMU CDC took on a lot more than just our catchment area. Their service area is a long laundry list of cities and counties.  

 

They have had meetings with the VDH just as we have, and are running into the same problem.

 

Musical Chairs.

 

Almost every time we have had a meeting with VDH, its been with different people. Their office has been a revolving door as far as their personnel are concerned. Every time we meet, we find ourselves having to re-hash all the information... all over again. Seems excessively counterproductive, doesn't it? The folks at JMU have had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM!!!

 

How are we supposed to accomplish anything when we keep having to backtrack? On top of that, we aren't getting answers from the VDH. We asked to be part of the conference call taking place this Friday at 10AM. Dr. Charles Devine informed us that we probably won't be included.

 

Why? What does the state have to hide? Is there something they don't want us to hear? I would hope that they had the best interest of our children in mind... but I'm not getting that warm and squishy feeling from them. At all.

 

JMU wants answers just as much as we do! You can only take so much of "That's a good question, we will have to get back to you on that" before you've had enough.

 

YOU'VE HEARD OUR QUESTIONS AND HAVE HAD AMPLE TIME TO "GET BACK TO US ON THAT" How about those answers?

 

To quote Rhonda Zingraff "It's almost like the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing," Zingraff said. "It doesn't help that all of us have talked with several key players, but never at the same time or about the same issue."

 

Musical Chairs.

 

OK people. The music has stopped. Let's everyone have a seat now and start paying attention to what really matters. OUR CHILDREN.

 

It's time the VDH stopped playing games with us, with JMU and with the welfare and future of OUR children.



Not half full, not half empty. Just half...

Tonight we met again at the Winchester Child Development Clinic to find a way to keep the services they provide local. We were joined by video conference by the State Health Commissioner Dr Cynthia Romero and her staff. I am honored that Dr. Romero and staff took the time after office hours to meet with us. I'm glad they recognize that this is an important issue and deserves their direct attention. Doctor Charles Devine was our host.

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...

1. 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?
2. 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.
3. 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)? 
4. 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?

That's the most important questions so far. Now for the disappointing part I mentioned earlier...

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.

Just sent an email to the VDH

It's been two weeks and no one has gotten back to us after the meeting. Optimism is like snow... it can be laid on thick, but when things get heated, it doesn't last long.

Greetings,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to listen to us 2 weeks ago about the Winchester CDC closure. I'm curious at to when our next meeting will be. We have some very promising ideas and look forward to implementing them and keeping our essential services here in our community.

We have become aware of several issues and inefficiencies of the JMU model and would like to being that to your attention as well.

Time is of the essence in this matter. The children in this area need the help which the CDC provides. I'm sure that if it were your children needing the services provided, you would want action and results as well.

That being the case, let's act in the best interest of the children in the Lord Fairfax Health District and keep the services where they are supposed to be... locally!

I look forward to your timely response.

Jack Starry

www.NSVAR.org
Facebook.com/NSVAR
NSVAR.blogspot.com