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June 28,
2006
Contact: Tatiana Guerra
202-434-8070
NHCSL Issues Resolution
To Support Funding for Sickle Cell Treatment Act
Washington,
DC – The National Hispanic Caucus of State
Legislators (NHCSL) jointly with the National
Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) issued
a resolution urging the U.S. Congress to fund
the Sickle Cell Treatment Act at $10 million and
the Community Outreach Demonstration Project at
$4 million in the Department of Labor, Health,
and Human Services’ and the Department of
Education’s Fiscal Year 2007 Appropriations Bill
for grants to create 40 treatment centers that
will provide medical treatment, education and
other services for SCD patients. The Resolution
was signed by the presidents of NHCSL and NBCSL.
The Resolution reads as follows:
NBCSL and NHCSL Urge Congress to Appropriate $14
million to Strengthen Support of the Sickle Cell
Treatment Act and the Community Outreach
Demonstration Project
WHEREAS, Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is an
inherited condition and a major health problem
in the United States; and
WHEREAS, SCD affects various ethnic
groups greatly impacting American families; and
WHEREAS, in the general population, one
in every 4,000 Americans is born with a form of
SCD and 2.5 million Americans have the sickle
cell trait; and
WHEREAS, SCD affects the lives of
thousands who are hampered by physical and
mental limitations, as well as their
psychological and emotional well-being, and
WHEREAS, the average lifespan of a
patient living with SCD is 45 years; and
WHEREAS, although research and treatment
are progressing, patients still suffer from
debilitating pain, dangerous problems with blood
clots and strokes, and therefore much remains to
be done to improve the quality of life for SCD
patients and their families; and
WHEREAS, funding the Community Outreach
Demonstration Project as part of the Sickle Cell
Treatment Act will provide much needed newborn
screening, community based activities that offer
multilingual outreach and supportive services to
persons afflicted with the disease and their
families and support ongoing comprehensive care
for newborns diagnosed with SCD or as carriers
of SCD and their families; and
WHEREAS, adequate funding will support
education, counseling, research, community
outreach and other prevention and treatment
services necessary to address this disease; and
WHEREAS, full funding of the Sickle Cell
Treatment Act pursuant to PL 108-357, will
assist greatly in meeting the needs of all SCD
patients who suffer from this disease;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the
National Black Caucus of State Legislators and
the National Hispanic Caucus of State
Legislators strongly urge Congress to fund the
Sickle Cell Treatment Act at $10 million and the
Community Outreach Demonstration Project at $4
million in the Department of Labor, Health, and
Human Services’ and the Department of
Education’s Fiscal Year 2007 Appropriations Bill
for grants to create 40 treatment centers that
will provide medical treatment, education and
other services for SCD patients.
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