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Save our Public Health
Public Health in Washington is severely underfunded. Public health is important to everyone and the health and safety of our communities depends on it. Your help is needed to tell lawmakers how important public health funding is. (Important: USE your PERSONAL email address, not your WORK address.)
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Please fully fund public health
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
Please support HB 1825/SB 5729. While HB 1825 passed the House, it was stripped of its dedicated funding source. Please dedicate the tobacco tax money as a steady funding stream for public health in the General Fund Budget.
Washington State is severely under funding public health and is ranked 44th in the nation on per capita public health spending. Because the health of my community is a priority for my family, I request that you fully fund public health.
Public health programs are important to all members of the community. The state public health infrastructure provides critical health services including: containment of communicable diseases before they spread; chronic disease management; health care for mothers and their children; food, drinking water, and air safety; and community health education and outreach to prevent and contain future illness.
Due to a lack of stable and adequate funding vital programs have been cut or are critically under funded. The impact is clearly visible in our communities. Infant mortality rates are up in some groups, childhood immunization rates are shrinking, sexually transmitted disease rates are rising, diseases like whooping cough and measles are increasing, and communities are unprepared for crises like pandemic flu.
The House Concurrent Resolution 4410 recommendation, which recommends allocating $50 million for each year of the biennium, is a good first step. Please make public health a priority for our families and the community. I request that you fully fund public health.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
December 04, 2006
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Without stable, adequate funding, Washington State lacks the capacity to fulfill critical functions like:
- Responding to and detecting bioterrorism threats like anthrax, smallpox and plague
- Responding and detecting the very real and catastrophic threat of pandemic flu and West Nile Virus
- Inspection and testing of community water sources
- Air quality testing
- Septic system inspections to avoid sewer contamination in our communities
- Restaurant inspections and food safety training for restaurant workers to prevent food borne illness
- Tobacco prevention
- Community health education to prevent chronic disease and injury
- Containment of growing diseases like drug-resistant tuberculosis
- Family assistance for low and middle-income members of our community who need pre-natal care, formula, well baby check-ups, immunizations and nutrition assistance
- Mental illness resource coordination
- We learned from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, that the federal government is not prepared or equipped to respond to state emergencies. We must be prepared to help ourselves and we are not prepared
- The health of our communities depends on an adequately funded public health system. Please remind prospective and current legislators about the critical need to fully fund public health.
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