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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > SWINE FLU AND THE YOLO BUDGET
Article published - May 3, 2009
Credit: THE DAVIS ENTERPRISE
SWINE FLU AND THE YOLO BUDGET
by Joan Cadden
The front page of Wednesday's Enterprise had headlines about the first U.S. swine flu death and local plans to eliminate health programs for undocumented residents. They could have been combined: "Yolo Closes Door to Sick, Opens Door to Flu."
The dedicated and hard-working folks at the county Health Department and the county government face difficult choices, but implementing this plan would be immoral, counterproductive and expensive. Immoral because we have no greater public responsibility than to protect each other's health and safety — whether young or old, rich or poor, documented or undocumented.
I cannot believe the people of Yolo County want to turn our backs on our most vulnerable neighbors. I ask myself how I would feel if, as a result of these cuts, the first Yolo County death from swine flu was an undocumented high school student or grandmother.
The plan is counterproductive because, especially in the face of an epidemic, the health of all of us depends on swift, universal access to information, prevention and treatment. If a segment of the population is excluded by cost, immigration status or stigmatization, there will be more illness and more serious illness among them, and more widespread illness in the population as a whole.
Finally, the plan is costly. Ensuring that education, prevention and care are available to all greatly reduces the need for emergency responses and hospitalizations. It also prevents economic losses to sick individuals and their families, to employers and ultimately to county tax revenues.
Of course, individual physicians and CommuniCare Health Centers will try to step up to meet needs if our undocumented neighbors are abandoned by the county. But their resources are already strained by the economic downturn. (See Enterprise, April 23.)
I urge the county supervisors and the Health Department to find an alternative to these proposed cuts. Equal access should be a principle of our government, and residents' health should be its highest priority. I will be proud if Yolo County upholds these commitments and ashamed if it doesn't.
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