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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > HEALTH CARE DEMONSTRATION IN GUERNEVILLE FRIDAY
Article published - Sept. 25, 2009
Credit: PRESS DEMOCRAT
Health care demonstration in Guerneville Friday
by Derek J. Moore
Employees at community health care centers in west Sonoma County held a low-key demonstration in Guerneville Friday to promote federal health care reform and protest state budget cuts.
A main focus was on getting a government-run health insurance plan, or public option, back into federal legislation that is being debated by the Senate Finance Committee.
Senators adjourned on Friday without tackling that proposed amendment.
President Barack Obama, who initially touted the public option as a key element of his efforts to overhaul health care, has more recently signaled he would support legislation without it.
“Anything is better than nothing,” said Jennifer Neeley, the fundraising manager for West County Health Centers, which has services in Sebastopol, Guerneville and Occidental.
Sonoma County’s seven community clinics, which serve 20 percent of the county’s population, could play a central role under Obama’s push to reshape the medical care landscape.
These centers have received a significant amount of federal stimulus funds and health care legislation now before Congress would target such centers across the country with nearly $40 billion in additional stimulus funds over the next 10 years.
But that money has been offset by deep budget cuts from the state, Neeley said.
She said the West County clinics lost $650,000 in grant money reserved for rural health programs and had to discontinue a dental clinic when another $350,000 fell to the budget ax.
Maggie McDonald, a 56-year-old Guerneville resident, said as she held aloft a protest sign Friday that she no longer has access to low-cost dental care at a time when she says she needs it the most.
A disabled window washer, McDonald said she receives $850 a month in state disability payments, which is not enough to cover her monthly rent.
“I’m in chronic pain right now,” she said. “It’s difficult for me to eat food. I’ve lost a tremendous amount of weight.”
Neeley said community clinics see more people with urgent health care needs every day.
“We need help, and we need people to know about it,” she said.
Friday’s demonstration was the last in a series of six held in west Sonoma County cities starting in August.
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