Commissioner Heidi Reed Conducts Town Hall Forum

4. November 2009 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

MCDHH Commissioner Heidi Reed gave an informative presentation at the Fall meeting of the HLACC. The agency, part of the Mass. Dept. of Health and Human Services has a very useful website at http://www.mass.gov/mcdh where two popular publications can be downloaded from the PUBLICATIONS menu on the right hand side: The Savvy Consumer’s Guide to Hearing Loss by Karen Rockow, and the MCDHH Resource Directory which connects state residents with over 600 agencies, educational programs, organizations and service providers.

Having the publications online is one way the agency has creatively dealt with budget cuts. In fy ‘09, in the Southeast Region, one case manager and one children’s specialist served 89 aduclts and 229 children, with 34 people on the waiting list.

The agency has collaborated with the Department of Public Health/ Early intervention for newborns, the Jury Commission, the Elementary and Secondary Education office to standardize qualifications for interpreters and provide training, the 911 Commission Equipment Distribution Program, which supported legislation to bring the captioned telephone to Massachusetts.

She warned that 9C budget cuts were looming. The meeting was well attended with many questions following the presentation.

UPDATE 10/30/09:

Impact of 9C Budget Cuts

As you know, Governor Patrick has taken action to close a $600 million gap in the state budget, and has announced that he will protect funding for core programs that keep our Commonwealth strong over the long-term. The Governor made tough decisions in order to preserve safety net programs for the most vulnerable. EOHHS received $81.9 million in cuts. MCDHH received a total of $343,500 in cuts. This figure is 6% of our operating budget.

These budget cuts will impact MCDHH as follows:

–The After Hours Emergency Referral Service will no longer be funded.

–DHILS contracts will be reduced.

–Purchase of freelance interpreter and CART services will be reduced.

The DHILS providers whose funding will be reduced include DEAF, Inc., The Center for Living and Working (CLW), and Stavros.

MCDHH will immediately begin implementing a transition plan for the After Hours Emergency Referral service. We have informed the Massachusetts Hospital Association of the option for hospitals to purchase the service from MCDHH. And as another option, hospitals may wish to arrange their own plans by working directly with freelance interpreters. MCDHH will be able to provide technical assistance including a listing of qualified interpreters.

Legislators are asking about the impact of these cuts, so please do contact your legislator to give your input and reaction to these budget cutbacks.

Additional information including plans for informational meetings will be shared with you during the coming week. Thank you for your continued support, our working together is very important during this time of economic difficulty.

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