Agencies to Legislature: Consider 'the color of the cuts'
SEATTLE -- A warning from social service agencies: proposed budget cuts in our state will clobber the poor and devastate minority communities.
The groups are asking the Legislature to consider what they call "the color of the cuts."
Most of the people who visit the International Community Clinic are low income and either under or uninsured.
Fifty languages are spoken here. The word "sorry" is now part of the vocabulary.
"We can't do any more filling, any more cleaning for them. he last few months we've seen less medicaid patients," said Dr. Grandy Au.
Budget holes can be more painful than cavities. That's why as Au looks at dental charts, on the floor below a coalition of 64 social service groups says enough budget cuts.
"Both of my daughters have severe eczema and asthma. I'm so afraid of what will happen to many more immigrant families," said Dara Kommavongsa, an immigrant from Laos.
Clinic director Teresita Batayola says 3,600 people treated here were on Basic Health.
"As of March 1, 50 percent have lost coverage of basic health," she said.
Worry is probably not the reason Kelley Wang's blood pressure was 180 over 70. He suffers from diabetes.
When the doctor arrives, she comes with a translator. It is then Wang says he ran out of medicine.
The doctor wants him back in four months, and hopes he won't be a budget cut:
"Well, I have a lot of faith in the people who are running the clinic, and I have to hope that the Legislature isn't going to let us down," said clinic physician Dr. Nancy Snapp.
There a reason for some of the distrust around here. The last time cuts were announced in the International district, they were all sent out in English. Those English-language documents were notifications of the right to appeal loss of medical benefits.
The community groups plan what they call an action"in Olympia on April 6. They promise more than a march or rally, because they say marches and rallies haven't worked.
The groups are asking the Legislature to consider what they call "the color of the cuts."
Most of the people who visit the International Community Clinic are low income and either under or uninsured.
Fifty languages are spoken here. The word "sorry" is now part of the vocabulary.
"We can't do any more filling, any more cleaning for them. he last few months we've seen less medicaid patients," said Dr. Grandy Au.
Budget holes can be more painful than cavities. That's why as Au looks at dental charts, on the floor below a coalition of 64 social service groups says enough budget cuts.
"Both of my daughters have severe eczema and asthma. I'm so afraid of what will happen to many more immigrant families," said Dara Kommavongsa, an immigrant from Laos.
Clinic director Teresita Batayola says 3,600 people treated here were on Basic Health.
"As of March 1, 50 percent have lost coverage of basic health," she said.
Worry is probably not the reason Kelley Wang's blood pressure was 180 over 70. He suffers from diabetes.
When the doctor arrives, she comes with a translator. It is then Wang says he ran out of medicine.
The doctor wants him back in four months, and hopes he won't be a budget cut:
"Well, I have a lot of faith in the people who are running the clinic, and I have to hope that the Legislature isn't going to let us down," said clinic physician Dr. Nancy Snapp.
There a reason for some of the distrust around here. The last time cuts were announced in the International district, they were all sent out in English. Those English-language documents were notifications of the right to appeal loss of medical benefits.
The community groups plan what they call an action"in Olympia on April 6. They promise more than a march or rally, because they say marches and rallies haven't worked.
