Before I address today's topic, a few bits about my "credentials".

I am a Social Services Supervisor lll, employed by Iredell County Department of Social Services in Statesville NC. I have been employed continuosly in the Child Protective Services division since 07/16/1990. I hold a BA Degree from Pfeiffer College in Misenheimer NC from 12/1975 in Christian Education and Economics (Dbl). I hold an MA Degree from Scarritt College in Nashville TN since 1977 in Christian Education and Gerontology.

Prior to Iredell County I was employed from 1979-1990 by Adams County Children Services Board in West Union, OH. I held several positions while at Adams County Children Services Board: CPS Investigations SW, 1979-1988; CPS Investigations/Case Management/Foster Care SW, (Generic SW),1984-1988; Interim Children's Residential Supervisor/CPS Investigations SW, Wilson Children's Home, Adams County Children Services Board, 1988-1990.

Additionally, during graduate school I was employed as a weekend resident counselor at a runaway shelter for juveniles in Nashville.

The topic of concern is funding cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services budget in NC for the next fiscal year. Cuts in the amount of 3.5 billion dollars are contemplated in DHHS and Department of Education budgets. Billions.

The proposed cuts to DHHS budget are at best extremely dangerous and damaging. The context of the proposed cuts must be examined from the local perspective. Most of the cuts are projected to come from programs such as Medicaid. But over a billion and a half in cuts is projected to come from mental health. The Medicaid and mental health budget areas are of critical concern.

Our service delivery system is on the brink of collapse and has been for some time as pertains to the chronically mentally ill population, the untreated mentally ill among us, and those who have not been diagnosed for want of adequate assessment.In child protection we see the effects manifested in recurrent neglect and child abuse among our service population.

Here at Iredell County we currently have very little to offer in the way of community mental health for the families we serve, which is what has been represented over the past several years by the director of Crossroads Behavioral Healthcare here. He has been in Raleigh all this week working to prevent enactment of these budget cuts. David has been in the position of so many mental health providers over the past five-six years putting "lipstick on the pig"- trying to take a positive approach to his duties and the people he serves locally in the face of ever shrinking dollars chasing ever increasing demands.

This budget proposal will do nothing but harm. The system has been broken for a number of years now. But it's all we've got, and there are no real alternatives being floated to provide a solution to the bigger question which looms when the cuts are enacted-what will happen and what will we do to reduce the risks?

There is a term that was used by the neurology team five weeks ago when they were called in for a consult by oncology Dr. Paul Savage at North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem NC regarding my 80 year old mother. She was diagnosed with a tumor inside her spinal canal in the curve of her back. Because of the location, there was concern about a biopsy. Oncology didn't want to do it and kicked the ball to neuro. Neurology examined the facts and concluded that a biopsy was too dangerous and posed "unacceptable risk" to the patient. Another approach was called for in her case.

Mom is recovering now after a conservative course of 13 radiation treatments and steroid therapy.

I think the lesson here for the State is that the cuts to DHHS represent unacceptable risk that must not be taken.

I'm not so concerned about the education cuts portion of the proposal and here's why. The education lobby has been long and strong in NC since I was in grade school. There is every reason to suspect that there is a lot of room in the education system for bloat reduction and getting things a little less comfortable for a lot of educators who have built careers on providing the minimally acceptable standards are barely met. But in DHHS, from the local perspective of the folk who are trying to assure that the parenting needs of those children are met before they set foot on the buses that roll across the state , we are unable to provide the essentials to their families to assure that when they get off the buses in the afternoon they are arriving to a safe and sane environment.

Mass. Senator Edward Kennedy sits as chair of the Health Education Labor and Pensions committee in Washington. I have written the senior Senator and asked for his influence to be brought to bear on our situation in North Carolina in some way. Our state legislators and representatives have also been contacted. Thank you for utilizing any of your own circle of influence to convince our governing bodies that the debate on healthcare includes the health and well being of the mind and emotions of the person as well as their physical ailments.