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From Lyme Connection (Ridgefield CT Lyme Disease Task Force), Feb.16, 2015

Last week, we told the Committee on Children why we need Lyme disease prevention and early diagnosis. They were:

• moved by the heartfelt testimonies and dozens of letters they received to support Bill #207. Thank you to everyone for the terrific support.
• impressed by the fact that the bill was drafted with the complete cooperation of the Department of Health, community leaders, health educators and Lyme disease patients and their families– truly a successful collaboration.
• surprised to learn that 30,000 Connecticut residents are infected with Lyme disease each year and that children and seniors are most affected.
• stunned when Health Commissioner Mullen didn’t show up to testify in favor of a bill to combat Lyme disease that was drafted by her own epidemiologists. Instead, she  sent email testimony at close of day supporting every aspect of  Bill #207 except funding. Had she testified, they could have asked why. But she didn’t show up.

Committee on Children Co-Chair State Senator Dante Bartolomeo is ready to fight for Bill #207. Here’s how you can help her:

1) If you’ve already sent a letter, resend it to Governor Malloy.

2) If you haven’t sent a letter, please do so now and send it directly to the Governor with copies to the Health Commissioner and the Committee on Children.

We encourage you to copy your town leaders and state and federal representatives. A sample letter is included here. Personal stories about the toll this illness has taken on you and your family such as financial costs, loss of work and disruption of education for children, will be most meaningful. Let your one letter speak to all of our state leaders.

Direct link to submit your letter to Governor Malloy: Governor Malloy

Email for Health Commissioner Jewel Mullen: dph.commissioner@ct.gov

Email for Committee on Children:  KIDtestimony@cga.ct.gov

Easy link for finding your state and federal legislators:
http://grassroots.nfib.com/page.asp?content=elected_officials&g=NFIB

     Take a look at these great letters of support

Letters    (Click on the blue bar once you reach the page)

If your letter was submitted and you don’t see it included, please resubmit to:

KIDtestimony@cga.ct.gov

Questions: Call  Alessandra Burgett, Committee on Children Clerk at 860-240-8396

Sample Letter: Personalize as appropriate and email

Date

Dear Governor Malloy,

I am writing today in support of Raised Bill No. 207, AN ACT CONCERNING FUNDING FOR A LYME DISEASE PREVENTION AND EDUCATION PROGRAM. We need your help to convince  Commissioner Mullen to do the same.

This request for funding comes at a time when citizens are increasingly concerned that 40 years after the illness was discovered in our state, Connecticut continues to have one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the country. People at the highest risk for tick-transmitted diseases are children under 10 and adults over 55 years of age. Dr. Mullen clearly acknowledges the problem, but will not recommend funding a community-based effort to address it. Bill #207 has the full support her own DPH epidemiologists, mayors, selectmen, a major Connecticut hospital network, physicians, nurses, leading tick-borne disease researchers, health directors, educators, national advocacy groups, patients and community members.

In the Commissioner’s written testimony regarding Bill #207, she acknowledged the magnitude of the problem -over 30,000 new cases a year in Connecticut- and the severity as it may cause serious or chronic illness. She agrees that personal protection and environmental tick-control measures can reduce the number of Lyme disease cases and that health directors say they cannot implement prevention programs because of insufficient funds and staff. She stated that a program such as the one recommended by Bill #207 “has the potential to reduce the occurrence of tick-borne diseases in Connecticut”– but she won’t recommend implementing it “given the forecasted budget shortfall.” I believe this short-sited approach is costing Connecticut millions.

New research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that Lyme disease costs the U.S. health care system between $712 million and $1.3 billion a year. The numbers come as no surprise to those of us impacted by tick-borne diseases. Masters Candidate Yvonne Bokhour had provided similar numbers to the Connecticut Committee on Health in 2007 when testifying for a bill encouraging improved Lyme disease surveillance. Even then, her calculations showed the “real” case count for our state was approaching 30,000 and the economic impact was in the millions.

I am asking you today to encourage Commissioner Mullen to support Bill #207 and make Lyme disease prevention a priority in 2015. The case numbers and costs are staggering, to say nothing of the emotional toll this disease take on its victims and their families. Connecticut has been suffering under the weight of this disease long enough.

Sincerely,

Name/town/state

Section 1. (Effective July 1, 2015) The sum of four hundred fifty thousand dollars is appropriated to the Department of Public Health, from the General Fund, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, for the purpose of: (1) A grant in the amount of one hundred seventy thousand dollars to enable the department to develop and execute a social marketing campaign to educate entities in the state regarding Lyme disease prevention, and (2) a grant in the amount of two hundred eighty thousand dollars to the Ridgefield Health Department to develop and implement a regional community prevention program for Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses utilizing the BLAST Lyme disease prevention program model.

Keep track of the Bill’s progress here: Bill 207