Testimony Presented:

1. Cecil McNally – Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan – no written testimony
Noted that they served 407 last year in the homeless shelter. There has been a 55% increase in five years. More single moms and kids needing shelter. 39% of those provided services are children, with an average age of 9 years. The service-driven economy in northern Michigan puts people at the edge of homelessness.

2. Jacqueline Hexham, RSW – written testimony
Problem exists in the policy and practice of removing babies born to non-violent incarcerated women in the State of Michigan. Approximately 6% of all women entering prison nationwide are pregnant. There are approximately 150 women entering Michigan prisons each year at some stage during their pregnancies. The Michigan policy causes devastation for families. There are alternatives, such as prison nurseries, successfully used in other states.

3. Irene Brown – Traverse City Branch American Association of University Women – written testimony
Concentrated on two issues: environmental issues and health care issues. AAUW supports domestic and international policies for the prevention and control of environmental pollution, especially in the area of water pollution. Recommended reviewing the report www.environmentalintegrity.org, AAUW supports access for all to reliable and user-friendly healthcare delivery systems. Noted the need for Medicare reform and to publicize National Women’s Check-Up Day, May 9. Access to health care needs to be addressed.

4. Maggie Sprattmoran – Leelanau Children’s Center – written testimony
Child care issues are critical. Child care is of uneven quality, often inaccessible and unaffordable. Recommended actions: support recommended changes in licensing rules, decrease child day care licensing consultant caseloads, increase child day care reimbursement rates to 100% of the current market rate, reimburse by the week, enact rated reimbursement to provide incentives for quality, allow child day care eligibility guidelines to include parents attending school, increase funding for the Mi School Readiness Program, fully fund all 0-3 programs, and fully fund Great Start programs.

5. Bonnie Willings – Grand Traverse City Tobacco-Free Coalition
Concerned about the messages in the media about tobacco. Encouraged commission to including warnings and information about the dangers of smoking in educational information distributed. Local programs training high school students to talk to middle school students about the dangers of tobacco have been effective.

6. Jan Bassett – Business & Professional Women/MI Michigan Women in Municipal Government – written testimony
Concern about the loss of local revenue sharing from the state budget, and the impact of its loss on local communities. Local community governments have lost over one billion dollars in the past three years. Expressed concern about the lack of child care. In northern Michigan there is a need for seven-day, 24-hour child care. Need to recruit providers to northern Michigan and educate the caregivers.

7. Pam Ward – Northwest Michigan 4C Council – written testimony
The most important issues facing women is finding appropriate child care services. We need quality, affordable and accessible child care. Michigan has substandard licensing rules and ranks lowest of all states in training requirements for child care providers. State day care assistance payments are being reduced. There is a lack of infant care, and evening and weekend care for children.

8. Geradine Simkins, CNM, MSN – Healthy Start Project - written testimony
Asks that Maternal and Child Health programs be designed and implemented to address special needs for Native families. American Indian babies have higher infant mortality and SIDS than White American babies. Need to increase access to quality care and ask Native Americans to help with the design and implementation of new programs, to ensure they are culturally appropriate and effective.

9. Geradine Simkins, CNM, MSM – Midwives Alliance of North America – written testimony
Concern expressed about the increasing percentage of Cesarean sections, 27.6%, performed in the United States. Often Cesarean sections are performed without medical indication. In addition, the rate of Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) has decreased 63% since 1996. The Midwives Alliance of North America supports the use of abdominal surgery for delivery as a life-saving measure to be used only when the anticipated benefits clearly outweigh the known risks of the surgery itself.

10. Nancy Rankin – self – written testimony
Need to help women have access to health insurance. Approximately 294,500 women workers in Michigan have no health insurance. Without health insurance, women do not get needed health care. She herself is an example, as she has breast cancer and is not eligible for Medicaid. Therefore, she is forced to go without treatment for her breast cancer.

11. Patricia J. Bauer, MSN, RNC, Nurse Practitioner – written testimony
Concerned about the growing number of women without health insurance who are not obtaining necessary health care. Nearly one in ten women receives coverage through Medicaid. Women often don’t have employer-based health care. She is concerned that changes in Medicaid eligibility could hurt women. Also supports contraceptive equity and contraception education for minors.

12. Mary O’Connor – Miracle Manor- written testimony
Since she last testified, the substance abuse treatment center for women, Miracle Manor, has closed. However, the program model, emphasizing women and child-centered care, is a good model. Illinois uses this model in its program, Project Safe. Urged the state to look at better ways to fund programs so that all women and children can receive treatment.

13. Mary Pat Randall – Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies – written testimony
Very concerned about the plight of women and young children in this era of callous budget cuts and unrealistic expectations. Some examples include cuts in hearing and vision screening for children entering school; not enough assistance for women on welfare; cuts in the Children’s Special Health Care Services; an increasing infant mortality rate, not enough smoking cessation programs; growing disparities between rich and poor; lack of promotion for breastfeeding; need for funding for quality child care for infants; problems in the perinatal system; proposed cuts for families who adopt children with special needs; and family planning cuts.

14. Jill Warren – Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan – written testimony
Noted that Planned Parenthood of Northern Michigan serves 13,000 patients in 40 counties by providing needed medical care. Concerned that on a daily basis she deals with patients with no health care coverage, cuts in Title X funding, security alerts, hate mail, pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions, and lack of access to abortion services. Wants the Governor and Commission to know that northern Michigan has additional barriers to provision of adequate health care services because of its geography, its two- tiered economy, and its lack of affordable health insurance for employers.

15. Beverly Christensen – self - written testimony
Believes poverty is the number one women’s issue in this country. Ways to alleviate poverty include: 1. scholarships for women who want to go back to school to improve their skills; 2. quality, affordable childcare must be available for young women to return to education and work; 3. birth control should be affordable and accessible for women, and 4. a mentoring program for young mothers is needed.

16. Mary Kavanaugh-Gahn – Legal Services of Northern Michigan – written testimony
Very concerned about the Child Protective Services in the area served by Legal Services of Northern Michigan. Child Protective Services (CPS) workers have not been trained and do not follow standardized risk assessments, as required by the Michigan Department of Human Services. For example, workers may be misinterpreting “failure to protect” legal standards in domestic violence cases. Additionally, the Family to Family program is overly focused on adoption, rather than family reunification.