Hearing loss program vital

Why are the most-needed services always the first to get cut? My family is saddened and frustrated to hear that the Spokane Regional Health District proposes to cut the Children with Special Health Care Needs program. We have a personal interest in this program because our daughter was born with hearing loss and now wears hearing aids.

When our daughter was officially diagnosed at the age of 1, Ulrike Kaufmann, the public health nurse coordinator whose job is on the chopping block, swooped in and led the way down the complex, confusing and overwhelming road to getting our daughter the medical services she deserved. Thanks to this program, our daughter can now hear as well as her parents, speaks, and overall is on track developmentally.

If you want evidence that this program works, please meet our daughter. Thousands of families with young kids with a variety of disabilities, not just hearing loss, depend on the Children with Special Health Care Needs program. Let’s be forward-thinking and not cut a program that gives children a step up.

It must be more cost-effective to provide children with support during their early years, rather than letting children with a variety of disabilities fall through the cracks, and then provide economic, medical, social and community support the rest of their adult lives.

Kelly and Bryan Bergstrom

Liberty Lake