Elie Ward, MSW
(Mrs. Elie Ward, MSW is the Director of Policy, Advocacy, and External Relations for NYS AAP Chapters 1, 2 &3. She provides an update on the status of issues for which pediatricians across the state strongly advocated.)
The New York State Legislature left Albany on June 20th. Despite a chaotic and highly dysfunctional session, we were able to secure several high value victories for the children and families of New York.
NYS AAP Priority Legislation that Passed:
- Standing Orders legislation, allows Nurses in the delivery room to admit a healthy newborn to the regular nursery without calling a pediatrician at home who has not seen the newborn. This was a high priority for our members.
- Indoor Tanning Prohibition for all young people under the age of 18
- Maternal Depression screening in pediatrics & primary care now covered by Commercial Insurance
- Medically Necessary Donor Breast Milk for the tiniest, most medically fragile newborns now covered by Commercial Insurance
- Sex Trafficking of a Child legislation was strengthened to include stronger penalties for perpetrators and stronger protections for child victims
- CMV Testing Added to Universal Newborn Testing Under Specific Circumstances included CMV testing as part of universal newborn testing, if the newborn fails a hearing test, and requires a specific test for CMV as defined by the AAP
We and our partners were not able to move:
- Statewide Lead Screening and Lead Action Level to 5 mg/l: The current statewide Action Level is 10mg/l which is above the CDC recommendation. But we have made progress with our coalition advocacy and as a result several key legislators who want to start working on moving the bill have reached out to start meeting as soon as early August. Memo of Support
- Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) which allows a family member or other close friend to identify a person who is at risk and allows a judge to remove weapons from that person for a specified period of time.
- Safe Storage of Fire Arms: Requires safe storage of all guns and stipulates exactly what safe storage means. Includes penalties. Memo of Support
- Tobacco 21: Requires tobacco purchase age statewide to move to 21. Many counties have already moved in this direction, but a statewide approach would help protect all New York young people from being introduced to smoking too early.
IMMIGRATION ADVOCACY FOR SEPARATED CHILDREN
We are all too acutely aware of the inhumane treatment of families and children crossing our southern borders seeking safety.
The combination of Family Separation and Zero Tolerance policies have led to more than 3,000 children, including more than 150 infants and toddlers, being placed in various care situations away from their parents. Some of the detention facilities for children are hellish and completely inappropriate, others, like some of the New York child welfare agencies that are caring for children, are more humane, but they are no substitute for family and parent caregivers.
Everything that we are doing at the NYS AAP is focused on reunification. Only by reunifying children and parents and keeping families out of detention can we be assured that the children and families crossing our borders are being given the rights and supports they need as they work through their asylum processes. The National AAP is doing work every day to help push the federal government to do the right thing for these children and their families. But we in New York can do even more.
Below are links to two letters your Chapter leaders wrote to both the Governor and the Mayor of NYC alerting them to our deep concern about the care of separated children in facilities in New York and demanding that all state and city efforts focus on reunification.
In addition, many of our members attended local rallies on June 30th Demanding Reunification for All Children Separated From Their Families.
But this problem is not solved. Children are still separated from their parents and there is the continuing specter of the federal government keeping these families in detention.
Here are some ACTIONS you can take to help these families:
- Take any part of the letters we wrote (linked above) and edit them for publication in your local newspaper under your name.
- Contact the Legal Services Offices in your area and offer your help and expertise to those attorneys who are trying to represent separated children in court. You can offer specific health, development and emotional impacts of separation.
- Use this link to find Volunteer Opportunities in Your Area: Stand with Immigrants.
- Call your Congress Person and your Senator and demand they focus on the reunification of separated families.
- This is an election year. If you are attending any candidate forums, ask about the candidates’ positions on reunification and detention of families.
- Attend more local rallies and events. Don’t stop speaking out until the children are back with their parents and the families are released into the community to await their asylum hearings.
NEW SCHOOL HEALTH FORM UPDATE
As many of you know, the State Department of Education (SED) announced a new School Health Form about 2 months ago. No one from the NYS AAP was involved in the creation or design of the form. We had been talking with the SED since last November asking to see a draft of the form and asking that it be electronically linked to EHR’s. Our requests were ignored. No one from the NYS AAP saw the form until the form was e-mailed, causing quite a stir among our members across the state.
We contacted the SED and asked for more conversations. At this time there is a group of pediatricians who are involved in school health and experienced in practice administration who are attempting to work with the SED to make changes to the form and to get an extension on the implementation date.
At this time no one needs to use this form until the 2019-2020 School Year. That would take implementation, unless we can get it delayed, to sometime in 2019 depending on when you see the child for the September 2019 school year.
Here is a link to the FAQ about the form:
https://www.schoolhealthny.com/cms/lib/NY01832015/Centricity/Domain/85/FAQsChangesHealthExam.pdf
The important thing to remember is that no school district can demand the form now.
We will report back on the progress we make working with the SED to significantly change the form, the information it requests, and how it links with existing electronic health records.