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The Visiting Nurse Association lost 30 percent of its staff because of budget cuts this year, said Executive Director Sue Birch.

At a meeting Monday with the Moffat County commissioners, Birch gave an update about cuts to programs offered by the non-profit organization that deals with home health and public health issues, such as bio-terrorism and communicable diseases.

"We are really appreciative of the added work that you guys do," Raftopoulos said of the workload the VNA staff has dealt with since its staff was cut. "We are the health department and you guys are the arm of that."

Programs that have either been cut or eliminated from Moffat and Routt counties are:

• New Arrival, which is home visitation for new mothers, has been cut by 200 families. The New Arrival program has been stopped because there is no one currently to take it over.
• Ombudsman program for the nursing home was eliminated. This program investigated complaints about the nursing home.
• Well Child, a program for children 0 to 6 years of age in which check-ups and family counseling is performed.
• Immunizations are down 50 percent. "The state has our rationed vaccines," Birch said.
• Eliminated the VNA presence in Hayden.
• Reduced the VNA presence in Oak Creek.
• Prenatal program has been cut by 25 percent, meaning that each woman who goes through the program only receives 75 percent of the visits that they would normally receive without cuts.
• The VNA has had to pull out of various boards that it participates in. "We have had to pull back on our community capacities," Birch said.
• The translation program has been cut by 25 percent.
• The eligibility outreach has been reduced. The eligibility program dealt with whether people were eligible for programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. This, Birch said, is also because those programs do not want additional clients at this time since they do not have funds right now to support new patients.

Because of these cutbacks, Birch said communities in the area might see negative cause-and-effect lifestyle issues increase.

Since the Well Child program has been eliminated, Birch offered as an example, child abuse in the region has gone up. She said there is no direct evidence to tie the two events together but she is convinced they are related.

"We have a continuing problem with people coming in really late to start their prenatal care," Birch said, adding that some residents also put off prevention programs for childhood obesity and child abuse because programs have either been eliminated or they can no longer take on clients.

A statewide videoconference set for Wednesday night will address some of these issues.

The videoconference, which the Caring for Colorado Foundation of Denver hosts and pays for, has dealt with a broad range of topics including last year's conference on dental health that resulted in a five-year $5 million plan to deal with dental problems for under-served children and adults.

The videoconference is in its third year,

"They decided through the previous conference that health care was an issue that needed to be addressed," said Corrie Scott, the executive director of Moffat County United Way.

Some of the questions that will be addressed during the conference are what are the unmet health needs of Craig and Moffat County and how state budget cuts have impacted the delivery of health services for uninsured and under-served populations in communities. This year the conference will reach 17 different communities throughout Colorado simultaneously.

"The one thing that is interesting is that the foundation can only help non-profits and government equivalencies," Scott said.

So the foundation could only support The Memorial Hospital and VNA in any solutions that may come from the conference.

"Something that really concerns me is that home health is being cut," said Marianna Raftopoulos, Moffat County commissioner. "The elderly are being affected and with the nursing home closing down," Raftopoulos said.

"The nursing home situation and now the cut back of home health really weakens our public health fabric," Birch said.

Birch said the county's support through the years has never wavered and has gone up over time as state and federal funds have decreased.

"I worry about the sustainability of this organization," Birch said.

Other hospitals and other places of employment are offering good wages and comparatively all VNA can offer are hours, she said.

Budget cuts started three years ago for the VNA but Bowler said last year they took about a 6 to 9 percent cut for the general budget.

The VNA has not fired anyone but has just not filled positions when staff members left. Overall 6 positions have been lost.

Liz King is an intern with the Craig Daily Press. She can be reached at 824-7031 or eking@craigdailypress.com.

Breakout box:

The Caring for Colorado videoconference will be held on July 16 at The Memorial Hospital. For more information call Corrie Scott at 824-6222 or Chris Wiant at (720) 524-0770. The Caring for Colorado Web site is www.caringforcolorado.org.

Possible sidebar info:

• Caring for Colorado was established in 1999
• It funds health-related programs in communities throughout the state to increase direct access to health services, prevention programs and health information
• During 2002, the foundation awarded almost $7 million in grants statewide to 117 organizations.