County erred by denying the Health Department's home-visiting grant

Letter to the Editor,

Last fall, when a couple of our county commissioners were considering denying the continuation of the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant funding request, I couldn’t believe it and stated my opinion in a letter to the commissioners and the newspapers. 

At that time, I asked several questions surrounding this decision, which, to me, made no sense as the grant provided needed services to high-risk children and families. It also supplemented about a dozen jobs in Lincoln County while not costing the county a cent, as the money came from already allocated federal funds.  

I never heard back from the commissioners with any answers to my questions.

I attended last week’s grant hearing, hoping that in the intervening months, the commissioners would have been educated and done their homework about the importance of this grant.  I knew that they had been given several presentations by both local and state representatives, who reiterated the critical need for the services made available to local residents, again at no direct cost to Lincoln County. 

At the public meeting last week, Commissioner Cole made a motion to support the local health department to pursue renewal of the grant, but the motion died for lack of a second by the other two commissioners, (as reported in The Western News, April 12, 2013, page 3). 

It was obvious that both Mr. Berget and Mr. Downey had their minds made up, rejecting  the factual input surrounding this grant. At  last week’s hearing, Mr. Downey said, “I just don’t like home visiting. People don’t want workers coming into their homes.” 

When Downey was told that the employees of the grant are invited and welcomed into the homes, he had no response. Mr. Berget  stated that all kinds of human-services programs are being cut. When he was told that this money already has been allocated, and if Lincoln County doesn’t accept it, it will go to another county, he again just responded that there are tough choices to be made and programs will have to be cut.    

I was mystified and incensed at this decision, as this grant provides health services to some of our most vulnerable citizens in Lincoln County – high-risk infants and their families —  provided some much needed jobs, and again, without spending a penny of local tax dollars. 

I sincerely hope that Mr. Berget will follow-up with his promise to talk with the state Health Department to see whether Flathead County could administer the grant funds, through its health department, for Lincoln County.  

Of course, it’s too bad that about $23,000 of the grant  will be used to employ someone from Flathead County for their services. This is money that could have given a job to someone here in Lincoln County, if the grant request had been approved. 

— Susan Horelick

Libby