Former commissioner: Present case to commission to protect funding
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 18, 2015 1:46 PM
A former county commissioner schooled the WATCH board on how to secure continued funding from the current commission -- stand firm on the agency's value to the county and stay away from their cameras.
Jack Best, District 6 representative for two terms, from 2004 until 2012, has also been a longtime WATCH board member.
WATCH, or Wayne Action Teams for Community Health, was established 15 years ago to respond to the health care needs of the uninsured. It has grown to three clinics and, despite the Affordable Care Act, continues to be at capacity.
"We accepted 168 new patients this quarter," Executive Director Sissy Lee-Elmore told the board. "Everybody was expecting with ACA (Affordable Care Act) for the number of patients to go down but that hasn't happened."
Funding has long been a challenge, particularly with the competition for grant money and a shaky economy.
In recent years, the city and county stepped up and earmarked funding for the program -- $20,000 from the city and $220,000 from the county.
But that is no guarantee of future funding, something Best knows all too well from his time in elected office.
"Do you know how much, because of WATCH, how much it saves the county through the Health Department?" he asked at a recent board meeting. "If you didn't have WATCH, what would it cost you over time?"
Health Director Davin Madden said that might be difficult to calculate, since the Health Department does not have a fully operating primary care clinic and WATCH does not offer some of the services the Health Dept. does -- like maternal care and family planning. Despite that, he said, there are still savings involved.
"But everyone doesn't come over to the Health Department," he said. "It's like, really, we're not a redundancy going on over there."
Mrs. Lee-Elmore said that one tipping point had been that WATCH was able to obtain free labs and free medications for patients.
"The county commissioners realized it would be a better bargain (with us) than to start their own (service)," she said.
"Free medication, that's a big expense," Madden said, noting that the Health Department gets reduced costs on drugs but added that it does not get them for free.
Best said that the current board of commissioners has lately taken a harder look at non-profits and what they give back the county, or what they might be saving.
"At one time, we felt like WATCH was a bargain for the county," he said. "What did they give you last year, $220,000?"
He explained that to continue to justify that amount, WATCH will have to sell them on the idea that the services are worth twice that, or $440,000, or more, that the county would otherwise have to spend through the Health Department.
"If you can't prove that, then you're going to have a hard time getting $220,000 because they're basically cutting a lot out," he said, adding, "I think you can prove it."
Best recommended educating the commission on the value of WATCH to the county and its residents.
"There are seven commissioners up there and I dare say not a single one of them understands WATCH," he said. "I'm serious when I say that.
"My suggestion to you again is get Mr. (County Manager George) Wood to bring in two or three commissioners on a one-on-one basis and have a meeting," he said. "Don't go before that camera and try to explain WATCH to them. You've got to get a private meeting. You've got to have the figures right. They'll give you hell but they'll give you the money."
The former commissioner cited others who have chosen to take concerns to that board during one of the televised meetings, including a citizen who attended recently to plead for funding to keep the Special Olympics program afloat.
"You saw what happened with that lady," he said. "They acted like it was her fault that we have people that need Special Olympics.
"I'm telling you, you need to go one-on-one to those people and tell them what WATCH does. Don't go before that camera. They love that camera."
Board member Murray Porter asked the health director, "If WATCH did not exist, would these patients be on your doorsteps or the emergency room's doorstep?"
"Both," several responded in unison.
"We don't have the exact same things," Madden said. "If WATCH wasn't here, you would see the burden hitting the emergency department but you would also see it flowing over to the Health Department."
Best stood firm in his plea to Mrs. Lee-Elmore, giving her "fair warning" that she act quickly since the commission begins the budget-making process.
"Make sure they understand it. But if you get in front of that camera, you're dead before you go in there," he said.