State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-8th Dist., urged Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday to bring back money to community health centers on the West Side, and restore more than half-million dollars in state funding for the Sickle Cell Center at the University of Illinois a
State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-8th Dist., urged Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday to bring back money to community health centers on the West Side, and restore more than half-million dollars in state funding for the Sickle Cell Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “The Sickle Cell Center at University of Illinois provides an invaluable resource to many in our community by treating patients, doing screenings, and keeping many Illinoisans healthy,” said Ford. Sickle Cell disease affects an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many sickle cell patients have frequent and lengthy painful episodes. Mistreatment and mismanagement of these episodes, as well as a lack of ongoing medical care can lead to many health complications and in some cases even death, according to Andre Hines, M.D. of Circle Family HealthCare. “The treatment center provides care for individuals who would otherwise seek services in hospital emergency rooms. Seeing patients in the treatment center is much more cost effective because these patients have fewer hospitalizations,” said Hines. In recent years, the Sickle Cell Center had its funding cut by over $600,000. The proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011 does not include funding for the center, and programs like it across the state, said Ford. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender
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