
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                   TAG: 9406300135
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DENTAL PROGRAM AT RISK

To Salem City Council members, it was a matter of principle. They were tired of picking up the tab for programs created - and then abandoned - by the state.

But to more than 200 children, it came down to this: No money? No more teeth cleanings. No more fluoride treatments or X-rays. And absolutely no more fillings.

Salem was the only one of three localities to refuse to cover the cost of a childhood dental program after the state cut funding for the Alleghany Health District by about $160,000. Roanoke County recently agreed to pitch in $37,800. Botetourt County came up with $36,000 to keep its part of the program going.

Salem needed to kick in $16,200 to continue dental care for 213 children from low-income families. Council members decided not to during their May budget talks, but now they're rethinking the issue.

They will vote on the matter Friday - the day the Salem Health Department will have to start turning away children if council doesn't change its mind.

"I would say that they are interested in reviewing it again and considering the request again," Salem City Manager Randy Smith said. "I guess they reconsidered the worth of the program."

Council members did so after receiving a June 22 letter from Health Director Molly Rutledge, who made clear that Salem children would stop getting dental care "as a result of Council's original decision."

"I was not sure whether or not those consequences were fully realized by all Council members, and I wanted to make that clear so that no one would be caught with any surprises," she wrote. Rutledge could not be reached Wednesday for further comment.

Smith said the consequences weren't clear to Council members, who thought that the Child Health Investment Partnership - a regional child-health program to which they contribute $37,000 each year - would pick up "some or all" of the children dropped from the dental program.

It won't, council recently learned. While CHIP does provide some dental care, it won't pick up children who weren't enrolled before the age of 7. Many of the children cared for by the Health Department are older than that.

Although council members don't like "the dangerous trend that appears to be happening in Richmond, where programs are started and then suddenly handed over 100 percent to local government," Smith said, they don't have many options.

"I am going to support it, I can tell you that," councilman Sonny Tarpley said. He added that he didn't have enough information about the situation when he made his original decision in May.

Tarpley said he couldn't speak for the rest of the council, but he thought the program's chances for survival looked good.

"Just the nature of it coming up, I think it's likely to pass."

by CNB