THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504150298
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Budget-writing lawmakers may spare a state program that provides health care access to hundreds of Elizabeth City-Pasquotank students, and a separate General Assembly bill could answer some of the political concerns that have endangered the project.
A state official keeping an eye on appropriations discussions said this week that the adolescent health project so far has not been flagged for expansion or cuts, despite earlier concerns that it might be a target.
The pilot program, which operates in 14 counties throughout the state, funds the Collaboration for Healthy Youth in Pasquotank.
The local center, based in a trailer behind Northeastern High School, uses its $65,000 state budget to provide a range of services to students with and without health insurance. Officials hope to use a private $100,000 grant to expand the center to the middle school next year.
Supporters have said the program reaches children who otherwise would go without health care or would be treated more expensively in hospital emergency rooms.
Political heat over the program, which apparently has not been felt in Pasquotank County but could still affect CHYP, had led state and local officials to speculate that the adolescent health centers were in trouble. But the program seems to have survived its first legislative hurdle by passing unscathed through a subcommittee.
The statewide controversy centers on concerns raised by parents and officials in several project areas that the health centers are passing out contraceptives or recommending abortions.
Officials overseeing the project said none of the centers provides such services, and the coordinator of the local CHYP project, Debbie Baker, said the issue has not been a problem in Pasquotank County.
But an Asheville Republican introduced a bill this week that would expressly forbid ``reproductive services'' and would increase parents' say in what treatment their children receive at the school-based centers.
``A lot of parents have expressed great concern,'' said Rep. Lanier M. Cansler, the bill's sponsor. ``They want to have some knowledge of what's happening, if not control.''
Parents now must offer blanket consent for their children to be treated at the centers. Cansler said his bill would add two more levels of permission for parents to choose: one requiring centers to keep parents informed of their children's visits and treatments, and one requiring parental notification before any treatment.
Cansler said his bill would protect parents' rights without cutting into the program's benefits.
``I don't want to do something that denies underprivileged kids from having some access to health care,'' Cansler said. But ``different parents have different feelings.''
Baker said the extra levels of parental permission could make her job more difficult, but would be worth the effort if the bill helped protect state funding.
``A lot of them are really hard to get hold of,'' Baker said of parents. ``That would just complicate things, but if that's what it takes we'll do it.'' by CNB