Public and Private Sector Leaders Join to Support Children’s Health In Wake of Rising Fuel Prices
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 22, 2007
CONTACT:
Ashley Durmer (617) 338-6300
Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba (617) 638-5850
Boston, MA --- Members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation and Citizens Energy Chairman Joseph P. Kennedy II joined area doctors led by the Children’s Sentinel Assessment Program (C-SNAP) out of Boston Medical Center to announce the findings of a new report today linking rising fuel prices to the health and well being of poor children. The details were announced during a hearing at the Dorchester House in Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester, Massachusetts.
According to the new report, Dr. Deborah A. Frank, a principal investigator of the report, explained in her opening remarks to a panel of current and former Members of Congress “we know there is a medicine that is partially effective in protecting children during the current epidemic of the heat or eat dilemma. That medicine is public energy assistance, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Research my colleagues and I recently published shows that children in income-eligible families who do not get LIHEAP compared to similar children in income-eligible families who do were 23% more likely to be growing poorly, and 32% more likely to have to be admitted to the hospital the day we saw them in an emergency room. But, like a scarce vaccine, LIHEAP reaches only a fraction of the children at risk.”
According to Frank, this epidemic affects children of all ages, but babies and toddlers are at the greatest risk. Babies and toddlers who live in energy insecure households are most likely to:
- suffer poor health
- require hospitalization
- manifest developmental problems, and:
- lack adequate food, which contributes its own chain of negative health and developmental effects.
When families do not have access to sufficient energy, they generally have to resort to unsafe heating methods and do not have the proper means to refrigerate or prepare food for their children. This hurts children in the long run, increasing the risk of injuries and leading to both health and developmental problems. Two families that have experienced such preventable problems testified to their experiences at the hearing.
Addressing the crowd, Kennedy, whose company, Citizens Energy, has provided heating assistance to low-income families for the past 30 years and collaborated with C-SNAP on this report, called for more community involvement in the face of inadequate program funding. “With the price of oil nearing $90 a barrel and President Bush proposing a 44% cut in federal fuel aid, we need to work together as a community to help change the lives of poor children.”
The federal government gives assistance to families in need of heating assistance through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). However, the program lacks the necessary funding to help families in need. In 2006 only 16.1% of eligible households received funding.
The hearing wrapped up with Congressman Delahunt, Congressman Capuano and former Congressman Meehan signing a ‘healthy heating’ appeal from leading area hospitals to President Bush urging attention to the health issues revealed in the report and full funding for LIHEAP.
The report’s complete findings can be found at www.c-snap.org.
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