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KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2011 / NEWS
7A
GOVERNMENT
Title X may lose funding if agreement is not found
BY MEG LOWRY
mlowry@kansan.com
If Senate democrats and republicans cannot reach an agreement on the federal budget today, the government will be forced to temporarily shut down this evening. If the proposed republican spending bill is approved, something in particular will be shut down for 5 million Americans, which includes 45,000 Kansans and 3,245 Douglas County residents: Reproductive health care and family planning.
Since 1970, the Title X Family Planning program has provided federal funding for contraceptives, breast examinations, cervical cancer screening, pregnancy testing, sexually transmitted infection testing and prevention education. It is the only federal program focused exclusively on reproductive health care.
Last year, $317 million in Title X grants were given to 4,400 clinics nationwide. In Kansas, 55 clinics received grant money, delegated by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The Lawrence-Douglas County Department of Health received $198,000.
"With the economy the way it is, more and more families are under-insured or uninsured altogether," said Sarah Gillooyl, public affairs manager of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. "It's important that they have access to vital and basic care."
"If funding is taken away, we wouldn't be able to keep the clinic open," said Lisa Horn, communications coordinator for the Lawrence-Douglas County
the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. "Mos family planning programs are funded largely, if not completely, by Title X."
More than 4,000 people use the clinic's services. Horn says that although KU students regularly seek out contraceptives and testing at the clinic, because resources are in high demand, they are often advised to go to Watkins Health Center instead.
In addition to county health department clinics, two Kansas Planned Parenthood clinics receive Title X funding, located in Wichita and Hays. These two clinics administered 18,000 sexually transmitted infection tests.
The Guttmacher Institute found that in 2008, every dollar spent in Title X funding saved the federal government $3.74 in medical costs. In Kansas, every Title X dollar saved $6.14 in medical costs.
"We're talking about some of the most economically vulnerable men and women in Kansas losing access to afford-
can end up costing the government much more money in state health costs"
"Our clinic is really the only aspect of the Health Department that runs like a doctor's office," Horn said. "If low-cost STD testing and treatment isn't available, it could be very difficult to contain their spread."
"If funding is taken away, we wouldn't be able to keep the clinic open."
Despite republican attempts
able health care," Gilloolly said. Representatives Kevin Yoder and Lynn Jenkins voted in favor of the proposed spending bill, and legislation passed a party vote in the house Feb. 19.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, contraceptive services provided by Title X prevented 8,100 unintended pregnancies and 3,400 abortions last year in Kansas. More than $25.4 million was saved in public funds.
LISA HORN Communications coordinator for Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department
able health care," Gillooly said.
"Sometimes when measures are taken to cut costs, more money is spent in the end," Gillooly said. "Unintended pregnancies and undetected cancers
to eliminate the funding, advocates of the bill feel it would be a welcome cut to the fed-
More than 50 percent of Title X patients in the Midwest earn less than $10,830 a year and more than 150,000 Kansas women are in need of publicly supported contraceptive services.
planning in his 2012 budget.
eral budget.
President
Obama,
however, has
requested
$372 million
for family
"It's important that people understand the severity of what is being debated and how it will affect Kansans," Gilleoaly said. "When women don't have access to affordable health care and birth control, there are dire consequences."
Edited by Tali David
AWARDS
Diverse students celebrate program's 40th anniversary
BY NICOLE WENTLING nwentling@kansan.com
The School of Engineering's minority program commemorates its 40th anniversary tomorrow, coincidentally falling during Celebrate Diversity Month.
The program, the Student Council for Recruiting, Motivating, and Educating Black Engineers, was founded in 1971. Since then, the group has morphed into several programs within the School of Engineering
Boldridge
"Students getting into the school were not as well versed in the subject matter, and in math science, as they should have been," said Florence
Boldridge, director of Diversity and Women's Programs for the School of Engineering. "So the administration and two or three individuals decided to do something about it."
Society for the past 27 years. These groups, comprised of 150 scholarship students, were established to recruit and retain engineering students from diverse backgrounds.
Boldridge has overseen the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers and the American Indian Science and Engineering
"I work to keep them in the school; it takes lots of counseling." Boldridge said. "T.I.e things that these kids are learning to do impact lives."
Boldridge also oversees the awarding of scholarships to minority engineering students, as well as the outreach activities and programs hosted by the School of Engineering.
"Just to think that someone thought so much of me to nominate me meant an awful lot," Boldridge said.
The Golden Torch Award was presented to Boldridge at a ceremony in St. Louis on March 26.
These activities, including Project Discovery, SWE Weekend of Engineering and Eureka Weekend, target students from sixth to 12th grade and introduce them to the engineering field.
Boldridge's efforts have not gone unnoticed. Carles Miller, a 2006 KU graduate and Boldridge's former student, nominated her for the National Society of Black Engineer's Golden Torch Award for Minority Engineering Program Director of the Year.
the country who do the same thing at all of the major schools of engineering as I," Boldridge said. "I really accepted it in their honor, as well as the students, past, present and the future."
The celebration of the School of Engineering's minority program will be held tomorrow in Spahr Classroom 2 in Eaton Hall.
"The field of engineering is a competitive one, and one in which minorities and women have made giant strides, but there is much to be accomplished and it is through programs such as the diversity programs of the School of Engineering and the School of Engineering administration that the student receive the support and encouragement to reach their goal of a degree in engineering," Boldridge said.
"There are so many people across
Fred Rodriguez, interim associate vice provost of diversity and equity and executive director of the KU Multicultural Scholars Program, agrees that diversity on campus should be a priority.
"Demographically, we are changing gradually in this country but profoundly," said Rodriguez."To have a diverse campus is a much more accurate reflection of the society and the world in which we live, work, learn and share together."
INTERNATIONAL
Edited by Helen Mubarak
Strong aftershock in Japan knocks out power in north
The afterhock around 11:30 p.m. was strong enough to knock items off store shelves and move a large automated teller machine at a FamilyMart convenience store in the major northern industrial center of Sendai. The city is far enough inland that it avoided major tsunami damage, but people there were without gas and electricity for weeks.
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries or major damage, and the operator of the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant said there was no sign the afterschock had caused new problems there. Workers retreated to a quake-resistant shelter in the complex, with no injuries.
"Usually at this time of night, there is almost no one," said Akagi, whose store had power even though
Manager Takehiko Akagi said 100 people had showed up within an hour of Thursday's aftershock and cleared the shelves of ice, water and instant noodles — items that were in short supply after the bigger quake.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SENDAI, Japan - A big aftershock rocked quake-weary japan late Thursday, rattling nerves as it knocked out power to the northern part of the country and prompted tsunami warnings that were later canceled.
The quake was initially measured at magnitude-7.4, though the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., later downgraded it to 7.1. Either way, it was the strongest aftershock since several were recorded on March 11 — the day of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that killed as many as 25,000 people and touched off a nuclear crisis last month.
"It is the way it supposed to work if power is lost for any reason," said David Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety project for the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists. Since the tsunami warning was canceled 90 minutes after it was issued, there was no reason to believe the facilities' diesel generators would fail like the ones at the stricken Fukushima plant. The massive wave knocked out cooling systems and triggered a series of mishaps that have left workers struggling to stop radioactivity from spewing nearly a month later.
"That was really the blow that the plant didn't recover from," Lochbaum said.
people in nearby neighborhoods did not. A handful of buildings had broken windows and tiles, and some small electrical fires were reported.
In Ichinoseki, which is also inland, buildings shook violently, knocking items from shelves and toppling furniture, but there also appear to be no major damage there. Hotel workers lit candles so guests could find their way around.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said nuclear facilities along the northeastern coast were under control after backup generators kicked in at two Rokkasho and Higashidori — that lost power.
The aftshock knocked out two of three power lines at the Onagawa nuclear power plant north of Sendai, which has been shut down since the tsunami. One remaining line was supplying power to the plant and radiation monitoring devices detected no abnormalities. The plant's spent fuel pools briefly lost cooling capacity, but it resumed because a power line was available for electricity.
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