I am writing to ask for your strong help with a most serious and pressing situation regarding the Elizabeth W.Pouch Center for Special People of the Staten Island Mental Health Society, Inc. As reported in the April 2nd, 2009 edition of the Staten Island Advance newspaper, the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities has removed nearly $800,000.00 from the Pouch Center's local assistance funding. This severe budget cut means the Pouch Center will have to close on April 30th, 2009.
We need your immediate help to prevent this cut from closing an outpatient clinic that provided direct care services last year to more than 1,000 disabled Staten Island individuals, many of them children. As part of the Pouch Center's contribution to the community, 200 children and families receive monthly pediatric care and medication from a developmental pediatrician and 100 adults and children receive evaluations, treatment and monthly medication services from a psychiatrist who specializes in clients with developmental disabilities. The Pouch Center also provides an array of other critical treatment and evaluation services for individuals of all ages with developmental and/or intellectual disabilities and their families.
The Staten Island Community is counting on you to fight this devastating budget cut and save the servies at the Pouch Center that are so crucial to the life of individuals on Staten Island challenged by developmental disabilities.
Sincerely,
