JCC key to Russell health plan
Jefferson County Legislator Addie J. Russell made Jefferson Community College a major component in her Assembly campaign's health care platform, only to see the college's desire to expand its medical programs put on hold Tuesday by county lawmakers.
Despite the setback, Mrs. Russell, D-Theresa, remained undeterred in her belief that making connections between degree-granting programs at JCC and programs at nearby colleges was still the best way to entice health care professionals to the north country.
The college has an informal agreement with Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, to offer two graduate degree programs at JCC. The college also is discussing the addition of a master's degree in mental health counseling, a residency program for future psychiatrists and physician assistant and nursing programs.
Those programs would be housed in the proposed Higher Education Center, which is included in the $62.7 million facilities master plan that county lawmakers tabled instead of endorsing Tuesday.
Mrs. Russell, who touted partnerships with the private sector as part of her jobs plan, said training students locally will help retain health care professionals.
"Quality and affordable health care is a necessity. It's not a luxury. I'm committed to providing the best access that we can for north country residents," she said Tuesday. "We need to increase the number of training programs locally because we need to close the gap on being able to provide the services that our community needs."
Mrs. Russell said she hopes legislators soon will endorse the college's facilities master plan so it can be forwarded to the state for funding consideration.
If the plan doesn't make it off the table, Mrs. Russell said, if elected, "I certainly will be working to see if there isn't some way we can work JCC into the (state's) plan after the fact."
Besides JCC initiatives, Mrs. Russell's health care plan includes building on existing programs in an effort to avoid new expenses. They are:
■ Enhancing first-responder recruitment and expanding medical helicopter coverage to the north country.
"Obviously if there's a helicopter that's being underused in another part of the state, it would be best practice to reassign the helicopter," said Mrs. Russell, who supported a county resolution urging the state to assign a helicopter to this region. "I certainly look forward to working with the state police to see if we could make that a reality."
■ Keeping community clinics open to ease the burden placed on local hospitals.
■ Bringing more mental health professionals here to treat residents and support the creation of a traumatic brain injury center for this region.
■ Ensuring that no child goes without proper health care. Making sure the North Country Children's Clinic retains its state funding is one way to accomplish this goal, she said.
■ Expanding in-home health care services and additional housing for seniors. Mrs. Russell said matching residents to the appropriate level of care will prevent those people from draining their financial resources on unnecessary care. If those people can remain financially solvent, they won't be dependent on Medicaid, which creates a state cost.
■ Ending the practice of allowing pharmaceutical companies to pass their ad campaign costs to consumers and requiring the reporting of gifts given to doctors from that industry.
Mrs. Russell's Republican opponent, Robert W. "Bobby" Cantwell III, unveiled his own health plan Oct. 2. The Clayton resident proposed expanding the EPIC (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) program, taking steps to recruit and retain nurses and physicians for the north country and giving tax credits to small businesses so they can provide health insurance to their employees.
