WASHINGTON - Funding for numerous health and human service projects in Phoenix will receive funding under an Omnibus Appropriations Bill approved today by the U .S. House of Representatives, announced Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009

Pastor: Congress okays funding for bilingual nursing, TGEN, Phoenix Children's and St. Joseph's hospital programs under Omnibus appropriations bill

WASHINGTON - Funding for numerous health and human service projects in Phoenix will receive funding under an Omnibus Appropriations Bill approved today by the U .S. House of Representatives, announced Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Ariz.

The projects will benefit the Bilingual Nursing Program at Gateway/South Mountain Community Colleges, research at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN), breast cancer diagnostic services at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, and the emergency medical records system at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

"The demands on our health care services are huge," Pastor said. "I'm pleased that this funding will help provide resources to improve the services and quality of care in many capacities."

Funding included:

- $285,000 from the Department of Education for the Bilingual Nursing Program at Gateway/South Mountain Community Colleges. This program recruits and graduates nursing students proficient in English and Spanish to continue to help address the language barrier in health care, addresses the nursing shortage, and continues recruitment of nursing students from under-represented populations.

- $285,000 from the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) for TGEN to equip and build-out laboratory space to support scientific research on melanoma and neurological diseases and disorders, and to expand a current metabolic research program into cardiovascular diseases. This request
extends and builds upon previous funding received and will be used to ensure that TGEN's success and ultimate advances in patient care continue by providing the latest in scientific infrastructure, such as space, equipment and genomic tools. TGEN scientists are conducting genomics-based health research in prostate, melanoma, pancreatic, breast and ovarian cancers, as well as diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, autism
and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

-$143,000 from HHS for Phoenix Children's Hospital to obtain an Emergency Medical Records System for its Emergency Department. This system would provide timely, complete and accurate health information to health care providers, improving efficiency, safety and quality of patient care. The hospital would fully integrate this system with the inpatient emergency medical records system, allowing access to records for chronic patients.

- $119,000 from HHS for a program at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center that would provide breast cancer diagnostic services for low-income, predominantly Hispanic, uninsured women who are patients at St. Joseph's Cancer Center, Women's Wellness Clinic, Mercy Health Care Center and the community at-large. The funding also would allow St. Joseph's Hospital to begin upgrading to "digital mammography," which is a standard tool in diagnosing breast cancer and would improve the diagnostic process.