Congers Volunteer Seeks Restoration Of NIH Funding

In honor of National Volunteer Month, Congers resident Patricia Stone will join 300 other American Heart Association volunteer advocates in Washington D.C. on April 9. Her reason is deeply personal. She lost her baby daughter in February 2002 from an undiagnosed heart defect.

“She was born perfectly healthy in January,” said Stone. “Then she just went into sudden cardiac arrest.”

Stone and her colleagues from the East Ramapo School District have walked in the TriCounty Heart Walk in the baby’s memory. Now, Stone is an advocate for New York’s pulse oximetry bill, which would require an inexpensive blood oxygen test on newborns and would have diagnosed her infant’s heart defect.

“I anticipate the day when babies like my own, will have something to diagnose them before it’s too late,” said Stone. “I don’t want other families to suffer like our family did. It’s very empowering to speak to political figures and tell them your story and let them understand how important it is to pass the bills we are trying to pass.”

The volunteers will urge Congress to restore funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and fund a new national campaign to reduce high blood pressure.  Stone and three other volunteers from Westchester County will meet with their congressional representatives and request their support for NIH-funded research and a hypertension prevention campaign. According to the American Heart Association, more than one in three adults in the country have high blood pressure, but less than half have their condition under control. High blood pressure is one of the leading factors of heart attack and stroke.  

Volunteers from more than 150 non-profit organizations will also hold a “Rally to Fund Medical Research” on April 8 and call on federal lawmakers to make funding for life saving medical research a national priority.

Their presence resulted from the March 1 sequester that slashed nearly $1.6 billion or five percent of the NIH budget.  The sequester would reduce the number of research grants by about 2,300, and could cost more than 20,000 jobs nationwide.

“If the NIH cuts remain in place they will damage our fragile economy and also threaten our nation’s position as the global leader in medical research,” said American Heart Association President Donna Arnett, PhD, MSPH. “More importantly, ongoing reduced support for the NIH could delay finding critical cures for prevalent and costly diseases such as heart disease and stroke.”