Women’s screenings funding restored by McHenry County

The McHenry County Board Tuesday approved restoring $40,000 in funding for women’s health screenings that otherwise would have had to be halted for about six weeks.

Funding for screenings through the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program aimed at low-income, underinsured and uninsured women would have run out in mid-October, Public Health Administrator Patrick McNulty told the board on Tuesday. The services would have been restored Dec. 1 when the new fiscal year begins.

Board members had a lengthy discussion about whether they should stick to the budget or kick in the additional funding.

“This is about saving lives, and I think we need to take that into consideration,” board member Virginia Peschke said.

McHenry County has the highest rate of late-stage diagnosis of breast cancer in the state, board member Mary McCann said.

Finance and Audit Committee Chairman Scott Breeden was among five who voted against the measure. “It’s not going to get easier with regard to funding anything within a governmental level,” he said. “Yes, this is a difficult decision, but it’s a precedent that I feel very uncomfortable about.”

Board member John Hammerand agreed. “When we make budget cuts, we have to stick with those dollars, we have to make the administrators believe we are going to stick with those dollars.”

The board has not restored any other budget cuts this year, Associate County Administrator for Finance Ralph Sarbaugh said.

Sarbaugh said he couldn’t estimate yet how the county will end the current fiscal year. “How much will we end in the black?” board member Sandra Fay Salgado asked. “Hopefully some,” Sarbaugh replied.

Without the $40,000, about 120 women would have had to be put on a waiting list for breast and cervical cancer screenings, health department spokeswoman Debra Quackenbush said. This year’s total budget for screenings is $327,500, including $282,000 in state money, she said.