Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) shakes hands with Governor Chris Christie as the governor steps on stage during his Inaugural Ceremony at the Trenton War Memorial in January. Sweeney visited the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome Tuesday to highlight one of the beneficiaries of the new state budget. (Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)
Although he’s still angry over the outcome of the budget Gov. Chris Christie signed into law last week, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney highlighted one of the spending plan's winners on Tuesday by visiting a nationally recognized center dedicated to improving the diagnosis and awareness of a neurological disorder.
The New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome in Somerville will get a $250,000 grant this year because "this is one of the programs that a lot of the people on both sides of the aisle believed in and pushed for," Sweeney said.
Sweeney acknowledged the center lost money after Christie took office in 2010 and he slashed funding to scores of program to close a deep deficit. But the Gloucester County Democrat and likely gubernatorial candidate said he did not go there "to rub it in."
"I am trying to point out you gotta put faces on the budget. These are programs that for a small amount of money have enormous impacts. They are lifelines to families," Sweeney said.
View full sizeState Senate President Stephen Sweeney (right) met with families, such as Tracy Lederman and her son, Ethan, who rely on the services of the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome and Associated Disorders in Somerville on Tuesday. The center received a $250,000 grant from the state budget.
Tourette Syndrome is an inherited neurological disorder characterized by uncontrollable vocal sounds and movements known as tics that affect about one in 100 children, according to the center.
About 20,000 children in New Jersey are diagnosed with the disorder, “and it affects every aspect of their lives — psychologically, socially, educationally and physically,” said Faith Rice, the center's executive director and the mother of an adult child with the disorder.
The center was created with a $1 million line item in the state budget a decade ago, Rice said, only to see that funding eliminated in 2010. The center has continued to receive a $400,000 competitive grant from the state, she said.
“They don’t need special education. They are not cognitively impaired. They need time to do things because the tics get in their way,” Rice said.
Among its many services, the center offers family support groups and advocacy training, collaborates with Rutgers University and other universities to support research, provides college scholarships for children, has created educational and training programs to help pediatricians and medical students learn how to spot the disorder.
Tess Kowalski, of Plainsboro, explained to Sweeney how she has spoken to medical students at Yale and Rutgers.
“I used to be really shy. After my first talk to about 100 people at my synagogue, that changed everything,” Kowalski said. “I’m 14 years old and I am talking to these adults. They know so much more than I do but I am teaching them. It was wild.”
Sweeney, whose 21-year-old daughter has Down syndrome, said he could identify with the families he met, and how these programs dissolve feelings of isolation all parents experience if their child has a disability.
But when asked whether the visit took the sting out of the budget showdown with Christie, who won in court the right to delay a payment to the state employee pension fund, Sweeney replied, “No, not at all. Not even close.”
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