Category: Health

FY2020 Budget Session: Senator Terlaje disappointed GMH amendment not added to Budget Bill

STATEMENT FROM SENATOR THERESE M. TERLAJE:

I am extremely disappointed this amendment didn’t pass in the Budget Bill. I want to thank my colleagues who voted in favor of helping the Guam Memorial Hospital. 

This amendment was aimed at holding our government accountable. This fight is not over. We need to stand our ground in this Legislature and demand that we see where any excess money is spent. More importantly, the people of Guam deserve to know this information. 

As we move forward with discussions, I’ll continue to work with my colleagues to address these issues whether in this budget bill or in separate legislation.

During discussion on Bill 186-35 or the Budget Bill for Fiscal Year 2020 on Monday, Senator Terlaje proffered an amendment to set aside excess income tax and business privilege tax revenues collected every month and deposit into a newly created “Hospital Capital Improvement Fund.” 

Senators who voted with Senator Terlaje in favor of the amendment include Vice Speaker Telena Nelson, Senator Amanda Shelton, Senator James Moylan and Senator Telo Taitague. 

The amendment would have required that excess money collected would be set aside into the Fund, and safeguarded or “locked away” from transfer authority or expenditure. For full transparency, the use of these funds would have to be subject to a public hearing and Legislative approval. 

Bill 186-35 currently does not address GMH’s critical Capital Improvement Projects. GMH outlined $57-million worth of CIP; however set its top three priorities including a new electronic health records (EHR) system, electrical panel replacement, and structural roof repair. The EHR system is estimated to cost $21.8-million, the electrical panel at $6-million, and the structural roof repair at $5-million. These projects have been looming for years and are critical mandates raised by CMS.

Watch discussion on the amendment in the Budget Bill: http://bit.ly/2U3O4io

Media Coverage:

5 senators vote to assist GMH with infrastructure funding http://bit.ly/2zqbyEM (Guam Daily Post)

Administration balks at monthly budget surplus set-aside http://bit.ly/2U3iL7s (KUAM News)

Senators start trying to divvy up excess revenues for hospital, village roads http://bit.ly/3257NkA (Pacific Daily News)

Senator Therese Terlaje’s Bill 159 passed by lawmakers, taking a major step to getting children into a safer living environment

STATEMENT FROM SENATOR THERESE M. TERLAJE:

Si Yu’os Ma’åse to my colleagues for passing Bill 159-35 today and taking a major step in getting our children out of harm’s way and into a safer living environment. This measure, co-sponsored by all your senators, will increase the capacity of emergency foster care shelters for children. We continue to acknowledge and send our appreciation for the work and vision of Sister Mary Brigid Perez, former First Lady Christine Calvo, the Rigalu Foundation, and DPHSS along with our foster families for opening their hearts and homes for our children. Bill 159 will now make its way to the Governor’s Office for signing.

For more details and testimony of Bill1 59-35, please view the Bill 159-35 Committee Report.

Senator Therese Terlaje’s Bill 159 expanding capacity of emergency foster care shelters receives unanimous support, placed in voting file

FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (August 14, 2019)— Senator Therese Terlaje thanks her colleagues in the 35th Guam Legislature for their unanimous support of Bill 159-35 during session today.

Bill 159 would increase emergency shelter capacity for children, specifically granting the Director of the Department of Public Health and Social Services the discretion to allow more than 12 children to be sheltered in the new 7,000-sq. ft. I Guma Mina’åse’ Sr. Mary Brigid Perez, R.S.M.

Extending beyond the current maximum capacity of 12 is critical because there are an estimated 35 children on the foster home waitlist along with 294 children living homeless. The new children’s shelter, measured at 7,000-square feet, is set to be completed in October this year. Senator Terlaje notes the bill does not lessen any federal mandates in regards to the treatment of children placed in these shelters nor does it lessen the child to caretaker ratios currently set by law.

Thank you to all my colleagues for rising in support of Bill 159. While this is not a solution to the problem of abuse and homelessness with our children, anything we can do to promptly get them out of harm’s way and into a safer living environment is a big step while we continue to work on more permanent solutions. In addition to the support of Bill 159, I ask our community to pull together to support our children and ensure they’re given permanent safety, stability, and consistent love in their homes.

Senator Therese Terlaje, Chairperson for the Committee on Health, Tourism, Historic Preservation, Land and Justice

Senator Terlaje acknowledges and appreciates the work of Sister Mary Brigid Perez, former First Lady Christine Calvo, Rigalu Foundation, and DPHSS for their hard work and vision along with our foster families for opening their hearts and homes for our children. She also thanks her women colleagues in the last Guam Legislature for their special attention to the rape of a homeless child in an abandoned structure and inviting the help of the shelters, the homeless coalition, CPS, GHURA, Guam Housing Corp., and GPD to leave no stone unturned in seeking ways to prevent the abuse of homeless children.

Several Senators expressed support on session floor including Senator Kelly Marsh (Taitano) who said she feels close to this issue adding from experience that emergency shelters “can make a difference in the life of a child.” Senator Amanda Shelton noted when we put foster children in a home or even a group home, “that’s moving in the right direction.” Vice Speaker Telena Nelson added, “this is a very grave situation on our island and I commend the sponsor of this bill for the innovative approach to helping address the needs of children.”

The property in Barrigada Heights originally was part of the Chamorro Land Trust but transferred to Government of Guam for the shelter.

Senator Terlaje added all 14 senators to be co-sponsors for the Bill 159, which was sent to the voting file. Session resumes Thursday, August 15 at 10:30am.

SENATOR THERESE M. TERLAJE BILL PROVIDES IMMEDIATE SHELTER FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN AND THOSE ON WAITLIST FOR FOSTER HOMES.

FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (June 14, 2019) Senator Therese M. Terlaje with the co-sponsorship of Senator Mary Torres, introduced Bill 159-35 (COR), to increase emergency shelter capacity, so that CPS can get children at risk of harm off the streets and into a home where they can sleep without fear of being raped by a drunken man, who enters their makeshift shelter, with no doors, in the jungle.

Senator Terlaje’s efforts were prompted by the sexual assault of a four (4) year old girl and a disabled girl who were living in an abandoned structure in the Dededo area back in April 2018. A series of meetings and roundtables with Senator Therese Terlaje, Senator Torres, and other woman senators in the previous term, GPD, CPS, GHURA, GHC, the Guam Homeless Coalition, and others, repeatedly highlighted the shortage of shelter for children living in an environment of harm or potential harm. This shortage was an impediment to CPS, who by law, has the authority to remove children found to be living in an environment of harm or potential harm without a court order and place them in protective custody, pending further investigation and long term solution.

The bill would immediately increase the capacity of a brand new children’s group home being constructed beyond the current limit of 12 children, in order to urgently address the 35 children on the foster home wait list and some of the estimated 294 children living homeless.

According to Terlaje, discussions with BOSSA/DPHSS indicate that additional capacity for children’s’ shelter will be available as early as this summer, upon the expected completion of the $1.4M federally funded DPHSS I Guma Mina’åse’ Sr. Mary Brigid Perez, R.S.M. The approximately 7,000 square foot facility, led by the efforts of the Rigalu Foundation and former First Lady Christine Calvo, can accommodate beyond the current maximum of 12 children under current law, rules and regulations. It is the intention of Bill No. 159-35 (COR), to authorize the Director of DPHSS the discretion to increase the capacity of this group child care facility or foster home to accommodate a greater number of children in need of emergency shelter.

photo of plans of I Guma Mina’åse’ Sr. Mary Brigid Perez, R.S.M.

DPHSS Director Linda DeNorcey has indicated her full support of the legislation’s intent to address the gaps in emergency shelters for children.

“No child should be subject to sexual or other abuse on Guam for lack of a safe shelter. It is our hope that this bill can be passed swiftly to immediately accommodate as many children as feasible in the facility, including temporary shelter of the 35 children on the waiting list for foster homes and those additional children who are currently homeless, who CPS determines are in need of immediate shelter. I commend BOSSA/DPHSS and the RigaluFoundation for their vision and work in the completion of the facility, and stand ready to help expedite the placement of children as soon as possible, ” Terlaje stated.

photo of plans of I Guma Mina’åse’ Sr. Mary Brigid Perez, R.S.M
June 14, 2019 photo of construction site of I Guma Mina’åse’ Sr. Mary Brigid Perez, R.S.M

Senator Therese Terlaje discusses Guam Memorial Hospital’s budget request:

Source: KUAM News Story
http://www.kuam.com/story/40442816/2019/05/Thursday/how-will-critical-hospital-projects-be-funded

How will critical hospital projects be funded?

By Chris Barnett CONNECT

How will the hospital’s urgent capital improvements projects be funded in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget? That’s the question health oversight Sen. Therese Terlaje is asking. 

She said the governor’s Guam Memorial Hospital budget request is missing funding sources for major capital improvement projects.

“In particular three that are urgent that are not at all included in their budget request,” she said. “So I haven’t heard a plan as to how those are going to be funded and why they’re not included in the regular budget request.”


The hospital asking for $61 million for FY2020. $25 million would come from special funds. The remaining $36 million – which cites no funding source – slated to be used for capital improvement projects and operations.

Three of those projects deemed “urgent” by GMH – a $20 million information system the hospital has noted would help answer Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services reporting requirements quicker.
– A $6 million power upgrade to GMH’s electrical panel. CMS citing this as a hazard for the hospital
– A $5 million structural roof repair

“The roof that’s just common sense at this point,” Terlaje said. “We can’t have patients and our families walking in there with a leaking roof. They’re not going to have any comfort in the care they’re going to receive if we can’t fix the roof.”

The senator said she’s not sure why Adelup would leave these projects’ funding source off the table. These three items raised the eyebrows of CMS, jeopardizing GMH’s Medicare status.

“I’m trying to keep my eye on the revenues that are being brought in,” Terlaje said. “The revenues that were projected to be brought and the reports right now look like they’re bringing in more that they’ve projected to bring in and if that’s the case, then I can’t see why we’re going to delay giving to the hospital what it needs especially for these projects.”

Magah’aga Lou Leon Guerrero, during a tour of the hospital in February, pledged $30 million to GMH and that’s how much Terlaje says these projects will cost. The governor said at the time she would address GMH’s yearly $30 million shortfall with $6 million from a CMS adjustment to GMH’s base rate and by stepping up tax collections.

“We don’t really need to wait for a dedicated funding source to fund the hospital,” the governor said. “My contention has always been that if the hospital needs $30 million from the government to make sure that our patients and our people are given the quality of health care than we need to give the $30 million.”



We tried to follow up with the governor, but our requests for an interview were declined, and Adelup Spokeswoman Krystal Paco said KUAM may have taken the governor’s comments “out of context.”

Meanwhile, Terlaje says if there are excess revenues available, they need to be put on the table for an accurate read of GovGuam’s finances heading into the FY20 budget hearings.

“If they’ve got another source of funding this, I think that should be put up front,” she said. 

Hospital CEO Lillian Posadas tells KUAM News from February to April, the hospital received $10.7 million from CMS’ rebasement. That money covering FY 2014-2018.

BILLS INTRODUCED BY SENATOR THERESE M. TERLAJE TO STRENGTHEN AUTISM SERVICES ON GUAM UNANIMOUSLY PASSES

FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (April 29, 2019 – Hagåtña): On the Hills of Autism Awareness Month, two bills introduced by Senator Therese M. Terlaje were voted on in today’s legislative session and received unanimous support.

Bill 66-35 (COR) seeks to increase health insurance coverage to a maximum benefit per year of $75,000 for an eligible person up to the age of 15 and a maximum benefit of $25,000 per year for an eligible person who is between the ages of 16 and 21.

Current insurance mandates under Hunter’s Law allows a maximum benefit of $50,000 per year for an eligible person only up to the age of 9, and limits the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder to a $25,000 maximum benefit per year for an eligible person who is between the ages of 9 and 21.

According to the Guam Autism Center and families that testified in support of Bill 66, most children on the spectrum require early intensive behavior intervention at roughly 25 to 40 hours per week and can make tremendous strides with it. The current stipulations only allows for an average of 15 to 17 hours of therapy a week for children zero (0) to nine (9) and merely half of that for those 9 to 21 years of age.

“Although it was a great start and critical to bringing ABA therapy to Guam, the present dollar cap and age restrictions severely limit access to much needed care resulting in sub-optimal treatment and slower, less desirable progress,” stated Dr. Vincent Dueñas of the Hunter Speaks Organization that facilitates the Guam Autism Center.

Vice Speaker Terlaje and Sens. Nelson, Lee, Muna, and Torres Unite to Find Solutions to Better Protect Guam’s Children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (April 12, 2018) – Please be advised that the Committee on Culture & Justice, the Committee on Housing, Utilities, Public Safety, and Homeland Security, the Committee on Innovation and Economic Workforce, and Youth Development along with Senator Mary Camacho Torres and Senator Louise B. Muna will be conducting a Joint Roundtable Discussion on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the Public Hearing Room of I Liheslaturan Guåhan, Guam Congress Building, 163 Chalan Santo Papa Street, Hagåtña.

The committees will discuss the following:
Emergency Shelter and Support Services for Homeless Children:

Discussing strategies and services available to support the Child Protective Agencies and Housing Agencies efforts to prevent the threat of harm to children living without adequate shelter, and to expand emergency shelter and support services.

Representatives from DPHSS, Division of Child Protective Services, GHURA, Guam Housing Corporation, the Guam Homeless Coalition and the Guam Police Department have been invited to participate.

https://www.guampdn.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/04/20/rise-child-abuse-homelessness-more-must-done-our-view/531301002/

Vice Speaker Proposes Bill to Deter Gun Violence

FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE (March 21, 2018) – Vice Speaker Therese M. Terlaje, with co-sponsorship from Senator Telena C. Nelson, introduced Bill 265-34 (COR), a bill that seeks to ban bump-fire stock firearm attachments and increase penalties and fines for the possession of illegal firearms. Under current Guam law, possession of machine guns and other automatic weapons are already illegal. However, bump-fire stock firearm attachments and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns are not specifically banned.

In the Las Vegas concert massacre that took place in October of 2017, the shooter was able to fire around 1,100 rounds in just 10 minutes (110 rounds per minute), injuring over five hundred people and killing fifty-eight (58) people, using bump-fire stock firearm attachments. At the direction of the President, the U.S. Department of Justice recently submitted notice of a proposed regulation banning bump stocks by reclassifying the device as a machine gun, following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Bill 265-34 (COR) will also increase the penalties and fines for the possession, sale or transfer of prohibited machine guns, automatic rifles and silencers from not less than 3 years to a minimum of 5 years imprisonment and from not less than $1,000 to a minimum of $10,000. Penalties for these acts are significantly higher in many other jurisdictions.

On March 07, 2018, Vice Speaker Terlaje together with Senator Telena C. Nelson and Senator Joe S. San Agustin held a roundtable discussion on existing gun laws, penalties and standard operating procedures related to deterring gun violence in schools with panel members from the Office of the Attorney General, the Guam Police Department, the Judiciary of Guam and GDOE. During the discussion, Attorney Genera Barrett-Anderson stated that current Guam firearm laws were fairly stringent, but could always be improved upon. Both Barrett-Anderson and GPD panel members agreed that bump-fire stock attachments were problematic because the device simulates automatic fire.

“Students and parents have expressed concern for the epidemic of mass shootings taking place in the U.S. Mainland and have asked that we do more to prevent these tragedies from happening in our own community. Bill 265-34 is one proactive measure to prevent gun violence in our schools and improve our gun laws to deter gun related violence in our community,” stated Vice Speaker Terlaje.

Therese M. Terlaje is the Chairperson for the Legislative Committee on Culture and Justice

Community Announcement: Shriners’ Outreach Clinic – July 20, & 24-28, 2017

The Department of Public Health and Social Services (DPHSS) would like to announce that a Medical Team from Shriners Hospitals for Children® from Honolulu, Hawaii will be conducting a Medical Outreach Clinic at the Central Public Health Medical Clinic in Mangilao, July 20, 2017 and July 24-28, 2017.  The Medical Team will be providing free consultative services for children up to age 17 with orthopedic conditions, burns, and spinal cord injuries. Children with diseases and/or injuries involving the bones, joints and muscles, as well as “healed burns,” including loss of any part of the child’s body, should make an appointment at DPHSS for an evaluation.  A referral from a physician is not required.  Patients will be seen by appointment only.  We cannot accept walk in patients.

Parents or legal guardians of new patients are required to complete a Shriners Hospital application and Medical Records form at Medical Social Services (MSS) at Central Public Health, Room 152. Required documents include a copy of the child’s birth certificate, immunization record, and medical insurance card; photo ID of parent or legal guardian, and if applicable, proof of legal guardianship papers.  Returning patients are reminded to provide x-ray films and/or laboratory results, as previously instructed.  Returning patients may call MSS to inquire if an x-ray order has to be picked up.

For an appointment and/or additional information, please contact Cherisse Santiago at 735-7351 orcherisse.santiago@dphss.guam.gov or Diana Santos at 735-7356 or diana.santos@dphss.guam.gov.

Relay for Life 2017: May 26, 2017

Every year, our island comes together to remember those in our community who have lost their lives to cancer, celebrate our survivors, and support all of their families and caretakers. We share in their prayers, we cheer for each other, and we walk side by side in this journey for a cure.