May 20, 2007
West Chester, PA — Today, Congressman Joe Sestak (PA-7), spoke at the Chester County Hospital May Festival in West Chester. Earlier in the week, Congressman Sestak participated in the Main Line Relay for Life at Valley Forge Military Academy to support those whose lives have been touched by cancer and to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
The Chester County Hospital May Festival is a weekend-long celebration with events such as the Dash for Diabetes and the Chester County Challenge for Cancer Bike Tour. Chester County Hospital is the only independent non-profit hospital in Chester County, providing extraordinary, low-cost care. Strong community fundraising helps keep Chester County Hospital not only in the community, but affordable to all.
“Chester County Hospital is doing fantastic work every day – in oncology, pediatrics, you name it. The health of a community is vital and since 1892, Chester County Hospital has served the health care needs of our community admirable,” said Congressman Sestak.
Congressman Sestak has made health one of his four pillars in his first term in office.
“We must put children and families first by changing our investment priorities to health and education,” said Congressman Sestak. “For example, in Pennsylvania, 281,080 children do not have health insurance. The budget I voted for helps these children by creating a reserve fund of up to $50 billion for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – reducing the number of uninsured children across the county.”
The congressman recently toured Eagleville Hospital, which is dedicated to the treatment, education, and prevention of substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, to highlight his support for creating parity in our health care system with the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse.
Mental illness, including substance abuse, is one of the leading disabilities in America– an estimated 26.4 percent of Americans aged 18 and older (about one in four adults) suffer from diagnosable mental illness.
To bring equity to the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse, Congressman Sestak recently partnered with Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) to successfully offer two amendments to H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, which will improve mental health care for our wounded soldiers. The first amendment highlights the fact that mental health care is an essential component to the medical services offered to our Veterans and the members of our Armed Services by clarifying that ‘medical care’ as discussed in H.R. 1538 includes mental health care services. The second amendment, also offered with Congressman Kennedy, requires the Secretary of the Department of Defense to develop a plan to help prevent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other stress-related psychopathologies (including substance abuse conditions) from developing in our military service members. In addition, it requires the Secretary to submit to Congress within 180 days a plan for establishing a Peer-Reviewed research program within the Defense Health Program’s research and development function to research the prevention of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and how to best strengthen the psychological resiliency of our military service members. Both amendments passed with unanimous support.
Born and raised in Delaware County, former 3-star Admiral Joe Sestak served in the Navy for 31 years and now serves as the Representative from the 7th District of Pennsylvania. He led a series of operational commands at sea, including Commander of an aircraft carrier battle group of 30 U.S. and allied ships with over 15,000 sailors and 100 aircraft that conducted operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. After 9/11, Joe was the first Director of "DeepBlue," the Navy's anti-terrorism unit that established strategic and operations policies for the "Global War on Terrorism." He served as President Clinton's Director for Defense Policy at the National Security Council in the White House, and holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. According to the office of the House Historian, Joe is the highest-ranking former military officer ever to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Media Contact:
Samantha Anderson
202.225.2011
samantha.anderson@mail.house.gov