Pryce Receives National “Children’s Advocate Award” from Ronald McDonald House Charities
Sole Recipient of Honor for Her Legislative Efforts to Combat Pediatric Cancer
WASHINGTON , DC – On Sunday, Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Columbus) was honored with the “Children’s Advocate Award” from the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) for her commitment to combating childhood cancer. At a ceremony at the Willard Hotel in Washington, she became the sole and inaugural recipient of what is scheduled to become an annual designation from the RMHC.
Said Pryce in accepting the award, “To receive this designation from an organization whose name is so synonymous with benevolence and compassion is deeply meaningful and humbling. The Ronald McDonald House Charities provides seriously ill children and their families a blessed physical and emotional respite from their day to day reality of invasive and often painful treatments.”
She added, “To learn that your child has been diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening disease is both overwhelming and traumatizing for any parent – for the child, it’s nearly incomprehensibly terrifying. I can think of no higher or more noble mission that that of the Ronald McDonald House – to provide comfort, care and laughter to children and their families during times of great duress and uncertainty.”
Pryce is co-chair of the House Cancer Caucus, a Member service organization she helped to create in 2001, and is a nationally recognized leader on health care issues, having authored numerous bills and laws aimed at improving pediatric health, including:
- Compassionate Care for Children Act - provides grants to children’s hospitals, hospices and home health agencies to better train and educate professionals who care for sick children, and dedicates funds to conduct research for pediatric pain and symptom management. The bill also waives current requirements to allow children to have access to a full range of care options that most appropriately meet their needs.
- Patient Navigator, Outreach, and Chronic Disease Prevention Act – signed into law in 2005, the bipartisan law puts forth creative and innovative approaches to increase access to quality care and prevention for medically underserved patients. Through implementation of “patient navigator programs,” patient navigators assist individuals in obtaining coverage through Medicaid or other sources, help them obtain cancer screening or counseling about disease prevention, and make referrals for treatment should an abnormality be detected.
- Pediatric Rule – signed into law in 2003, the measure protects the “Pediatric Rule,” which requires drug companies to conduct safety tests of adult medicines most likely to be given to children. Preserving the rule and providing incentives for testing medicines for kids allows doctors to provide children with the best and safest quality health care possible.
- Conquer Childhood Cancer Act – Pryce will soon reintroduce this legislation to provide increased support for biomedical research programs in pediatric cancer. The bill establishes a childhood cancer database to help researchers identify genetic causes of pediatric cancer and develop prevention strategies, and authorizes the development, construction, and operation of a comprehensive online information system to provide patients and their families with information on childhood cancer and cancer support services. Finally, the Act will e stablish a fellowship program in pediatric cancer research to encourage young researchers to focus on pediatric oncology.
- Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) – signed into law in 1999, this Pryce-authored measure corrected an inequity that prevented Children’s Hospitals from receiving federal funding to train physicians, despite the fact that children’s hospitals train a large portion of the future pediatric workforce – almost 30% of pediatricians and 50% of pediatric specialists. Further, Pryce has consistently fought for CHGME funding, and last year helped secure record levels of funds to the program in the amount of $330 million, and extend this funding system through FY 2011.
The Ronald McDonald House Charities supports and creates programs that directly improve the health of children and better the lives of children and their families around the world. The RMHC’s cornerstone Ronald McDonald House program began in 1974 to provide a "home away from home" for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals. Since that time, more than 10 million families around the world have benefited from the comfort provided by a Ronald McDonald House.
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