On Behalf of Kids
from The Children's Hospital (TCH) News, December 2006
By Debbie Federspiel
Election Day – for kids too!
First Lady of Colorado Frances Owens
helped deliver voting ballots to hospital
patients at Children's on Election Day. In
addition to participating in patriotic games
and crafts, Children's patients and young
visitors actually voted, using an official
ballot, on the same issues the adults did.
Votes collected at the hospital were
combined with those of more than 10,000
Denver Public School students.
Last month kids and adults cast their votes during the election, voting for new leader-ship for Colorado , as well as weighing in on a number of ballot issues. “Wait a minute – did I say kids?” you may be thinking. Yes!
For the third year in a row, Children’s was a community partner in the Kids Voting Denver program, an effort that aims to ensure that current and future generations of Denver youth have the skills and the experience to become informed and active citizens throughout their lives. An added bonus – when kids get interested in the issues, so do their parents!
So how did the kids vote? They chose many of the same candidates and issues as Colorado adults did, including Colorado ’s next Governor, Bill Ritter.
In January 2007, Governor-Elect Ritter will be sworn into office, setting the tone for Colorado for the next four years. What does this mean for kids’ health issues? During his campaign, Ritter pledged, among other things, that as Governor he would...
- Lift our state from the bottom 10 to the top five in childhood immunizations.
- Fight to make affordable health insurance available for every Colorado child.
- Build on efforts to fight child abuse and domestic violence.
The Children’s Hospital looks forward to working with Governor-Elect Ritter, as well as the members of the Colorado legislature, to make children’s health and well-being a priority. As always, we will look to our dedicated employees and advocates to help us be a strong voice in the policy decisions being made.
