Yes vote helps ensure children are healthy

Providing early childhood care and education services is one of the best ways we can ensure our children grow up and stay healthy, and New Mexico is on the cusp of making a monumental and long-lasting investment in this regard.

As an emergency medicine doctor, I rely on evidence-based treatments for my patients. While not every illness or injury is preventable, it is a fundamental truth that prevention is the most effective and inexpensive form of care — and prevention should be no less evidence-based.

When it comes to children and their lifelong health, one of the most effective prescriptions can’t just be picked up at a pharmacy. It involves high-quality programs that support expectant and new mothers; safe, consistent, and flexible child care; and rich early learning environments — all provided by qualified and well-compensated professionals, caregivers, and teachers.

The back of your Nov. 8 general election ballot will include a question about our state’s Permanent School Fund. By voting yes on Constitutional Amendment 1, voters can approve the distribution of a small additional percentage (1.25 percent) of the fund for early childhood and K-12 education. That would result in about $150 million in new funding available for early childhood programs and roughly $100 million in additional funding for teachers and programs to address inequities in educational outcomes for at-risk students in our public schools.

Passage of this amendment would be a game changer for our state, and as a doctor I am impressed with the evidence for the effectiveness of the programs that would be expanded with funding from Constitutional Amendment 1. According to the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, the early years matter because in the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second. These are the connections that build brain architecture — the foundation upon which all later learning, behavior, and health depend. A 2014 study published in Science found compelling biomedical evidence that participants in a high-quality early childhood program had significantly lower risks for cardiovascular and metabolic disease in adulthood, compared with otherwise similar individuals who were not in that program.

These studies and many others like them make it clear to me as a medical professional that we should be making sure as many kids as possible have access to these interventions. But the stakes go far beyond health outcomes. Healthy, thriving families and children are the key to a future where our economy is strong, and New Mexicans of all backgrounds have an equitable shot at fulfilling their potential.

I am encouraged that we already have amazing home-grown models here in New Mexico that are making a huge difference. Our state has also become a national leader in expanding access to childcare with federal funding, something that could be made permanent if Constitutional Amendment 1 is approved in November.

A yes vote on Constitutional Amendment 1 is a bold declaration that we as New Mexicans believe in the promise of proven preventive “medicine,” and that there is no better time to administer it than in the earliest years. That kind of commitment is just what the doctor ordered.

Drew Harrell, MD, FAEMS, DiMM is the former board president and current member of the American Heart Association Albuquerque. He’s also an emergency medicine physician practicing in Albuquerque for over 15 years.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Harrell: Yes vote helps ensure children are healthy