NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1979 SESSION

CHAPTER 1036
HOUSE BILL 609

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE EPILEPSY AND NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS PROGRAM.

Whereas, a stigma based on superstitions, misconceptions, and unwarranted fear has long been associated with epilepsy and has caused great suffering to people who have the condition, often depriving them of equal opportunities for employment, education, medical care and community participation; and
Whereas, it is estimated there are 54,500 people with epilepsy in North Carolina, with a higher prevalence in the lower socioeconomic groups; and
Whereas, the Epilepsy Project survey of 1976-77 showed 66 percent of the cases of epilepsy or seizure disorders were from families whose incomes were below eight thousand dollars ($8,000) annually; and
Whereas, there exists an urgent need for educational programs for persons with epilepsy and their families, local agency personnel and public school personnel; and
Whereas, the aforementioned persons with epilepsy and other neurological disorders are in need of clinical and laboratory services; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources, Division of Health Services, in addition to all other funds appropriated, the sum of forty thousand dollars ($40,000) for fiscal year 1979-80 and the sum of forty thousand dollars ($40,000) for fiscal year 1980-81 for the Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders Program. The appropriation is for the use of the Department of Human Resources in:
(1)	providing health education for school systems and other groups, for providers of medical services, for people with epilepsy, and for their families through the utilization of a public health educator;
(2)	supplementing support of four monthly public epilepsy and neurological disorders clinics and to establish two more such clinics; one in the eastern part and one in the western part of the State; and
Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1979.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 8th day of June, 1979.