Pam's Latest Op-Eds

Courier Post
By Pamela Lampitt
July 17, 2010

Each day, New Jersey's women's health care clinics deliver critical health care services to the people of our state, people who in many cases cannot afford health insurance and have nowhere else to turn. The single mother who gets screened for breast cancer. The young pregnant woman who gets prenatal care for her baby. Countless young people who do the right thing by getting tested for HIV. The elderly woman who is checked for diabetes. There are many more.

Indeed, these clinics served more than 136,000 patients last year alone. Often, they delivered crucial preventive health care in the form of various tests and screenings that helped save lives.

Because of these important preventive health services, they also saved the state money. Last year, the savings totaled more than $150 million, over twenty times the $7.5 million investment the state made in these services.

Unfortunately, Gov. Chris Christie's budget eliminated this $7.5 million in funding, putting many working poor and middle class families in danger of losing critically needed health care. Under the governor's budget, many women who cannot afford to purchase basic health care will have no options. They may have to skip screenings for cervical cancer until it's too late. They may decide not to get their blood pressure checked, or miss out on neonatal care for their newborn infants. And they absolutely will be left to rely on the ER for even the most basic of treatments.

Courier-Post
August 30, 2009
By Pamela Lampitt

Today’s teenagers face new problems completely unfamiliar to their parents. As new technology has emerged, our children now have instant access to worldwide communication – and its associated hazards.

One of the recent problems that has perplexed parents, educators and law enforcement alike is the practice of “sexting” – the sending of sexually explicit photos via the Internet or, more commonly, through cell phones.

Cell phones and computers are standard equipment for teens, each equipped with cameras and messaging capabilities. Yet young people rarely understand and appreciate the potential life changing consequences of misusing this technology.

According to a recent survey, roughly one-in-five teens – including 11 percent of girls aged 13 to 16 – have sent a nude or semi-nude picture or video of themselves to friends or posted one on a Web site. Ultimately, these private pictures see the light of day and have serious ramifications. These teens can quickly become social pariahs, outcasts, and if under age 18, can be arrested for child pornography.

In New Jersey, a 14-year-old girl faces jail and registration under Megan’s Law after posting nude pictures of herself on MySpace. Tragically an Ohio teen committed suicide after pictures she sent to her boyfriend were forwarded to her entire school. One horrific story comes from Wisconsin, where teen boys were blackmailed into performing sexual acts on a male classmate who, posing as a girl, duped them into sending him nude photos.

Bergen Record
December 31, 2008
By Pamela Lampitt

In just a few years, NJ STARS has been wildly successful — almost too much so.

Over the past decade, New Jersey has faced a real problem — "brain drain." Many of our top students, the cream of our academic crop, have been leaving the state in droves, deciding to attend colleges in neighboring Pennsylvania, Delaware or New York, if not even farther out of state.

The Garden State was left with two choices: act, or watch even more students put down roots in other states.

It was with this problem in mind that the Legislature established the NJ STARS program.

Created in 2004, NJ STARS gives our best and brightest students merit scholarships to cover tuition at New Jersey's county colleges, with the opportunity to work toward a bachelor's degree from one of the state's four-year public colleges if they continue to achieve academically.

Top 20 percent

Currently, students must rank in the top 20 percent of their high school class and maintain a 3.0 grade point average throughout their college studies to be eligible for a STARS scholarship. This truly is an opportunity-focused program, with merit-based aid to students kicking in only after a student has exhausted all options for need-based aid.

The Times of Trenton
November 29, 2008
By Pamela R. Lampitt

Having a child is an anxious experience, but most parents prepare in every way possible even before the birth of their kids. They consult with doctors. They select hospitals and doctors after hours of careful study and review. They buy whatever products are needed to keep their baby strong and healthy.

When the child starts to walk, parents baby-proof the house.

They learn about their child’s school and, when their child boards the school bus for the first time, they meet the driver.

But the greatest test of parental anxiety comes much later, when teenage children take the car keys for the first time and head out onto the road. Parents who have spent years doing all they can to protect their child enter a new world of uncertainty. Where they once were able to carefully control both their kid’s actions and the outcome, parents are faced with simply having to trust that their children will make the right decisions.

As a mother of two college-age children, I know firsthand the white-knuckle experience of watching a child take off in a car by himself or herself for the first time.