Public Forum on Healthcare Justice | Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights (POWER, Maine)

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healthcare justice: PUBLIC FORUM 2007!

POWER's Public Forum
on Healthcare Justice
A HUGE SUCCESS!!!
Tuesday Dec 11th, 6:30 - 8:00 P.M.
Portland's Community Public Access Station
516 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
Organized & sponsored by Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights
PRESS RELEASE [Word format] | FLYER [Word format]

VIDEO: Watch POWER's Public Forum for Healthcare Justice!

POWER Public Forum on Healthcare Justice 12/10/07 [1hr:18mins]
Watch it on Google Video | Watch it on Community Public Access TV | ( TOP )

Footage of this event IS AIRING on local Community Public Access Channels 2 & 4 in Portland, ME. For schedule of air times, visit: www.ctn4maine.org or call the station at 775-2900. Contact POWER if you'd like to air this on a local public access station near you.

On Tuesday December 11th POWER members, friends, and members of the community gathered at Portland's Community Public Access to learn more about Universal Single Payer Healthcare. Here we heard from panelists who compared & contrasted the various aspects of our current US healthcare system with a universal single payer system. The evening turned out to be a great success, with informative and inspiring presentations from panelists, together with thoughtful and interesting questions and comments from members of the audience. As a result, participants had the opportunity to learn a lot more about universal single payer healthcare, what it means, how it works, why we need it, and how we can get it. Panelists addressed how and why our healthcare system is currently controlled by a host of private interests such as insurance companies, HMO's, for-profit hospitals, & pharmaceutical corporations, all of which are profitting royally from this broken system which is making us all sick. The more these private interests are able to limit our access to the healthcare services we pay them to cover, the more they profit. They're literally billing us for killing us. In truth, these powerful interests who are supposed to be providing healthcare are, in fact, the very enemies of healthcare. And that is why they are & will always be unilaterally opposed to - and terrified of - any single payer healthcare system, because such a system will mean an end to their precious profit supply. Rest assured, we the people have our work cut out for us. As Frederick Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and it never will." The powers of today are never going to give us healthcare, and in fact, they will do everything they can to keep us from getting it. If we want healthcare it's up to us, we the people. We must dare to get together, get organized, and demand UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE NOW! Of course, this event is only one small step among the many, many steps needed in this long journey to get the healthcare we all need and deserve. But it's an important step nonetheless, one of many more to come in the days ahead as we continue organizing for healthcare justice! And, thanks to our wonderful camera crew, footage of the forum has been aired repeatedly on our local Community Public Access channels in both Greater Portland & Biddeford, allowing this vital information to reach countless more people.

POWER THANKS EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE THIS EVENT POSSIBLE, including our wonderful panelists: David Wagner, John Newton, & Richard Rhames; our Master of Ceremonies, Jenn Barton; our excellent camera crew: Alan Brown, Stacey Canas, Corey Davis, & Jesse Flynn; the amazing staff & volunteers from Portland's Community Public Access Station who provided the space for this event & contributed in countless important ways; MECA for lending us all those chairs at the last minute; and POWER's Economic Human Rights Taskforce for carrying out a zillion tasks needed to organize this event. Thank you!

QUESTIONS? Contact POWER today!

TAKE POWER'S NEW HEALTHCARE JUSTICE SURVEY!
To take the survey on-line: www.povertyontrial.org/healthcare_survey.html
To download a printable version of the survey [Word format]: www.povertyontrial.org/power_materials/power_healthcare_survey--2008.doc
HELP POWER DOCUMENT HEALTHCARE RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!!!
If possible, one important way you can help is by sharing the survey, either by forwarding the link to the on-line survey or by making copies of the printable survey, with family members, co-workers, neighbors, friends - anyone with a healthcare story to share!!!
Better yet, a great way to help is to distribute the surveys anywhere where people gather, but especially doctor's offices, emergency room waiting rooms, pharmacies, DHHS offices, etc. QUESTIONS? Contact POWER today!

THANK YOU to everyone who made this event possible!

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SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Do I have to answer all the questions in order to take the healthcare survey? --No. Answer as many or as few questions as you like. Of course, the more you answer, the more helpful it is for us.
Q: Can I take the healthcare survey anonymously? --Yes. Giving contact info is entirely optional, and any contact information you do provide will be kept confidential. .
Q: Are there other ways to take the healthcare survey? --Yes. A print version of the survey is available: You can either download it from our website as a Word document, or you can contact POWER with your mailing address and we'll send you a copy of the survey by mail. An email-able version of the survey is also available by contacting POWER.
Q: Do I have to be poor or low-income in order to take the healthcare survey? --No. Anyone may take the survey regardless of their economic situation.
Q: Where can I find out more about Universal Single Payer Healthcare? --For starters,
please visit the website of Physicans for a National Health Program: www.pnhp.org, www.guaranteedhealthcare.org, or www.healthcare-now.org. Additional resources can be found listed in the left-hand column above.
Q: What are economic human rights? --Economic human rights include our rights to food, housing, healthcare, living wage jobs, education, and income for those who need it. These rights are outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: for more info click here or visit our human rights page.
Q: What are some examples of economic human rights violations? --For example: problems getting healthcare when you needed it; struggling to pay your rent or mortgage; working jobs that don't pay enough to make ends meet; skipping prescriptions because they were too expensive; taking on student loans you later can't afford to pay... These are just some of the many examples of economic human rights violations that millions of us are experiencing all across the nation.
Q: How can I help distribute this information to other people?--One way you can help is by printing out the healthcare survey out & making copies to distribute. To download the printable version of the survey: Healthcare_Survey --Word format | Healthcare_Survey --PDF format
Or contact POWER with your address & we'll send or deliver copies of the healthcare survey, plus any other materials you'd like to distribute.
THANK YOU!

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MORE ABOUT ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS

Conditions of poverty represent violations of our economic human rights. As part of the struggle to end poverty, we're working to document these violations wherever they occur.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a landmark international treaty signed by the United States in 1948. It clearly states that economic human rights are guaranteed to all human beings.

Economic Human Rights are specified in Articles 23, 25, & 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as outlined below. Or read the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. More info is also available on our human rights page.

Article 23:
The right to LIVING WAGE JOBS, to safe working conditions, and to form and join unions.

Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for him/herself and his/her family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his/her interests.

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Article 25:
The right to well-being of a person and their family, including: HOUSING, HEALTHCARE, & FOOD, CHILDCARE, & SECURITY for all those who are unemployed, unable to work, or working at home raising children, or caring for other family members.

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of him/herself and of his or her family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his or her control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

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Article 26:
The right to EDUCATION, including higher education & training.

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

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For the full text of the
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS CLICK HERE!

POWER's Demonstration for Healthcare Justice.
Portland, Maine, November 27, 2007.

When we unite to claim our rights together we have POWER!

Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights = POWER!
Contact POWER

Winning our economic rights;
Putting poverty on trial;
Building a Maine that truly is the way life should be - for ALL of us!!!

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