Update - Oregon Public Health Association Meeting

Two reports from the Oregon Public Health Association’s recent meetings are linked under our Resources tab or directly here. Each one is about 55 minutes long. They consist ofinterview-conversations with Sen. Elizabeth Steiner-Hayward, a leading member of the Senate Health committee (in Part 1); Sen. Jeff Merkley, of the US Senate (in Part 2); Alberto Moreno, director of the Oregon Latino Health Coalition (in Part 2); and many other short interviews that give a flavor of the interests of public health professionals. Also there are timely and insightful comments of panel members on a plenary, What’s Up and What’s Next for Recreational/ Retail Marijuana? These aired first on KBOO radio in November

by Roberta Hall, MVHCA Chair

The 2015 meeting of the Oregon Public Health Association, Oct. 12 and 13 at Oregon State University, featured lots of Oregon leaders who spoke out for health and for healthcare reform. OPHA is an important partner of Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates and Health Care for All Oregon.

Here is a link to the OPHA program that aired on KBOO radio Monday, November 16 — Part 1 featured a conversation with Sen. Elizabeth Steiner-Hayward, Marie Harvey, Bruce Thomson, Pat Alene, a poster paper on public health archives with Max Johnson, and excerpts from the plenary on retail/commercial marijuana regulations.  I asked a few about their views on universal health care……  not all though. All are doing interesting work.

Part 2 will be posted at the same site after the program airs on KBOO on Nov. 30 at 11 (90.7 in Portland, 91.9 in Hood River, and 104.3 in the Corvallis area). It will feature Sen. Merkley, Alberto Moreno, a poster paper on a tobacco cessation project in Albany, plus conversations with Sarah Holland, Judy Sundquist, and James Becraft.

In the photo below, MVHCA members Dick Gold, Carol Gold, Betty Johnson on the left, talking with guest Speaker Ted Marmor and MVHCA member Marie Mingo on the right, a few days after the OPHA meeting. Marmor spoke about the history of legislated concepts about what categories of people have become officially entitled to publicly funded medical care in America, from the 1960s to the present. He has written many books about social policy, specifically about medical care.  He believes that knowing this history could help advocates for universal care do a better job of advocacy.

The picture below shows Charlie Fautin of the Benton County Health Department, which is a co-sponsor of the Nov. 19 legislative forum that MVHCA is also co-sponsoring; Marie Harvey, an Associate Dean in the College of Public Health at OSU and Program Chair of the OPHA meetings; and Kim Krull, Interim Program Manager for OPHA.

Below the photo is of Tammy Bray, Executive Dean of the Division of Health Sciences, OSU, who gave a welcoming address; and state Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, keynote speaker on Oct. 12. She addressed “Public Health in the Era of the Internet: Lessons Learned from Immunizations."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (below), keynote speaker on Oct. 13; he described progress in health care reform and showed his approach to convincing other legislators to join him in advancing a variety of public health issues. His topic was “Creating Strong Public Health Policies for our Reformed Health Care System."
 

Below pictures Alberto Moreno, director of the Oregon Latino Health Coalition, an enthusiastic spokesperson for universal health care. He talked about “Latinos in Oregon: A Policy Framework for Health."

This photo shows the newly elected president of OPHA, Robina Ingram-Rich. In her acceptance speech she noted that OPHA is non-partisant but said “we are political,” and enthusiastically urged all OPHA members to get involved in policy issues — including voting and lobbying — to move health issues forward.

Additionally, Physicians for a National Health Program provided a session titled “CCOs and the ACA in Oregon: an Update. Doctors Mike Huntington, Sam Metz, and Peter Mahr were on the panel. The final program at the conference considered "What’s Up and What’s Next for Recreational/Retail Marijuana.” It featured speakers representing the retail side of the new program, an analyst from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, and three public health professionals from OHA and from Multnomah County Health Department.

Audio recordings of interviews and excerpts from the program were made by Roberta Hall and will be available here and on the radio at KBOO soon. Other information including slides from the PNHP panel will be posted on OPHA’s website.

You can help MVHCA as we work for publicly funded universal health care like the rest of the developed world by donating, hosting a house party, signing up for the newsletter, and attending our monthly meetings. You can also Like us on Facebook, and Follow us on Twitter. Thank you.