Call/write your Congressperson now!--Healthcare Reform vote in a few hours...

1min now! Crunch time! Call your Representative & Senators:
Easy steps through Doctors for America here; or, if you're not a physician/medical student, also easy to find steps to call your Representative here.  Also, SPREAD THE WORD.

Here's a quick animation (just ignore the bad repititious music...) that very effectively illustrates why we are in dire need of this health reform, & what this reform will do: 


At the speech on Friday at George Mason University, this 1-year old voice urging for health care reform--which has so often been meek, confused, and convoluted--seems to have finally matured, and found its clear intelligent populist voice.  See for yourself:


If you've still got interest/energy, and want to see how it went down tonight at a House of Representatives meeting with President Obama, see below.   Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz described Obama's address as "the most emotional speech I've ever seen him give."

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Sex in Medicine--& a medical student's reflection

For the second consecutive year, medical students, faculty advisors, and a collaboration of a dozen student clubs at SUNY Downstate organized a series of lectures, discussions, and workshops on a topic often overlooked—and a facet often underserved—within American medicine.  In February, 2010, “Sex in Medicine Week” allowed participants and audience members to explore issues ranging from “Relationships, Sexuality, and Disability,” to sexual assault & the healthcare provider’s role, to the unique experiences of LGBT patients within a healthcare setting.  

What follows is a reflection written after attending a “Sex in Medicine Week” event. The author is a SUNY Downstate 2nd year medical student.

Conscientious Care for the Patient
By Alaina Burns

    Imagine that you and your life partner are about to board a cruise ship for a vacation with your three children when your partner suddenly suffers a massive stroke. Your partner is taken to the nearest hospital, but you are physically denied visitation rights; your partner dies eighteen hours later, and you are allowed entrance to the room only when the priest is reading the final rights.
    …Or imagine that you have been receiving care from your physician for a chronic medical condition, and one day, you happen to mention your partner. Your physician, who has been treating you for over a year, suddenly refuses to write you your next prescription.
    …Or imagine that you are a woman who has been receiving preparatory treatment for in vitro fertilization from the only in-network provider offered by your insurance plan. When, after a year, the staff at the clinic learn about your partner, they subsequently refuse to continue treatment.
    These cases might seem unbelievable, but they are all true; and they all took place in recent years, right here in the United States: in Miami, Washington state and California, respectively.  Welcome to the difficult reality faced by many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients who try to navigate the American healthcare system.
   Doctor’s offices and hospitals are often vulnerable spaces for all patients, but they can be particularly unpleasant for people who identify as LGBT. As part of SUNY Downstate’s 2010 “Sex in Medicine Week,” Dr. Maile O’Hara gave a talk, entitled, “Being a Good Doctor for ALL of Your Patients: Specific Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients,”* in which she spoke about what medical professionals can do to provide more sensitive care for LGBT patients. Dr. O’Hara, a clinical psychologist at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, has worked extensively with the LGBT population.
    Among Dr. O’Hara’s recommendations for healthcare practitioners are these:

• Treat your patients who are LGBT with the same respect with which you treat all patients.
• Recognize that many LGBT people have had negative experiences with the health care system in the past.
• Ensure that your office has a nondiscrimination policy and that decorations and selections of items such as magazines and pamphlets are inclusive of the LGBT community.
• Treat the partners of LGBT patients as you would spouses, even if they are not legally married.

    In an era when most people can rest assured knowing that their civil rights are guaranteed, LGBT individuals, on the other hand, are made aware that discrimination can still lurk in the most unexpected of places. No national anti-discrimination law exists that protects lesbian, gay and transgender people, and among states, only twenty-one and the District of Columbia currently protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
    Visiting the doctor, for any person, can often be stressful and scary for various reasons.  But for LGBT people, in an unwelcoming healthcare setting, the experience can be doubly terrifying. Educating yourself and being aware of the unique issues faced by people who are LGBT is the first step in providing conscientious care for all of your patients.

*To view the slides presented during Dr. Maile O’Hara’s talk, given at SUNY Downstate on February 25, 2010, please click on the “LGBT Q&A” link on the top left margin of this page.

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Health Professionals March for Reform, March 22

WHAT: A march on Washington for health reform
WHEN: Monday, March 22, 2010, 11am
WHO: Hundreds of health professionals (doctors, nurses, and more) from across the country
WHY: Our patients need it, our communities need it, our country needs it. A sea of white coats and scrubs on Pennsylvania Ave will give Congress a strong message – we must pass health reform now.
MORE INFO: www.healthmarch.org

Who Are We?

We are health professionals — doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physicians assistants, and friends of health professionals.

We come from all over the country and one thing unites us: each of us has been touched by the patients we see and the struggles they have faced in our current health care system. This is why we are marching together to fight for the health care reform that we can and must achieve as a nation.
Do we agree on every single aspect of health reform? Of course not. Do we agree that moving forward with health reform will lay the foundation to a better health care system for our patients and for America? Absolutely!

Our patients need better access to care, a regulated insurance industry, improved quality and lower costs. Health professionals know that health reform for our patients and for America is not optional.

That's why we are marching on Washington DC on March 22 — to make sure Congress hears us and gets the job done.

We know. We care. Reform can't wait.

See you on March 22,

 For more details visit www.healthmarch.org.

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Help to spread the Healthcare Reform Facts now!

Help to get the word out on why this healthcare reform is crucial, by printing & posting up fact sheets like this one:

Or, you can also go to that Organizing for America webpage to share many healthcare reform facts via Facebook, Twitter, or email.

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