Cook County Hospital, Chicago
Our health care system is under attack! Our hospitals and clinics which serve over 80% poor, black, latino and immigrant people is being dismantled and if we don’t fight back against these attacks it will remain only the skeleton of it’s former self. Where will we go when we get sick and can’t afford the $10-$50 dollar co-pays per clinic visit?! What clinics will we go to when they become run by the federal government and bill for their services? Where will we get our medicines when our pharmacies are eliminated because our clinics are sold off? What hospital will we go to when the in-patient services are eliminated? This is what CEO Foley and the new governing board is proposing. Already over 300 nurses, doctors and medical staff received their lay off notices and there are still more to come! Every attack on our health care workers and our hospitals and clinics is ultimately an attack on us. We cannot remain silent! We have got to fight back. THESE ARE THE PROPOSED CUTS:
- Eliminate all of inpatient care at Provident Hospital!
- Eliminate all of inpatient care at Oak Forest Hospital!
- Close more ACHN clinics and turn others like Robbins Community Clinic and Cottage Grove into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC’s)!
- Charge $10 co-pays for every clinic visit!
- 900 unfilled positions are already eliminated!
- 500 more lay-offs still to come!
Foley took charge of Cook County's troubled health system in May. Photo: Erik Unger
Foley and the governing board have planned town hall meetings where they aim to fool our community into accepting these changes. We will be going with the aim to expose their lies. We will also be organizing a demonstration in front of the hospital and so we need everyone’s input and participation.
PROTEST/PROTESTA
@ STROGER HOSPITAL
Wednesday November 4th
4:00pm
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So what does health care reform mean to me/community? FLYER
There has been so much talk in the media about healthcare reform that has left many of us confused. We know that the US spends so much more money than any other industrialized nation on healthcare (16% of GDP) and yet we have some of the poorest health outcomes. We know that millions upon millions in this country are uninsured or underinsured and that there needs to be a change in the current healthcare system. However, the media has turned this debate into a circus and many of us are confused about what the future of healthcare in this country will be and many more of us are left out of the conversation. On one side you have the Republicans demonizing a plan that would attempt to provide health care for the 47 million uninsured people in this country and on the other side you have Obama and the Democrats putting forward a plan that is supposed to challenge the private health insurance giants yet at the same time saying “No federal payment for undocumented Aliens.”
So what does healthcare reform mean for our community?
What does it mean for our undocumented brothers and sisters?
What are our healthcare needs and which if any of these plans will provide the services?
Come join us in a community discussion about the current healthcare debate. Let’s talk about the various plans and what it means for our health and the health of our community.
September 17, 2009 @ 6:00pm
Iglesia Del Pacto
2221 S. California Ave, lower level
Speakers:
JESSICA PALS, ORGANIZAR FOR CITIZEN ACTION/ILLINOIS
TOM WILSON, CHICAGO SINGLE PAYER ACTION NETWORK
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The Fierce Urgency of Now: Health Care and Human Rights for All
Why has the debate over health care reform involved partisan politicians, media pundits, corporate interests, and hired agitators rather than the people? Why has the single payer option been demonized on the right, the media, and even the liberal establishment? How does the broader crisis in health care in this country–clinic closings, epidemics of disease related to inequality and inaccessibility to care, indifference to wellness in our schools, our public services, the military–relate to the unwillingness to address growing economic gaps in our society and the abdication of public authority for the sake of private concerns? How can the United States learn from other communities about how to deliver care, promote wellness, and affirm the public interest, in order to achieve human rights, here and around the world?
Saturday, September 19 2-5PM
Access Living, 115 W Chicago
Dialogue with:
Vijay Prashad
Acitivist, Scholar, author of “Darker Nations:A people’s history of the Third World”
Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle
Organizer with STOP, representing the campaign against mental health clinic closings
Dr. Linda Murray
Leading public health advocate, Medical Director, Woodlawn Adult Health Center
Yalda Afshar
Public health advocate and practicioner
+YOU!
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