Last month’s Summer Conference on universal health care was a huge success, with activists from a variety of backgrounds convening at the University of Southern California to hear about the state of the single payer movement and where we go from here. The second annual, all-day event was organized by Physicians for a National Health Program.
Event highlights included a moving presentation by artist Teresa Brown-Gold about her project, Art As Social Inquiry, featuring portraits of Americans affected by our broken healthcare system; a highly informative and astonishing presentation by Dr. Jeoffry Gordon of U.C. San Diego about the effect economic inequality has on societal health; and a closing address by the original sponsor of SB 810, former State Sen. Sheila Kuehl. These and the other conference presentations are available to view at http://pnhpcalifornia.org/summer-conference-2011-speaker-presentations/.
One of the conference’s breakout sessions featured members of our California OneCare team: Executive Director Andrew McGuire, board member and blogger Al Saavedra, and board member Walter Heath. They each spoke about how universal healthcare activists can effectively use social networking sites and blogging to educate more citizens about single payer and help advance the cause. At the end of the long day, I’m sure everyone who attended felt re-energized to continue to fight for national, public health insurance!
Sylvia@californiaonecare.org