Save RIte Care: Come Lobby at the State House this Wednesday!

Hey everyone,

Welcome back from spring break. If you have been reading the newspaper or watching the news, then you know that Rhode Island is at a major crossroad. We have a large deficit, and the governor has proposed major cuts to RIte Care--the insurance program that covers low-income families.

If the supplemental budget, which is up for vote sometime in the next month, passes, then thousands of kids in RI will lose their health insurance. A few of us second years have been lobbying state legislators over the past few months, but we need more help (especially since we will have less time now with the boards and all). It would also be awesome if some people were able to take on the task of coordinating our collaboration with Ocean State Action, the organization that helps us lobby.

So please, please come out and lobbying for RIte care this Wednesday, April 2nd. We will be meeting in the BMC at 3:00 pm and carpooling to the State House where we will be speaking with legislators and hopefully changing their mind. This is a great opportunity to get involved with advocacy at a statewide level and keep kids insured and healthy.

If you have never lobbied before, don’t worry. We usually approach the representatives in groups of two, and we will have some information and pointers before we start. Please email juan_vasquez@brown.edu if you plan to join us.


-Juan and Margret

Contraceptive Access in RI

Hi everyone,

There's a House Health, Education & Welfare committee hearing at the state house scheduled for Wednesday, March 26th at the State house. In submission is Bill H7576, which will bring reprimand to pharmacies that do not fill prescriptions for contraceptives in a timely manner or follow rapid protocol for their order. The bill will also encompass over-the-counter access to Emergency Contraception, stating that pharmacies not carrying the product must (1) ensure expedited order or (2) provide appropriate referral. Denial of care is not an option.

How you can help? If any of you or your friends have ever had trouble in RI (or elsewhere) getting contraception or EC filled at a pharmacy and would be willing to testify about it, please contact me. I will be part of the testifying panel on the 26th; the house needs to see medical student support on this bill, as it will affect the implementation ofour clinical advice by patients in the future.

Please let me know of your interest by e-mailing me at brian_nguyen@brown.edu

Thanks for your consideration.

~Brian Nguyen

Brown University Refugee Symposium

The International Institute of Rhode Island, Physicians for Human Rights, Miriam Hospital, the Rhode Island Department of Health, and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University present:

Issues in Refugee Health:

Barriers to Medical Access in Rhode Island

Each year, more than 150-300 refugees are resettled in Rhode Island from troubled countries all over the world, with the most recent arrivals coming from Africa. Please join medical experts, students, and refugee community health supporters for a symposium designed to explore barriers to local healthcare access for resettled refugees.

Wednesday, March 19
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Brown University
Bio Medical Center, Room 202
Corner of Brown and Meeting St.

To RSVP, please contact:

margret_chang@brown.edu

katieambrose@hotmail.com

Health and Human Rights in the Gaza Strip

Health and Human Rights in the Gaza strip will be this Wed. March 12 from 12-12:50 in BMC 202. The event will feature Dr. Nancy Murray, a founder of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and president of the Gaza Mental Health Foundation Inc.

Questions? Contact Sareh_Rajaee@brown.edu.

March 12 Discussion with Dr. Jim Kim

Hi everyone,

I'm sure the email below will be of interest to lots of people.

Thanks,

Margret
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Please join us for a special seminar with world-renowned medical and public health pioneer Jim Yong Kim '82 on Wednesday, March 12, from 2:30-4:00 pm.

Jim is former director of the World Health Organization's Department of HIV/AIDS, a co-founder of Partners in Health (www.pih.org, profiled in the Tracy Kidder book, Mountains Beyond Mountains), and a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow; and holds appointments with the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities at Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has done truly pioneering work in improve health in impoverished communities around the world.

The session will be a unique opportunity for an in-depth conversation with this global leader. Jim will present work on Global Health Delivery that he's undertaking with Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School, followed by discussion with the group. Expertise in global health is not required, and the discussion will yield tremendous learning relevant to many areas of global or community-based work.

Space is limited - please RSVP no later than Weds., March 5, to Wendy Perelman, wendy_perelman@brown.edu.

The seminar will take place at the Population Studies Center, 68 Waterman Street (between Prospect and Brown Streets).

For more background on Jim:
Profile in Brown Alumni Monthly: www.brownalumnimagazine.com/november/december-2006/the-healer.html

Interview in The Lancet: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/socialmedicine/News/kim_profile_lancet.pdf

Hope you can join us!

Roger Nozaki
Director, Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service
Associate Dean of the College
Brown University
Box 1974, 25 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
T: 401/863-1446
F: 401/863-3094
E: roger_nozaki@brown.edu