Jackson County Democrats

Dear Southern Oregon HCAN Coalition,

Wow- what a two weeks it's been.  We had an amazingly positive HB 2009 hearing in Grants Pass of all places. Oregon Action, La Clinica, NAMI and the Jackson County Democrats provided great testimony.  President Obama gave a budget address last Tuesday in which he said, Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.”  Two of our coalition partners, Oregon Action and OEA, authored an op-ed that ran in the Ashland Daily Tidings the next day with the President’s quote in it.  Nan and the Democrats generated great letters. On Thursday, the President released a ten year budget with $634 Billion in a health care reform reserve. Yesterday, the President announced that $165 Million of the stimulus package will be used to fund community health centers, including 126 new health centers. Yesterday, he announced his appointments to HHS Secretary (Kathleen Sebelius) and the Director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform (Nancy DeParle) and on Thursday he will host a White House Health Care Summit. This is a momentous time for all of us.

We have a lot to do.  HCAN wants to have mid-April events throughout the United States.  We have heard from Senator Merkley that he will participate in a Southern Oregon event.  We want to have a coalition meeting on Wednesday, March 11 from 2-3:30 PM at the SEIU 503 office in Cobblestone Village, 1257 N Riverside #7 to plan our event.  Can you come?

I have also been asked by a number of groups, including Citizens for Peace and Justice and Oregon Action, whether HCAN will sign on as a co-sponsor of a March 21 rally, “Celebrating a Community of Peace on the six year anniversary of the Iraq War.  Jeff Golden will be the MC and John Frohnmayer will be the keynote speaker. (For info about Jeff Golden see: http://www.unafraidthebook.com/aboutjeff.html.  For info about John Frohnmayer see: (see Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frohnmayer.)

I would like to have “Southern Oregon Health Care for America NOW” listed as a co-sponsor and wanted to see if this is acceptable to all of you. None of you as individuals or your organizations would be listed unless you agree to separately.  Please let me know if any of you object to HCAN being listed as a co-sponsor of this event.

Thanks for all that you do.

To your health,

Steve

Steve Neuberger, Southern Oregon Organizer