Chapter Point Person: Tom Reed

The Chico Chapter of PNHP California usually meets on different Mondays each month at 6:30 PM at the Grilla Bites Restaurant at 196 Cohasset Road, Chico.

MAY MEETING: LOCATION CHANGE
Monday, May 21, 2012
Chico Peace and Justice Center
526 Broadway, Chico

AGENDA
The sole item on the agenda will be planning a local response to the imminent ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the Affordable Care Act, and establishment of an ad hoc committee to implement our response. We will develop contingency plans recognizing the possibility that the Court may either sustain or overturn the Act (in whole or part).

We are inviting representatives of other organizations’ who support single payer/Medicare for All to attend the meeting and join us in this effort. Please plan on attending and feel free to invite other single payer supporters.

Newsletter: Chapter Spotlight – April

On March 6 the Chico Chapter of PNHP California, in association with Chico’s Enloe Hospital, presented a forum on “The Future of Medicare.” The forum, attended by over 100 medical professionals and community members, was held at the Enloe Hospital Conference Center and was moderated by Enloe Hospital CEO Mike Wiltermood.

Panelists included PNHP California Executive Director Bill Skeen MD, Chico physician and PNHP member Ken Logan MD, and Nina Weiler-Harwell, PhD, Associate State Director for Advocacy for AARP California. All three panelists emphasized the positive role Medicare has played in American society since its establishment in 1965 and the importance of preserving it for current beneficiaries and future generations. Drs. Skeen and Logan received a generally positive response from the audience when they called them to preserve Medicare through its expansion into a system of universal, single-payer health care, “Improved Medicare for All.”

Local PNHP members have established a cordial and productive relationship with the Enloe Hospital administration, having jointly presented a highly successful forum on health care reform in March 2011 as well.

Newsletter: Chapter Spotlight – October

CHICO PNHP MEMBERS SPEAK OUT FOR SINGLE PAYER AT TWO EVENTS
By Tom Reed

Members of the Chico Chapter of PNHP California participated in a Forum on Health Care Reform sponsored by the Paradise Center for Tolerance and Non-Violence on August 31st in Paradise, California.

The event, attended by fifty enthusiastic community members, was moderated by Tom Reed, a Chico PNHP member. PNHP member Dr. Ken Logan joined other panelists, David Welch of the California Nurses Association and Forest Harlan, President of the Butte County Health Care Coalition, in a spirited discussion of the inadequacies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the single payer alternative as expressed in SB810 and HR 676.

Attendees were generally supportive of the speakers’ pro single payer position. PNHP literature was distributed and a number of individuals expressed interest in being contacted regarding future single payer activities.

During a second event on September 15th, Ken Logan, MD, Paul-O’Rourke Babb, FNP, and Tom Reed, MA, MPA, addressed an audience of over fifty persons at a Health Care Reform panel discussion in Quincy, California, sponsored by the Plumas County Democratic Club. Attendees included County Supervisor Lorie Simpson, and Robert Turcotte, head of the local American Legion, both of whom expressed support for the speakers’ pro single-payer position.

As a result of this discussion, a number of attendees said they would provide PNHP literature to their own physicians. Five attendees expressed interest in organizing a Plumas County single-payer organization and received assurances from Logan, O’Rourke-Babb and Reed that PNHP members and other single payer activists in Chico would provide them any necessary support and assistance. They have maintained contact with the activists in Quincy and are advised that the Plumas County Democratic Club will discuss possible formation of such an organization at the next meeting.

Newsletter: Chapter Spotlight – April
By Tom Reed

The Chico Chapter of PNHP California initiated, organized and co-sponsored a highly successful Health Care Reform Forum on March 9th.

The Forum, which was attended by over 300 people was co-sponsored by Chicos’ Enloe Hospital, which hosted the event at its Conference Center, and the Butte-Glenn Medical Society. Forum participants included Hank Abrons, MD, MPH, President of PNHP California, local physicians Jeffrey Lobosky, MD, and Richard Thorpe, MD, along with Mike Wiltermood, CEO of Enloe Hospital. The Forum was moderated by local oncologist and PNHP member David Potter, MD.

The Forum was broadcast live on radio KPAY AM. Dr. Abrons was interviewed live on KZFR FM, prior to the event, which also received extensive coverage in the local print media.

This was the first public action of the Chico Chapter of PNHP California. Every member of the Chapter participated in its’ organizing and made substantial contributions to the success of the event, which has established the PNHP Chico chapter locally as a significant player in the single-payer movement.

Read a news article about the event here.