Lobbying for RIte Care
4/9/08
RIte Care is Rhode Island’s Medicaid-managed care program for low-income children and families. It is considered one of the most successful public health insurance programs in America. Rhode Island is a leading state in services such as timely prenatal care for pregnant women in the country, has the lowest child death rate and has one of the ten best rates of children’s health insurance coverage. More than 110,000 people currently participate in the program, but a legislative proposal that was on the table in April would deny up to 15,000 individuals from participating.
Brown students, in partnership with the local advocacy group Ocean State Action, have been visiting the State House to assess legislators’ stances on changing RIte Care and to lobby for the preservation of the program’s funding. In April, I visited the State House with experienced second-year students, learned about the lobbying process, and encouraged AMSA members to consider attending the next lobby day. Since the lobbying event in April, cuts have been made to the program and there is more work for advocacy groups to do in defense of RIte Care. AMSA is just beginning to formally join this effort and hopes to increase participation among members next year.
From a June 1st, 2008 article in the Providence Journal:
“Among the 2,800 already removed from RIte Care, just under half are illegal immigrants. But the other half have the right to be here. And all of them are children.
Some, in fact, are very sick children. Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, the HMO that cares for about 60 percent of RIte Care enrollees, including 50,000 children, has tallied the number of its patients who were affected by the RIte Care change. Among those dropped from RIte Care are 54 children with asthma, 50 with attention deficit disorder and eight with diabetes. One is in the midst of treatment for bone cancer and has already lost a leg. One needs a ventilator to breathe and is currently living at the state-run Tavares Center. Several have cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, depression or sickle cell anemia.”
- KH
Sunday, July 13, 2008
World AIDS Week
12/2/07
AMSA members contributed two key events to the Brown-wide HIV/AIDS awareness week in early December. Co-president Lauren Goddard and member Ali Zarrabi had attended the AMSA Microbicides Conference earlier in the year and presented a formal presentation in December educating students about this novel preventative approach. Although unable to attend the AMSA conference, I played a small role in this event, sharing with students why I am a proponent of HIV prevention that empowers women, allowing them the ability to control their protection from the spread of disease. After Lauren and Ali gave an excellent talk, I described the Microbicides Development Act, the need to increase funding for microbicides research and development, and how students can reach out to legislators in support of the Act. Together, Lauren, Ali and I worked with event attendees to write advocacy letters.
The second event AMSA organized was a talk by Dr. Anne De Groot about HIV vaccine research and development. Using an engaging and interactive style, she reviewed the mechanism of HIV’s interaction with cells and its global effect on the immune system. Dr. De Groot described the frustrating efforts made by pharmaceutical companies to find an effective vaccine, and discussed her own research interest in developing an epitope-based HIV vaccine. She fielded questions, and in response to a query about microbicides, she described promising research efforts that involve using RNA interference technology in a microbicide to downregulate the expression of CCR5/CXCR4 and inhibit viral entry into cells. Dr. De Groot gave a highly informative talk that gave physicians in training insight into difficulties of outsmarting infectious diseases and finding the funding and support to attempt it.
- KH
12/2/07
AMSA members contributed two key events to the Brown-wide HIV/AIDS awareness week in early December. Co-president Lauren Goddard and member Ali Zarrabi had attended the AMSA Microbicides Conference earlier in the year and presented a formal presentation in December educating students about this novel preventative approach. Although unable to attend the AMSA conference, I played a small role in this event, sharing with students why I am a proponent of HIV prevention that empowers women, allowing them the ability to control their protection from the spread of disease. After Lauren and Ali gave an excellent talk, I described the Microbicides Development Act, the need to increase funding for microbicides research and development, and how students can reach out to legislators in support of the Act. Together, Lauren, Ali and I worked with event attendees to write advocacy letters.
The second event AMSA organized was a talk by Dr. Anne De Groot about HIV vaccine research and development. Using an engaging and interactive style, she reviewed the mechanism of HIV’s interaction with cells and its global effect on the immune system. Dr. De Groot described the frustrating efforts made by pharmaceutical companies to find an effective vaccine, and discussed her own research interest in developing an epitope-based HIV vaccine. She fielded questions, and in response to a query about microbicides, she described promising research efforts that involve using RNA interference technology in a microbicide to downregulate the expression of CCR5/CXCR4 and inhibit viral entry into cells. Dr. De Groot gave a highly informative talk that gave physicians in training insight into difficulties of outsmarting infectious diseases and finding the funding and support to attempt it.
- KH
Trans Day of Remembrance Talk and a Partnership with Lifelines Rhode Island: Addressing Trans Health Care
11/13/2007
At The Warren Alpert Medical School, LGBTQ issues are handled primarily by GLAAM (Gays, Lesbians and Allies Advancing Medicine). This past year, AMSA co-sponsored a Trans Day of Remembrance talk and is also trying to establish learning and volunteer opportunities for students at the local trans advocacy organization, Lifelines Rhode Island.
In planning the Trans Day of Remembrance talk for GLAAM, I wanted to include AMSA in co-sponsorship to remind AMSA members that health care issues faced by people of trans experience are also part of AMSA’s advocacy purview.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The day is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the Remembering the Dead web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world.
A Boston-based trans poet and activist joined us on Nov. 13th in honor of TDoR and spoke about the role of physicians in the larger movement for justice for trans people who are at increased risk of violence, avoidance of preventative healthcare and inadequate care in the medical system.
Our speaker’s talk helped educate physicians in training on what it means to be transgender and how this state of being is different from the behaviors and conditions that are wrongly thought of and misdiagnosed as transgender. She and I both agree that physicians need to grasp the transgender experience in terms of its medical definition, the emotions/stresses that shape the experience, the threats to safety that some individuals feel, and the tension between self and society (how transgendered individuals adapt to or resist societal/familial expectations). We hoped that her audience would come away with a better understanding of the difficult, but inspiring journeys individuals embark on to find harmony between mind and body.
As a follow-up to this talk, I have sought to establish a relationship between AMSA/GLAAM and Lifelines Rhode Island. Founded in 2006, Lifelines is, according to the organization’s website, “the only statewide, multi-service nonprofit organization focused on meeting the needs of transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit, gender variant, and intersex (TGI) people in Rhode Island and surrounding regions.” Scouting out the possibilities for AMSA members to get involved at Lifelines, I attended sensitivity training sessions there and have tried to advertise these sessions to AMSA members. Through these trainings, I learned about the range of stresses trans people experience when interacting with the health system: a person who is legally male may encounter billing issues at the gynecologist or office staff who give the patient a hard time, patients are physically abused and ridiculed in hospitals, and children who assert their true gender identities may be met with coercive treatments by psychiatrists. One of my projects this summer is working with Lifelines members and allies to organize an HIV testing event for the local trans community, and I am working to facilitate the scheduling training sessions at local ERs and psychiatry departments. Next year, I’d like to recruit a couple other AMSA members who’d be interested in participating in the Advocates Program, which allows volunteers to attend medical visits with patients who have come to Lifelines for assistance.
See http://glaam.blogspot.com/ for more on LGBTQ activism at Brown Med.
- KH
11/13/2007
At The Warren Alpert Medical School, LGBTQ issues are handled primarily by GLAAM (Gays, Lesbians and Allies Advancing Medicine). This past year, AMSA co-sponsored a Trans Day of Remembrance talk and is also trying to establish learning and volunteer opportunities for students at the local trans advocacy organization, Lifelines Rhode Island.
In planning the Trans Day of Remembrance talk for GLAAM, I wanted to include AMSA in co-sponsorship to remind AMSA members that health care issues faced by people of trans experience are also part of AMSA’s advocacy purview.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The day is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the Remembering the Dead web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world.
A Boston-based trans poet and activist joined us on Nov. 13th in honor of TDoR and spoke about the role of physicians in the larger movement for justice for trans people who are at increased risk of violence, avoidance of preventative healthcare and inadequate care in the medical system.
Our speaker’s talk helped educate physicians in training on what it means to be transgender and how this state of being is different from the behaviors and conditions that are wrongly thought of and misdiagnosed as transgender. She and I both agree that physicians need to grasp the transgender experience in terms of its medical definition, the emotions/stresses that shape the experience, the threats to safety that some individuals feel, and the tension between self and society (how transgendered individuals adapt to or resist societal/familial expectations). We hoped that her audience would come away with a better understanding of the difficult, but inspiring journeys individuals embark on to find harmony between mind and body.
As a follow-up to this talk, I have sought to establish a relationship between AMSA/GLAAM and Lifelines Rhode Island. Founded in 2006, Lifelines is, according to the organization’s website, “the only statewide, multi-service nonprofit organization focused on meeting the needs of transgender, transsexual, Two Spirit, gender variant, and intersex (TGI) people in Rhode Island and surrounding regions.” Scouting out the possibilities for AMSA members to get involved at Lifelines, I attended sensitivity training sessions there and have tried to advertise these sessions to AMSA members. Through these trainings, I learned about the range of stresses trans people experience when interacting with the health system: a person who is legally male may encounter billing issues at the gynecologist or office staff who give the patient a hard time, patients are physically abused and ridiculed in hospitals, and children who assert their true gender identities may be met with coercive treatments by psychiatrists. One of my projects this summer is working with Lifelines members and allies to organize an HIV testing event for the local trans community, and I am working to facilitate the scheduling training sessions at local ERs and psychiatry departments. Next year, I’d like to recruit a couple other AMSA members who’d be interested in participating in the Advocates Program, which allows volunteers to attend medical visits with patients who have come to Lifelines for assistance.
See http://glaam.blogspot.com/ for more on LGBTQ activism at Brown Med.
- KH
Caring for Your Hispanic Patients: AMSA works with the Women and Infants Family Van
5/5/08
I first learned about the Women and Infants Family Van by signing up for an AMA-sponsored volunteer opportunity. During that volunteer experience, I discovered that a large portion of the uninsured patients who benefit from the Van’s screening services are Hispanic. I also learned that the Family Van had yet to visit the med school to discuss their work and encourage students to join them in their mission:
“The Family Van is a minority health promotion center on wheels! The van travels throughout the state with scheduled visits at housing units, community centers, neighborhood health centers, high schools, and shopping centers. The van regularly attends health fairs providing health screening and education in a variety of settings…
The Family Van is a culturally sensitive, comprehensive health outreach program, designed to address health disparities in our communities.”
See website: http://www.womenandinfants.org/body.cfm?id=92&action=detail&ref=61
In an effort to spread the news about the Van and about the uninsured Hispanic population it predominantly serves, Heidi Wilder and I invited health care providers from the Van to give a lunchtime presentation at the medical school. Part of the goal of this presentation was to extend the cultural sensitivity training that medical students begin in the Doctoring Course, by focusing on an important local minority group whose health issues are understudied, whose cultural norms are often unfamiliar to health care workers, and whose access to health care demands significant improvement.
A week before the talk, I had volunteered with the Van, performing blood pressure screening at a Latina women’s health conference. During my introduction to their talk, I reflected on my experience at the conference: “After telling one woman attendee that her blood pressure was within normal range, her friend and translator then told her the news in Spanish. The woman looked relieved, and asked me if I was sure the numbers were correct. She said these screenings are so important to her: she doesn’t have health insurance. I decided to carefully take her reading one more time just to make sure she felt satisfied. During this interaction and others throughout the evening, it was clear to me that the Family Van – with its core group of providers and its volunteers – plays an important role in providing screening and health services to the uninsured population of RI, as well as to the Hispanic population and other minority communities in the state.” Given the increased presence of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state, and the fact that the notion of preventative care is often a new idea for many immigrants, the Van is an important link between the Hispanic community and health resources.
Family Van presenters passed out pamphlets and schedules of their upcoming volunteer events, and I am continuing to work with them to plan events for the coming fall. One event will provide screening services and an information session on Hepatitis A, B and C at a local church.
Thank you to Family Van providers Mary Falvey, Angelina Newbury, Yanery Garcia-Cabral and Kyle Davenport for all your help!
- Krista Hachey
5/5/08
I first learned about the Women and Infants Family Van by signing up for an AMA-sponsored volunteer opportunity. During that volunteer experience, I discovered that a large portion of the uninsured patients who benefit from the Van’s screening services are Hispanic. I also learned that the Family Van had yet to visit the med school to discuss their work and encourage students to join them in their mission:
“The Family Van is a minority health promotion center on wheels! The van travels throughout the state with scheduled visits at housing units, community centers, neighborhood health centers, high schools, and shopping centers. The van regularly attends health fairs providing health screening and education in a variety of settings…
The Family Van is a culturally sensitive, comprehensive health outreach program, designed to address health disparities in our communities.”
See website: http://www.womenandinfants.org/body.cfm?id=92&action=detail&ref=61
In an effort to spread the news about the Van and about the uninsured Hispanic population it predominantly serves, Heidi Wilder and I invited health care providers from the Van to give a lunchtime presentation at the medical school. Part of the goal of this presentation was to extend the cultural sensitivity training that medical students begin in the Doctoring Course, by focusing on an important local minority group whose health issues are understudied, whose cultural norms are often unfamiliar to health care workers, and whose access to health care demands significant improvement.
A week before the talk, I had volunteered with the Van, performing blood pressure screening at a Latina women’s health conference. During my introduction to their talk, I reflected on my experience at the conference: “After telling one woman attendee that her blood pressure was within normal range, her friend and translator then told her the news in Spanish. The woman looked relieved, and asked me if I was sure the numbers were correct. She said these screenings are so important to her: she doesn’t have health insurance. I decided to carefully take her reading one more time just to make sure she felt satisfied. During this interaction and others throughout the evening, it was clear to me that the Family Van – with its core group of providers and its volunteers – plays an important role in providing screening and health services to the uninsured population of RI, as well as to the Hispanic population and other minority communities in the state.” Given the increased presence of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state, and the fact that the notion of preventative care is often a new idea for many immigrants, the Van is an important link between the Hispanic community and health resources.
Family Van presenters passed out pamphlets and schedules of their upcoming volunteer events, and I am continuing to work with them to plan events for the coming fall. One event will provide screening services and an information session on Hepatitis A, B and C at a local church.
Thank you to Family Van providers Mary Falvey, Angelina Newbury, Yanery Garcia-Cabral and Kyle Davenport for all your help!
- Krista Hachey
AMSA American Medical Student Association
at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (2007-2008)
EDUCATION: AMSA organizes talks and panel discussions that expose fellow medical students to issues relevant to future physicians and health care advocates.
- National Primary Care Week: Various activities and panels highlighted the need for better access to primary care in this country (see “Widening the Pipeline”).
- The U.S. Health Care System: “Healthcare 101” overview of the workings of the U.S. health care system and discussion of current proposed reforms.
- Financial Literacy: Primer on the financial issues that medical students currently face and will face in the future, including investment, paying off loans, and personal credit.- Post-match panel: Panel of recently matched fourth year medical students who answered questions about the process of residency applications and matching.
- Caring for Transgender patients: Training session on access to care issues for people of transgender experience.
- Environmental Health and Justice: Earth Day lecture discussing the ways that the health of the environment affects the health of people, and how the health care system can reduce its hefty ecological footprint and improve quality of care.
- Caring for Hispanic Patients: Panel discussion by Women and Infants Family Van providers on health care conditions for the local Hispanic population and local approaches to providing quality care.
- HIV/AIDS research: The current state of HIV vaccine research and difficulties faced when advocating for funding.
POLICY: AMSA is a key player in the promotion of health reform initiatives through legislation and advocates for health care policies that benefit patients and doctors.
- Lobbying for RIte Care: Brown students, in partnership with Ocean State Action, lobby at the State House and speak with representatives about preserving RIte Care, Rhode Island’s Medicaid managed care program.
- PharmFree Initiative: A committee of Brown students, under the leadership of AMSA, has formed a committee to generate a policy on the relationship between the medical school and its partner hospitals and the pharmaceutical and device industries.
VOLUNTEERISM: AMSA promotes and works with local advocacy and community groups.
- Women and Infants Family Van: AMSA recently began a relationship with the Family Van, a program devoted to offering basic health care services and screening to the local uninsured population.
- Lifelines, RI: Lifelines is a local organization that provides legal and medical assistance to people of transgender experience. AMSA members participate in the Advocates Program, which provides training for volunteers who advocate for patients at medical appointments.
- Widening the Pipeline: AMSA visited local high schools to talk to kids about medical professions and encourage students of color to pursue work in the health care field.
Ask about opportunities to attend national and regional AMSA conferences! Visit www.AMSA.org to learn more about AMSA.
Alpert Medical School chapter contacts:
Co-presidents: Lauren Goddard; Krista Hachey
Lauren_Goddard@brown.edu; Krista_Hachey@brown.edu
Treasurer: Heidi Wilder
Heidi_Wilder@brown.edu
Representative: Erin Kelly
Erin_T_Kelly@brown.edu
at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (2007-2008)
EDUCATION: AMSA organizes talks and panel discussions that expose fellow medical students to issues relevant to future physicians and health care advocates.
- National Primary Care Week: Various activities and panels highlighted the need for better access to primary care in this country (see “Widening the Pipeline”).
- The U.S. Health Care System: “Healthcare 101” overview of the workings of the U.S. health care system and discussion of current proposed reforms.
- Financial Literacy: Primer on the financial issues that medical students currently face and will face in the future, including investment, paying off loans, and personal credit.- Post-match panel: Panel of recently matched fourth year medical students who answered questions about the process of residency applications and matching.
- Caring for Transgender patients: Training session on access to care issues for people of transgender experience.
- Environmental Health and Justice: Earth Day lecture discussing the ways that the health of the environment affects the health of people, and how the health care system can reduce its hefty ecological footprint and improve quality of care.
- Caring for Hispanic Patients: Panel discussion by Women and Infants Family Van providers on health care conditions for the local Hispanic population and local approaches to providing quality care.
- HIV/AIDS research: The current state of HIV vaccine research and difficulties faced when advocating for funding.
POLICY: AMSA is a key player in the promotion of health reform initiatives through legislation and advocates for health care policies that benefit patients and doctors.
- Lobbying for RIte Care: Brown students, in partnership with Ocean State Action, lobby at the State House and speak with representatives about preserving RIte Care, Rhode Island’s Medicaid managed care program.
- PharmFree Initiative: A committee of Brown students, under the leadership of AMSA, has formed a committee to generate a policy on the relationship between the medical school and its partner hospitals and the pharmaceutical and device industries.
VOLUNTEERISM: AMSA promotes and works with local advocacy and community groups.
- Women and Infants Family Van: AMSA recently began a relationship with the Family Van, a program devoted to offering basic health care services and screening to the local uninsured population.
- Lifelines, RI: Lifelines is a local organization that provides legal and medical assistance to people of transgender experience. AMSA members participate in the Advocates Program, which provides training for volunteers who advocate for patients at medical appointments.
- Widening the Pipeline: AMSA visited local high schools to talk to kids about medical professions and encourage students of color to pursue work in the health care field.
Ask about opportunities to attend national and regional AMSA conferences! Visit www.AMSA.org to learn more about AMSA.
Alpert Medical School chapter contacts:
Co-presidents: Lauren Goddard; Krista Hachey
Lauren_Goddard@brown.edu; Krista_Hachey@brown.edu
Treasurer: Heidi Wilder
Heidi_Wilder@brown.edu
Representative: Erin Kelly
Erin_T_Kelly@brown.edu
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