From: aSharpShow@aceweb.com
FREE MEDICAL, DENTAL, VISION CARE, provided by R.A.M., 8 days,
Aug 11-18, at the Forum in Inglewood.
Please forward..there are many folks who could take advantange of this
service.
RAM/LA: August 11th through August 18th, Remote Area Medical will
provide free medical, dental and vision care to thousands in need, in
the Los Angeles area. The free clinic will be held at the Forum in
Inglewood, and will treat an estimated 1,200 people a day – possibly more
depending on the final number of volunteers and participating organizations.
The event is being planned and will be operated by Remote Area Medical, an
all volunteer 501(c)(3) charity providing free care to uninsured,
underinsured and indigent individuals throughout the United States. RAM has
organized and conducted 572 events to date. Visit www.ramusa.org to learn
more about this organizaiton, and click on the "60 Minutes" link to see that
programʼs revealing story on RAM and its work. Free care will be provided to
anyone who needs it, without cost of any kind to the patient, the taxpayer
or the government. There is no income test, no insurance requirement, no
restriction of any kind. Medical and non-medical personnel will all be
volunteers; supplies and equipment will be donated or provided by RAM.
The Forum is available through the generosity of the Faithful Central
Bible Church, owners of the facility. We expect there to be 100 dental
stations, 45 medical exam rooms, 25 eye exam stations. Dentistry will
include cleanings, extractions, fillings, restorative procedures and root
canals. Prescription eye glasses will be ground and fitted on-site. Minor
dermatological and other medical procedures will be performed. Pediatricians
and pediatric dentists will be present. Follow-up care will be arranged for
those who need it, with most referrals to private sector practices and
facilities.
There will be a strong emphasis on education, prevention and self-care.
Mammography, pap smears, chest x-rays, diabetes screening, blood
pressure screening, and other services will be provided. Healthcare
foundations and agencies will be invited to distribute patient education
materials. RAM/LA is a large undertaking, on a scale to make a significant
difference in this time of great and urgent need. Success will depend on the
medical and non-medical volunteers, local healthcare organizations,
equipment and supply donors, and others who contribute their time, talents
and resources.
To date, the following organizations and agencies have volunteered to
provide support: • The Forum • The City of Inglewood • The County of Los
Angeles (Supervisor's Office, Public Health Deparment, Health and Mental
Health Services, Office of Ambulatory Care, Emergency Medical Services) •
Community Clinic Association • L.A. Care • Tzu Chi Foundation • Los
Angeles Dental Society • San Fernando Valley Dental Society • Tri-County
Dental Society • West L.A. Dental Society • Harbor Dental Society • USC
School of Dentistry • Keck School of Medicine, USC • Centinela Hospital •
Catholic Healthcare West • Southern California School of Optometry • Beach
Cities Health District • Lions Clubs • Rogers & Cowan Public Relations
We are contacting other organizations in the area, are receiving help from
church groups, equipment makers and suppliers, and, of course, from a group
of hard working volunteers. Remote Area Medical will bring its own mobile
units, resources and personnel. The RAM Los Angeles event will be the first
in a major population center and possibly the largest healthcare event of
its kind ever. The time is right, the need is great, and RAM/LA can be an
island of help and hope for the many thousands who so desperately need our
assistance.
***
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/opinion/07krugman.html?th&emc=th
The Town Hall Mob
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NY Times Op-Ed: August 7, 2009
There's a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled "Freedom of Speech,"
depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series
illustrating F.D.R.'s "Four Freedoms," shows an ordinary citizen expressing
an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don't like what he's saying,
but they're letting him speak his mind.
That's a far cry from what has been happening at recent town halls, where
angry protesters - some of them, with no apparent sense of irony, shouting
"This is America!" - have been drowning out, and in some cases threatening,
members of Congress trying to talk about health reform.
Some commentators have tried to play down the mob aspect of these scenes,
likening the campaign against health reform to the campaign against Social
Security privatization back in 2005. But there's no comparison. I've gone
through many news reports from 2005, and while anti-privatization activists
were sometimes raucous and rude, I can't find any examples of congressmen
shouted down, congressmen hanged in effigy, congressmen surrounded and
followed by taunting crowds.
And I can't find any counterpart to the death threats at least one
congressman has received.
So this is something new and ugly. What's behind it?
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, has compared the scenes at
health care town halls to the "Brooks Brothers riot" in 2000 - the
demonstration that disrupted the vote count in Miami and arguably helped
send George W. Bush to the White House. Portrayed at the time as local
protesters, many of the rioters were actually G.O.P. staffers flown in from
Washington.
But Mr. Gibbs is probably only half right. Yes, well-heeled interest groups
are helping to organize the town hall mobs. Key organizers include two
Astroturf (fake grass-roots) organizations: FreedomWorks, run by the former
House majority leader Dick Armey, and a new organization called
Conservatives for Patients' Rights.
The latter group, by the way, is run by Rick Scott, the former head of
Columbia/HCA, a for-profit hospital chain. Mr. Scott was forced out of that
job amid a fraud investigation; the company eventually pleaded guilty to
charges of overbilling state and federal health plans, paying $1.7 billion -
yes, that's "billion" - in fines. You can't make this stuff up.
But while the organizers are as crass as they come, I haven't seen any
evidence that the people disrupting those town halls are Florida-style
rent-a-mobs. For the most part, the protesters appear to be genuinely angry.
The question is, what are they angry about?
There was a telling incident at a town hall held by Representative Gene
Green, D-Tex. An activist turned to his fellow attendees and asked if they
"oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care." Nearly all
did. Then Representative Green asked how many of those present were on
Medicare. Almost half raised their hands.
Now, people who don't know that Medicare is a government program probably
aren't reacting to what President Obama is actually proposing. They may
believe some of the disinformation opponents of health care reform are
spreading, like the claim that the Obama plan will lead to euthanasia for
the elderly. (That particular claim is coming straight from House Republican
leaders.) But they're probably reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing, or
even to what they've heard about what he's doing, than to who he is.
That is, the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same
cultural and racial anxiety that's behind the "birther" movement, which
denies Mr. Obama's citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the
birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don't know
how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn't be surprising if
it's
a substantial fraction.
And cynical political operators are exploiting that anxiety to further the
economic interests of their backers.
Does this sound familiar? It should: it's a strategy that has played a
central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he
could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of
working-class whites.
Many people hoped that last year's election would mark the end of the "angry
white voter" era in America. Indeed, voters who can be swayed by appeals to
cultural and racial fear are a declining share of the electorate.
But right now Mr. Obama's backers seem to lack all conviction, perhaps
because the prosaic reality of his administration isn't living up to their
dreams of transformation. Meanwhile, the angry right is filled with a
passionate intensity.
And if Mr. Obama can't recapture some of the passion of 2008, can't inspire
his supporters to stand up and be heard, health care reform may well fail.
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