Fund Healthcare Not Warfare

Second Annual Forum

The tragic death toll from the COVID-9 pandemic reveled the deep malfunctions of the nation’s healthcare system.  One of the sources, inadequately reported, has been the diversion of our tax dollars to military programs and foreign wars – over half of Congressional discretionary funding. Critical  budgets needed to protect the health and safety of our people – for the NIH, CDC, NSF, Food Stamps, Housing, Veteran’s Administration and other core civilian programs – have been limited in order to feed Pentagon programs. This Conference will explore  the reality that funding these critical programs at the needed levels will require political mobilization and cutting Pentagon accounts.

2:00 pm Welcome and Tasks for the Day: Jonathan King (FHCNW).

2:05 – Congressional Discretionary Budget – Chair: Carol Doherty (MA State Legislature)

– Military Programs in the Congressional Discretionary Budget- Lindsay Koshgarian  (Institute for Policy Studies);

– Civilian Programs in the Congressional Discretionary Budget – Deborah Weinstein (Coalition for Human Needs);

– A Moral Budget that Lifts from the Bottom – Shailly Gupta Barnes (Kairos Center and Poor People’s  Campaign).

2:45pm – Nurses Fighting Back and Moving forward: (Chair, Sandy Eaton (Mass CARE):

 – Optimizing Care, Limiting Corporate Profit-taking- Katie Murphy (Pres.  Mass Nurses Assn); 

– Veterans Hospitals – Suzanne Gordon (Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute);  

– National priorities – Deborah Burger (National Nurses United).

3:25 Break

3: 30 Increased Pandemic Preparedness – Chair Susan Mirsky (Mass Peace  Action):

Increasing Vaccine Access – Natalia Linos (Harvard School of Public Health);

American Public Health Assn. Priorities – Chris Chanyasulkit (Pres, APHA);

4:05 Breakouts (See List Below)

4:45 Expanding Health Care (Chair Dr. Alan Meyers): 

– State Initiatives including SAPHE –Bonnie Gorman (Veterans for Peace);

– Single Payer or a National Health Service – Stephanie Woolhandler (CUNY);

– Influencing the 2024 Elections – Larry Cohen (national chair Our Revolution). 

5:30 Adjourn

Breakouts

1. Coupling of Disease, Wars, and War Budgets – Dr. Barry Levy (APHA); Luissa Vahedi (Wash U Med School); Alexander Blum (Johns Hopkins); Susan Awor (UC Berkeley); Tewodros Liyew (APHA).
2.  Coupling of Racism and Militarism – Rosemary Kean (Mass Peace Action), Keith Harvey (AFSC); Angelia Jefferson (National Council Incarcerated Women); Vaughn Goodwin (MA Poor People’s Campaign).
3. Cutting Budgets for Nuclear Weapons Upgrades –  John Bach (Cambridge Quakers); Richard Krushnic (Mass Peace Action); Timmon Wallis (Nuclear Ban, US); Dr. Gwen DuBois (Chesapeake Bay PSR).
4. Electoral and Voting Rights Initiatives– Cole Harrison (Mass Peace Action);  Martha Karchere (Our Revolution, MA); Rep. Carol Doherty (Mass State Legislature).
5. Expanding Vaccine Access -Jonathan King (MIT); Natalia Linos (HSPH); Ben Levenson (Justice is Global); Quinton Zondervan (Cambridge City Council).
6. Housing and Health – Lady Lawrence, Ameina Moseley, Melissa Jones (Housing = Health); Rep. Mike Connolly (MA State Legislature); Savina Martin (MA Poor Peoples Campaign).
7. Impacts of Climate Change on Immigration and Health – Rev. Vernon Walker (Communities Responding to Extreme Weather); Vicki Elson (Warheads to Windmills).
8. Mental Health Needs – Susan Mirsky (Mass Peace Action); Michelle Clarke (Outpatient Clinic, Home for Children); David Mirsky MD (Italian Home for Children).
9. Reducing Gun Violence – Rev. Bob Moore (Coalition for Peace Action); Prof. Geraldine Gorman (Univ. of Illinois Chicago); Sr. Donna Liette (Ministry of Reconciliation, Chicago); Corinne Espinoza (Cambridge HEART).
10. State Legislative Initiatives – Bonnie Gorman (Veterans for Peace); Dr. Alan Meyers PNHP); Sen. Liz Miranda (MA State Legislature); Sen. Gustavo Rivera (NY State Legislature); Carlene Pavlos (MPHA).
11. Women’s Health Justice – Catherine DeLorey (MPHA); Stephanie Woolhandler (Hunter College).

Program Committee: Catherine DeLorey, MPH; Francis Sandy Eaton, RN; Bonnie Gorman, RN; Cate Henning;  Prof. Jonathan King; Susan Mirsky;  Alan Meyers, MD.

Cosponsors: Massachusetts Peace Action; Coalition for Peace Action (Princeton, NJ); Physicians for a National Health Program; Our Revolution Massachusetts; MassCARE; National Council for Jobs with Peace; Veterans for Peace (Smedley Butler Brigade); Veterans Health Care Policy Institute; (List in formation).

Thanks to the Agape Foundation for support.

Register to attend.

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