Health Care Crisis in Sonoma County, a campus-community initiative and dialogue at SSU

 

SSU Sonoma County Health Care Crisis Project
Vision Statement & Six Questions
Easel Notes - October, 2005

Vision Statement

  • We need to figure out why it is too expensive.
  • It would be nice to see a statement about business and their responsibility.
  • I would prefer to provide data to the community instead of a "report card."
  • For clarity: Healthy Sonoma County/Health Coverage/Health Care Crises are different. Be careful about your language.
  • Missing: Health care costs too much.
  • Nothing about access to health care in document.
  • Include businesses not pollute environment, sell alcohol to minors.
  • Events can be helpful.
  • What is the meaning of health care versus health coverage?

Question 1
What are the key points that were previously defined?

A. Nature of health care crisis

  • U.S. health care system.
  • Growing rate of uninsured.
  • No real system.
  • Lack of behavioral health care.
  • Disproportionate impact on population.
  • Lack of access to specialty care.
  • Lack of access to education, in schools.
  • A lot of health disinformation.
  • Poverty.
  • Cost of fruits and vegetables deterrent.
  • Price of prescription drugs.

B. Barriers to creating a healthy Sonoma County?

  • Lack of specialty care.
  • Lack of education.
  • Infrastructure is car-oriented, not walking-oriented.
  • Capitalism isn't working for health care system.
  • Medicare payment rates do not allow local solving of healthcare issues. We need to influence out of the county.
  • There is no integral health care system. No sense of overall responsibility. A sense of public ownership. Someone else should be taking care of it.
  • The stress on people and lack of health working conditions.
  • Upstream issues like "stop smoking" would be better to address.
  • Lack of extended family and social support adds to problem.

Question 2
What is simple to help improve lifestyles?
Can we get more data about the health of our youth?
Are there companies that support better health? Get best practices?
What are major data pieces missing?
Needed now? Needed later?

  • Where is all the money going? Need details.
  • Shareholder return.
  • Compare with France for instance, better results?
  • Better primary care over there.
  • Results, better?
  • Compare type of care/procedures rates of effectiveness.
  • Disparities should be tracked.
  • Does not treating low income increase costs?
  • Between haves and have-nots.
  • If it doesn't affect me directly, I don't care and put articles on health care away.
  • Do environmental impact study, i.e. how close to bus?

Question 3
Who is missing-other voices? How to bring them in?

  • Different ethnic and economic groups.
  • Scanning what is already there in terms of information.
  • Small businesses.
  • Teachers, PTAs, teens...
  • Lower income groups.
  • Churches-the faith community.
  • Cultural awareness.
  • A focused domain of action would attract more people.
  • A map of the various groups and what they are doing would be helpful.

Question 4
On what elements can we build?

  • We have a healthier environment than most places?
  • Work with groups that are doing issue-specific things.
  • Problems seems bigger here (canary in mineshaft).
  • Amazing collaboration in schools.
  • Create list of assets.
  • Programs help migrant workers?
  • Community-based clinics serve them.
  • Support peer leaders, linage to community.
  • RWJ money, older adults call.
  • Major health care providers made advances.

Question 5
Issues and Strategies Idea: Effective health care parent.

A. Improving access to quality care.

  • Support the children's health initiative.
  • Give seniors touch-tone phones and other minor tech support.
  • Improved transportation to get seniors to health care.
  • Improved nutrition through life-stages.
  • Single-payer system.
  • We have a ot of specialized, deep knowledge that isn't shared. Perhaps we can communicate the nature of problems and status of solutions we can self-organize. KRCB evening news; wide distribution in everyday ways.
  • Health care workforce development.

Question 6
Priorities for products of this meeting, and the next face-to-face preliminary project priorities.
Dental health care is a really big deal.

  • Phase 2: tap into groups already working on it.
  • We care about health. Top 3:
    • Children's health care initiative
    • Children's obesity
    • Dental care
  • 4th: Healthy aging.
  • Funding
    • Public funding (smoking dollars)
    • Businesses
  • We have to prioritize. This is too big.
  • We're focused on illness care. Maybe focus on health care.
  • 3 specific topics, drop 2.
  • If we don't move into action at second meeting, we'll lose everything.
  • Timely, compelling, solvable-will keep me coming.
  • County 5-year county-wide health plan: children's health, childhood obesity.