November, 2001

Should a Faltering Economy Mean Less Health Care?
The recession, hand in hand with the 9-11 tragedy and the war the U.S. has declared in response to it, is causing budgetary calamities in every government sector except the FBI and the CIA...

A Call to Single Payer Activists
Oakland Will Host Symposium on the Results of the Universal Health Care Study...

Getting the Ax from Medicare Managed Care
In January, at least 84,000 people across the state covered by Medicare will be dropped from their managed care plans...

Newsletter committee:
Nancy M. Friedman, Dan Hodges, Margot Smith, Kevin Reilly, Terry Hill

October, 2001

Approach on juvenile hall needs improvement
ALAMEDA County's on-and-off plan to build a large juvenile hall in Dublin is apparently on again...

Cuts at East Bay Sutter Hospitals
Remember Vote Health's campaign to stop Sutter from monopolizing hospital beds in the East Bay?...

Surprise Vote by Board of Supervisors on 9/25, Reversed on 10/9
At the Capital Improvement Plan Hearings on September 25th, Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker seemed to change her priorities from building a super jail for youth to supporting a smaller facility that would leave funds for rebuilding Fairmont Hospital...

September, 2001

Bush Attacks Hospitals — Please Tell Him NO
Just as we're gearing up for our campaign to save Fairmont Hospital by pushing the county to dedicate funds to rebuilding that campus, we've been sucker-punched by Dubya!...

Hospital Beds, Not Jail Cells
Members of Vote Health were energized on September 10th by an expanding coalition being formed to challenge the County's spending priorities. Clear consensus also emerged at the meeting to call upon Alameda County to change its priorities in favor of SERVICES NOT CELLS....

Express Your Outrage!
President Bush is poised to take advantage of the fine print in a rule that currently pays public hospitals up to 150% of costs to offset indigent care...

Over 2000 Speak Out for Safe Staffing
Vote Health members joined 2000 nurses from all over California in a rousing rally, organized by the California Nurses Association, at the state capitol steps on September 6th...

Go Oregon!
Congratulations to Vote Health members for donating $1500 toward the Oregon campaign for a single payer health plan! They've collected about 13,000 signatures so far...

August, 2001

In Memoriam—Ted Kalman
On July 21, 2001, Theodore (Ted) Kalman died at age 80 after a long battle with cancer...

Join us on September 10th for an action meeting:
Vote Health is calling on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to commit enough money from the county's capital trust fund to rebuild the Fairmont Campus...

Vote Health's New Web Site!
As you can see, Vote Health's new and improved web site is up and running!...

July, 2001

Stand up and be counted for safe staffing!
After eight years of hard, persistent work by health care workers' unions and community groups, the public is in a position to achieve safe nurse-to-patient ratios in California hospitals...

County says Fix it yourselves to Medical Center trustees
Despite Vote Health's community and labor activists working hard behind the scenes to lobby each supervisor of the Alameda County Board for additional funding for the ACMC, the results were disappointing...

June, 2001

New CEO for Alameda County Medical Center
The Alameda County Medical Center has had problems over the years finding and keeping strong leaders who serve the center well. Dr. Roger Peeks, a long-time member of Highland's medical staff, has been interim CEO since Mike Wall left in 2000...

Community health centers in dire need of financial support
The Alameda Health Consortium, directed by Ralph Silber, is an association of 10 non-profit community health centers that provide primary health care services to indigent residents of the county...

Vote Health chair on Senate's patients' bill of rights
Vote Health chair Nancy M. Friedman was quoted by the Institute for Public Accuracy in its June 19, 2001 news release on Senate consideration of a patients' bill of rights:...

Spotlight on members
Gracie Johnson has been faithfully attending Vote Health meetings for years, and it turns out we are just one of many causes she believes passionately in...

Update on charity care
Charity care is defined as health services offered by hospitals to patients unable to pay. At this time, private, non-profit hospitals in Alameda County only give 1% free care, despite receiving large tax write-offs due to their non-profit status...

Aroner proposes bill to alleviate pain
State Assemblymember Dion Aroner, representing San Pablo south to Emeryville, has proposed AB 487, Medical Professionals:...

May, 2001

ACMC gets boost from Alliance but still short
The Alameda County Medical Center recently submitted a budget to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors showing a $7.7 million deficit for the fiscal year beginning in July...

Support the Oregon initiative for universal health care
Mark Lindgren, chair of Health Care for All—Oregon (HCFAO), spoke at a meeting of Health Care for All—San Francisco on May 6...

April, 2001

Fix California nursing homes now!
SEIU Local 250 is heading up the local action of a campaign to improve California nursing homes...

Don't close Fairmont neuro-respiratory unit!
Family members and friends of residents at the Fairmont Campus of the Alameda County Medical Center gathered late last month...

Vote Health is alive and well
We've had many requests for information as to the state of Vote Health's health...

California county safety nets face uncertain future
In California, county health care systems are the safety net for more than seven million uninsured...

A Jewel in History screened
On March 26, 2001, Vote Health and the California Nurses Association teamed up to present A Jewel in History, a thought-provoking video about the history of Black hospitals...

HCA campaigns to impact universal health care study
Vote Health, and all Health Care for All-California affiliates, are gathering endorsements from organizations throughout the state that will soon be delivered to the Assembly and Senate budget subcommittees...

Physicians address Congress for a single payer health care system
On May 1, nearly 20 prominent physicians representing multiple professional organizations testified before Congress on the need for comprehensive reform to our ailing health care system...