December 2024 Newsletter

Details: Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00; Written by editor

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Your December 2024 monthly update from the
BC Health Coalition

UPDATES

BC Health Coalition Annual General Meeting, Dec. 9, 2024

A huge thank you to everyone who was able to join us bright and early for last week's AGM. The meeting was well attended, with no new resolutions being brought from the floor. New Steering Committee members were elected by their peers.

BCHC 2024 Steering Committee Co-Chairs

Dr. Mei-ling Wiedermeyer

Mei-ling (she/her) is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Family Practice and a family physician at Umbrella Multicultural Health Co-op. Working with BCHC is a way for her to... collaborate with a broad coalition of communities and organizations to protect and expand public health care for all the people residing in BC.

Scott De Long

Scott has been a member of the BCGEU since 1994 working as an Addiction and Recovery worker for Island Health and senior elected official of the BCGEU since 2004. In his role as co-chair of the BC Health Coalition Scott advocates to improve working conditions for all health care workers, knowing the conditions of work shape the conditions of care.

Tuesday Andrich

Tuesday comes to the BCHC with 13 years of experience working in the community health sector in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She believes strongly in universal public healthcare and is committed to fighting creeping privatization in British Columbia’s healthcare system.

Daniel Harper

Dan (he/him) is a member of the REACH Community Health Centre Board of Directors with a background in rural health system improvement and academic interests in South-South approaches to international development. He believes BCHC currently stands as a uniquely collaborative vehicle to advance the fight for public health care by deepening relationships of solidarity between organized labour and communities in BC and beyond.

BCHC 2024/25 Steering Committee

Community Caucus

Mary Cohen, Veronique Sioufi, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC
Leslie Gaudette, Agnes Jackman, Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations of B.C
Barbara Mitchell-Pollock, David Ravensbergen, Council of Canadians
Colleen Fuller, Independent Voices for Safe and Effective Drugs
Daniel Harper, REACH Community Health Centre
Dea Leasaw, Rural Health Network
Mei-ling Wiedermeyer, Umbrella Multicultural Health Co-op

Labour Caucus

Tuesday Andrich, Andrew Ledger, Canadian Union of Public Employees BC
MJ Colquhoun, Scott De Long, BC General Employee Union
Neil Monckton, Hospital Employees' Union
Shelia Moir, BC Federation of Labour
Nicole Seguin, Health Sciences Association of British Columbia
Eleanor Smith, Linda Wilson, United Food & Commercial Workers
Janet Andrews, New Westminster District and Labour Council

We sincerely thank outgoing Steering Committee members for the time and energy they've dedicated to the Coalition:

Phoebe Lo Patigdas, BC Federation of Students
Stacy Ashton, BC Crisis Line

ACTION

It's Time for Universal Gender-Affirming Health Care in BC

Join the Society for Advocacy for Gender-Affirming Healthcare letter-writing campaign.

Comprehensive gender-affirming healthcare is not just a matter of trans rights, but fundamental to living up to the promise of a universal healthcare system. In BC, most gender-affirming procedures and services are still not covered, despite their internationally recognized medical necessity. Studies show that access to gender-affirming healthcare significantly reduces suicide risk and improves mental health.

Tell the government that we need universal gender-affirming healthcare now by signing here.

Letter regarding involuntary treatment

The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and BC Health Coalition recently released a joint letter to express opposition to any BC Government policy that seeks to use coercion, criminalization, or state violence to address grave health concerns that have largely occurred through decades of underfunding and neglect. The letter has been signed onto by 11 organizations and is supported by the Canadian Centre for Drug Policy.

Please read the open letter on Involuntary Treatment and Recriminalization

ANALYSIS

Connecting the Dots: The Role of Professional Interpretation in Health Care

Our co-chair Dr. Wei-Ling Wiedmeyer was a recent guest on this College of Physicians and Surgeons podcast, talking about using interpretation in health care. Please check out the podcast an share with interested friends and colleagues: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-35ufv-17526e9

Best wishes from BCHC Staff!

With thanks for all you do to support and improve public health care, and wishing you and your loved ones a well-deserved rest during the Holiday Season.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the BC Health Coalition or its members.

Public Health News & Resources

New Report on need for Child Development Centres. Andrew Longhurst urges the government to increase funding to “family connection centres" that provide coordinated, interdisciplinary access to publicly funded services and supports under one roof

BC Greens/ NDP Agreement lists Community Health Centers as a primary health care priority. The agreement, in principle, outlined several actions to take to address health

Monitoring Seniors Services Report released Wednesday points to the pressures of meeting the demands of a demographic that has seen 45 per cent growth over 10 years

Striking and Locked out Workers need Pharmacare. Postal workers struggle to pay for medications as medical benefits

It's time for National Standards for Safe Long-Term Care In this joint letter -- groups are calling for the federal government must introduce its long-promised legislation to protect residents in long-term care.

Donate now

Donations by cheque can be made out to BC Health Coalition and mailed to BC Health Coalition 302-3102 Main Street Vancouver BC V5T 3G7. Or you can give monthly by cheque.

British Columbia Health Coalition
3102 Main St, 302, Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories, BC V5T 3G7, Canada
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