ANDREA MCMILLIAN
The Corsair
On Friday, September 25th, WSRE-TV hosted a Health Care Reform Community Forum. The special presentation titled “Getting the Facts Straight” was featured as part of the “Aware” program. The first half of the program aired live on WSRE-TV. About 50 mostly older people showed up to the Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio at PJC for the Heath Care Forum.
The “Aware” program, hosted by Dee Dee Sharp, airs on WSRE-TV on the fourth Friday of each month at 8pm.
The purpose of the forum was to set the record straight, separate facts from fiction, dispel myths, clear up misinformation and educate the community about health care reform. Host and moderator Dee Dee Sharp was joined by a panel of eight professionals.
During the first half of the program, which was aired live on WSRE-TV, the forum covered the economics and politics of health care reform. Some of the information given included statistics, facts, and data.
“According to national statistics, every six seconds someone looses healthcare. That’s 14,000 people every day. Every day 5,000 more people lose their homes to foreclosure because of a health care crisis. And every year 44,000 people die in America because of a lack of healthcare,” Sharp said.
Another part of the forum was a video on Remote Area Medical, a non-profit organization that previously focused on bringing free medical aid to third-world countries. Now, instead of focusing on the third-world, Remote Area Medical is traveling around the United States taking care of the medical crisis at home.
The second hour of the “Aware” program was used for defining rumors as well as answering audience questions. Audience members could either ask questions at the microphone or turn in an index card with their questions written on them.
Some of the topics included “death panels,” Medicare, and health care initiatives. Though there was a panel of experts, some audience members found it hard to get the answers they needed.
“Everything is so up in the air, I feel like there weren’t enough people here that represent the people who really need health insurance,” said Doreen Swartz, an audience member.
“So much of this has yet to be decided,” Mike Gilbert, a panelist and PJC professor said. “We won’t know until all these bills and initiatives pass, and that doesn’t look like it’s happening any time soon.”
Other audience member felt like their questions were answered.
“I wrote it (my question) down,” said Debbie Powell, audience member. “I think it was an excellent answer…I think it’s vital that we do health care reform. I think long-term care needs to be looked at and I think that preventive medicine is the way to go.”
One audience member pointed out that health care community forums need to happen more often.
“I really am thankful for PJC doing this,” said Donna Jacobi, a doctor who attended the forum. “ I hope that they do more of this. We desperately need it (health care reform), it’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be very difficult. We didn’t need to get it done by August. But we just have to, as a country, work towards improving our system.”
The second half of the “Getting the Facts Straight” forum will be broadcasted at a later date.
The panel of experts included: Rick Harper, director of the University of West Florida’s Hass Center for Business & Economic Development; Mike Gilbert, PJC professor of Political Science; George Sprinkel, chief financial officer at Baptist Health Care; Dr. Kurt Jones, Pensacola physician; Lori Parham, AARP Florida state director; Faith Coleman, founder of Flagler County Free Medical Clinic; John E. Myers III with Remote Area Medical; and floor panel guest Jason Waddell, Pensacola attorney.