Visiting the Carrboro Human Relations Month Kick-Off Celebration: Health Care Inequities

On January 27, 2008, the Carrboro Century Center hosted the Human Relations Month Kick-Off Celebration. The stated focus of this meeting was “health care inequities,” with Shannon Fleg and Anthony Fleg as its guest speakers. The meeting began with an interactive, Ghana-inspired performance by Chuck Davis’ African American Dance Ensemble (AADE). Indeed, the ensemble engaged the whole meeting in joining them in performing an African-inspired dance that fostered acceptance and a feeling of openness. After the AADE finished, Mr. William Hencdrickson, the Chair of the Organe County Human Relations Commission, officially welcomed the meeting. Then, Mr. Barry Jacobs, the Chair of the Board of Orange County Commissioners, offered the meeting greetings and a proclamation. Finally, Ms. Vivette Jeffries-Logan, the Vice-Chair of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, introduced the guest speakers. The Flegs offered a presentation in which they discussed and encouraged those in the audience to discuss “false statements,” which are statements that would be true in a perfect society but in today’s society are not (ex: Everyone has healthcare), offered the audience several statistics about healthcare in North Carolina, and then opened the floor up to questions which they audience might have had. The meeting finished with some remarks by Ms. Shoshannah Smith, the Director of the Office of Human Rights and Relations.

All in all, it has become quite apparent that health care is a "hot" issue. Indeed, for a country that is so "advanced," the United States is still struggling on how to effectively provide healthcare for its citizens.

There are many informative and interesting websites out there. If you want more information on this issue, some of the following websites are good places to start.


The United Nations' World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/en/

A Wikipedia encyclopedia article, "Health care in the United States" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States

An article from the Guardian, a UK newspaper, found on GuardianUnlimited: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2167865,00.html

An About.com article, "What is Universal Health Care?" by Bobbie Sage: http://personalinsure.about.com/cs/healthinsurance1/a/aa060903a.htm


The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website: http://www.hhs.gov/

An action.org press packet has some good information as well: http://www.action.org/website/article.asp?id=839


The Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care has posted under its The Case for Universal Health Care in the United States webpage "The Case For Single Payer, Universal Health Care For The United States Outline of Talk Given To The Association of State Green Parties, Moodus, Connecticut on June 4, 1999" By John R. Battista, M.D. and Justine McCabe, Ph.D. : http://cthealth.server101.com/the_case_for_universal_health_care_in_the_united_states.htm

The Commonwealth Fund's publications page lists books that can be ordered from UNC-Chapel Hill that deal with health care: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=221238

In general, the Commonwealth Fund discusses and provides important information regarding the U.S. and its healthcare, as well as discussing the presidential candidates and how they "would" affect healthcare in the U.S. : http://www.commonwealthfund.org/

Thanks to books.google.com, you can read
Healthcare Infostructures: The Development of Information-Based Infrastructures for the Healthcare Industry by Information-Based Infrastructure Project, Diebold: http://books.google.com/books?id=joIMwwnevcEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=united+states%2B+healthcare#PPR6,M1

The Kaiser Family Foundation posted "Health Care Spending in the United States and OECD Countries, January 2007" on its website, with some great graphs and charts if you are a visual person: http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm

Basically, if you do a google.com search, you will find that there is a plethora of information available out there! Enjoy and go human rights!