HFCC hosts Health-Care Summit
Henry Ford Community College will host a Health-Care Summit on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Administrative Services and Conference Center on the main campus at 5101 Evergreen Road in Dearborn. HFCC students, other college students and the public are invited to attend. The cost of the summit is $5 for HFCC students and $7 for all others. Included in the cost is a box lunch.
For more information, please contact Anthony Perry, political science instructor at HFCC and coordinator of the summit, at (313) 845- 6383 or by e-mail at adperry1@hfcc.edu.
Congressman John Dingell (D- Dearborn) and U. S. Representative Joe Schwarz (R- Battle Creek) will give opening remarks at the summit. Dan Paletko, mayor of Dearborn Heights; Vicki Barnett, mayor of Farmington Hills; David Hacker, president of the American Federation of Teachers; and Anthony Armada, CEO of Henry Ford Health System, will be on a panel of speakers. There also will be a panel of speakers representing business, labor, health care, seniors, retirees, consumer groups and the community.
According to Perry, the focus will be on health care in general, concerning coverage, access, affordability, quality and the impact on society and business. After the keynote speech, participants will attend workshops to develop political action strategies to persuade political elites to develop an effective health-care policy, Perry said.
The health-care summit is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, Detroit Public Television, MacNeil/Lehrer’s 'By the People,' and HFCC’s Civic Action Project, which promotes civic literacy and participation in the American democratic process, according to Perry. The summit will be taped by Detroit Public Television and will be broadcast as part of MacNeil/ Lehrer’s deliberative series, 'By the People,' on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 9 p.m. on public broadcasting stations.
'The health-care summit will bring political, economic, labor, community and policy experts together with the students to further identify the central areas that led to the national health-care crisis,' explained Perry. 'The purpose of this summit is to take a top political issue and focus attention on it to develop a better understanding of the issue.'
The conference will address and develop a political action plan to make health care a top priority on the political agenda, according to Perry.
'The health-care summit will begin by clearly defining the problem and then develop political action plans to get health-care concerns placed at the top of the political and legislative agendas,' says Perry.
During last year’s National Student Political Issues Week at HFCC, health care was voted the number two issue by HFCC students as something they would like to see discussed by politicans as a problem in need of a solution. 'It’s been a big issue,' says Perry. 'Why isn’t it a bigger issue on the political and legislative dashboards?'
'Many people wonder how the United States can make health care affordable and accessible to everyone without compromising the quality, and this conference will address that question,' says Perry.
'This event is an effort to engage students and the community in the political process directly,' explained Perry. 'Politics and civic engagement are essential, but unfortunately, citizens are often ill-equipped to participate in the political system. The health-care summit is one activity that will begin to provide students with the tools and the experience that can be used to become engaged in the political process in a meaningful way.'
For more information, please contact Perry at (313) 845-6383 or e-mail him at adperry1@hfcc.edu. For more information on HFCC, please log on to www.hfcc.edu.
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