Note: For Part 2 of our coverage of Activism Club's health care reform panel discussion, click here. To listen to comments made after the forum by panelist Rob Scott from the School for Designing a Society, click the audio box at right. Audio was added Feb. 7.

ABOUT 75 PEOPLE gathered inside the Channing-Murray Foundation on Jan. 23, filling the first-floor meeting room. The small campus building was a perfectly unobtrusive structure unless you looked through a window at the crowd gathered there.

Those attending included about 15 Uni students. The common interest that brought these people, varying from high school students to senior citizens, was a panel on local health care, the first such event to be organized by Uni students.

What made this communitywide panel — called “Transform: Health Care and the Local Movement for Reform” — so unique was how and why it was put together. Arranged by Uni High's own Activism Club and co-sponsored by Channing-Murray and the Illinois Disciples Foundation, the panel was meant to educate the public about the local health care reform movement.

What people were supposed to take away from the discussion was knowledge of the ways that a movement could increase access to health care — access that is badly needed. In Champaign County alone, 54,990 people lack health insurance.

The panelists were also notable for their varying knowledge and experiences. The panel consisted of Jeff Trask, a pastor and founder of the Champaign County Christian Health Center; Dr. David Hurley, physician, health care consultant in Danville, and co-founder of the Vermilion Area Community Health Clinic; Judith Ormazabal, interpreter at the CCCHC; Rob Scott, an instructor at the School for Designing a Society; and Claudia Lennhoff, executive director of Champaign County Health Care Consumers.

Rob Scott discusses health care reform as Dr. David Hurley and Claudia Lennhoff listen.
Gargoyle photo by Deborah Ladd (click to enlarge)

After a brief introduction by senior Kumars Salehi, a member of Activism Club, Trask took the lead by talking about the “vicious circle” that our health care system has created.

Medicines and doctors grow more expensive almost daily, he said, and for the working poor, unemployed, homeless, newly released convicts, and recent college graduates, care is not always affordable. As he said of the CCCHC: “We have three phone lines, and they ring so much it’s almost like trying to get on the radio. You have to be the lucky ninth caller.”

Hurley stepped up next and talked about health care from a physician's perspective. He talked about the desocialization of medical practice, how doctors are often forced to become business people first and caregivers second. “The process is so commercialized that it’s not really professional, and it upsets many physicians,” he remarked.

Ormazabal, whose main topic was her work with helping immigrants to get health care, discussed the language barrier that prevents immigrants from getting the help they need. Imagine not being able to speak English, she said, and having to deal with a health care system as complex and multilayered as that of the United States.

From left, health care panelists Judith Ormazabal, Jeff Trask, Dr. David Hurley, Rob Scott, and Claudia Lennhoff. Senior Kumars Salehi is seated behind Trask.
Gargoyle photo by Deborah Ladd (click to enlarge)

Scott came next, and in his own energizing manner he tried to make people aware of the need for fresh ways of thinking about health care. He talked about how the current system treats people like “trivial machines.” Real change is not simply a matter of giving people access to care, he said; it's changing what happens when they receive that care.

Lennhoff ended the panelists' round of statements, talking about health care as a basic human right. Her idea was universal health care for every resident, and for consumers to have a voice in the system.

Questions and comments from the crowd followed, sparking a variety of responses, from people wholeheartedly backing the panelists to people questioning and criticizing the views they had.

“I think we had a great diversity of speakers and they all brought something incredibly interesting to the table,” said senior Shara Esbenshade, one of the Activism Club organizers. “I felt like our Q&A session could have gone on for hours.”

Around 9:30 p.m., two hours after it started, the event ended with a few final comments and Salehi saying good night. Far from emptying the room, though, many people stayed and talked to the panelists one on one, with audience members standing in line to wait their turn.

“The presentation on health care today was very heartfelt,” said junior Kareem Sayegh, who nevertheless noted that “it was not as informative as it could have been.”

Still, that didn't prevent Sayegh from applauding the event: “I thought it was great that Uni High could put something together like this.”

By the end of the night, the unifying theme of the panel revealed itself as a hope that with the education of local residents, a new, stronger reform movement can develop and change the health care system as we know it today.

SOME FACTS ABOUT LOCAL HEALTH CARE

• Champaign County’s population: 179,669
  (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000)
• Persons with Medicaid insurance in Champaign County: 20,449
  (Source: Local DHS Office, June 2005, cited by Champaign County Health Care Consumers)
• Percentage of Champaign County residents with Medicaid insurance: 11.4
  (Source: Based on total county population figure given above)
• Children with Medicaid insurance in Champaign County: 11,754
  (Source: Local DHS Office, June 2005, cited by Champaign County Health Care Consumers)
• Number of uninsured persons in Champaign County: 54,990
  (Source: Illinois Campaign for Better Health Care and Families USA, cited by Champaign County Health Care Consumers)
• Percentage of Champaign County residents without insurance: 30.6
  (Source: Based on total county population figure given above)
• Number of Champaign County residents on Medicaid or without insurance: 75,439
  (Source: addition of figures given above)
• Percentage of Champaign County residents on Medicaid or without insurance: 41.9
  (Source: Based on total county population figure given above)

Note: The above information can be found in the Champaign County Health Care Consumers' April 2007 fact sheet on access to health care in Champaign County.

MORE PHOTOS FROM ACTIVISM CLUB'S HEALTH CARE FORUM

Senior Kumars Salehi introduces the panel members. Gargoyle photo by Deborah Ladd (click to enlarge)

Dr. David Hurley discusses how doctors have been affected by changes in the health care system. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Claudia Lennhoff of Champaign County Health Care Consumers talks about the need for universal access. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)

Audience members talk with Jeff Trask after the program. Gargoyle photo (click to enlarge)