NOT LONG AFTER their Dec. 5 presentation of Michael Moore's “Sicko,” members of the Uni High Activism Club decided to organize a larger forum in which to address the problems facing the U.S. health care system.

The result? “Transform: Health Care and the Local Movement for Reform,” a communitywide panel discussion to be held 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Channing-Murray Foundation, 1209 W. Oregon St., Urbana.

The panelists will focus on the reform movement in Champaign County, where an estimated 40 percent of residents have no access to health care. The event is co-sponsored by the Channing-Murray Foundation and the Illinois Disciples Foundation.

“The discussion is geared toward informing those unfamiliar with the way the local health care system works and educating us residents about the ways in which we as a movement can increase access to health care,” said Activism Club organizer Shara Esbenshade.

The Uni senior noted that student response to Activism Club's showing of “Sicko” indicated significant interest in the movement for health care reform, spurring the idea of organizing a community discussion.

Panelists will include:

• Jeff Trask, pastor and founder, Champaign County Christian Health Center
• David Hurley, health care consultant and physician, Danville
• Judith Ormazabal, interpreter, Champaign County Christian Health Center, to speak on immigrants in the system
• Rob Scott, instructor, School for Designing a Society, which hosted the Health Care Design Intensive Conference in October 2007
• Claudia Lennhoff, executive director, Champaign County Health Care Consumers, to speak on grassroots organizing for health care justice at the local, state, and national levels

Attendance is free and open to the public. For more information, e-mail Esbenshade at esbenshd@uni.uiuc.edu.

“It is necessary that we as members of Champaign County be aware of its health care situation, the suffering our fellow residents are going through, and the ways in which we can help increase access to health care in our community,” Esbenshade said.

The Channing-Murray Foundation is a Unitarian-Universalist Campus Center located at the Corner of Oregon and Mathews. Off-street parking is available for this event.