As the Senate continues its secret deliberations on a health care plan that will effect all Americans, the potential impact on one of the most vulnerable groups in our society – children – continues to unfold. Indications are that, in their closed-door meetings, the Senators have taken a similar approach to the House of Representatives. The plan that emerged from the House, the American Health Care Act, would cut $800 billion dollars in Medicaid nationwide. As our friends at NC Child point out, those cuts cannot happen without affecting children…
New Push for Broader Medicaid, Better Health
North Carolina’s failure under Republican leadership to improve low-income residents’ access to health care via the Medicaid program has been like a persistent, throbbing pain in the state’s civic and economic life. The pain can be literal, when people must do without the kinds of care and treatment that everyone recognizes as meeting basic standards of quality and cost-efficiency. It is figurative but no less real when those same people, because of unresolved medical issues, fall into underemployment or outright joblessness, or when their relatives are forced to become caregivers,…
Keeping With Community
Enabling good health is a community restoration project. It’s really not about prescription plans, deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses, or any other cost-benefit analysis. It’s about community. When people are sick or hurt they usually don’t feel like getting out much and, depending on their illness or injury, they sometimes can’t (think contagions). They are hostages to separation, whether confined to their home, sequestered in facilities, or shunned by family and friends. The greatest gift Jesus offered people through the plethora of healing events recorded in scripture is restoration to community. No…
Speak Out on Cabinet Nominees
Groups at the state and national level continue to mobilize around concerns about President-Elect Donald Trump’s stated policy objectives and choices for cabinet posts. The NC NAACP, Interfaith Power & Light, MomsRising, Faith in Public Life, and the National Council of Churches are just some of the organizations calling on people of conscience to speak out against nominees who have been described as: Representing and promoting “hateful ideals and policies.” (MomsRising) Having “questionable ties to foreign governments with anti-democratic leadership and human rights abuses.” (Interfaith Power & Light) Epitomizing “extremist,…
Starting the Conversation About Mental Health
It happens to be Mental Illness Awareness Week, which comes days after I was able to take part in a workshop related to the topic sponsored by The Duke Endowment. “Caring for Your Congregation – Mental Health Resources for Clergy” was an intentional day for a very specific audience – clergy, faith leaders, and ordained community leaders. We learned how to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness, how to properly offer a referral, and also learned about resources and techniques that better serve people. Clergy tend to be a “first-responder” in…
Statement on the Supreme Court’s ACA Decision
The North Carolina Council of Churches celebrates today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. For decades, the Council has supported universal health care, and while the current version of Obamacare does not reach that ultimate goal, it has proved to be a crucial step forward. We are grateful to the justices of the Supreme Court who have upheld the subsidy guaranteeing 6.4 million Americans — more than 450,000 in North Carolina — continued access to care. Meanwhile, some states, including our own, have chosen to fall even farther…
2014 Faith & Health Summit – Register Now!
Please join the North Carolina Council of Churches at the 2014 Faith and Health Summit, which will be held on Friday, October 10, 2014 at Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston-Salem (501 Miller Street). Special thanks to Wake Forest University’s Food, Faith and Religious Leadership Initiative for co-sponsoring the event! The program will run from 9:30am to 3:30pm, with registration starting at 8:30. Arrival snacks and coffee will be provided. The conference theme is “We’re Better Together” and the focus text is Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a. REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. If you have already registered…
Healthy North Carolina 2020: Are We Gaining or Losing Ground?
Healthy North Carolina 2020 is a health improvement plan for our state. It addresses a wide range of issues that impact our health, such as tobacco use, physical activity and nutrition, mental health, and injury and violence. Optimal goals have been established in each of these areas, with a 2020 deadline for achieving them. So where does North Carolina currently stand? Out of the 40 original health goals, we’ve achieved 3 of them, 13 have improved but are not at the set target, 21 have gotten worse, 2 were not…
Affordable Care Act’s Third Anniversary — A Reason to Celebrate
On March 23, the Affordable Care Act celebrated its third anniversary. The North Carolina Council of Churches has long supported universal health care, and we remain committed to that goal and to celebrating the progress made through ACA. Our friends at Faithful Reform in Health Care have offered a number of ways to recognize this important achievement, and we’ve included them below. Here’s a suggestion for your gift in support of Obamacare: Contact your members of Congress, your state legislators, and your Governor with YOUR personal story about what health…
Affordable Care Act (ACA) Celebrates its Second Anniversary
The Affordable Care Act was approved two years ago. Join the virtual second-anniversary celebration through a conference call with Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin on Thursday, March 22 at 2 p.m. Hear all the benefits already in place and what is to come. An RSVP in advance is required through this link. Additionally, as the Supreme Court takes up challenges to the ACA, join the faith community in an Interfaith Prayer Vigil via teleconference on Tuesday, March 27 at noon. An RSVP is required through this link. Both are sponsored by Faithful Reform…
Free Resources to Help You Begin 2012 Tobacco Free
Our friends at the NC Division of Public Health would like to help current tobacco users quit by offering NC residents, 18 years of age or older, free nicotine replacement therapy (i.e., patches, gum or lozenges) while supplies last. In addition to being a NC resident and at least 18 years of age, you must also commit to a quit date in order to qualify and get prior approval from your physician if you have experienced the following: Heart attack within the last 2 weeks. Stroke or TIA (temporary stroke)…
Bladen Churches Unite: Being Healthy, Being Faithful 2012
BladenJournal.com
Joy Williams of Partners in Health and Wholeness, a Christian-based organization, will collaborate with churches and the parish nurse on Monday, Nov. 28, at 5:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall of Elizabethtown Presbyterian Church at 800 W. Broad St. (across from the Municipal Building), to make local churches healthier for the glory of God.Radiation in Cigarettes
This might strike you as surprising, as it did me, but radiation has been in cigarettes for more than forty years! We all have heard just how bad cigarettes are, but to know that they contain alpha particles on top of the other harmful substances is alarming, to say the least. And it is appalling to know that tobacco companies knew this and covered up the truth.
Raleigh Report – April 19, 2011
New Bills Edition: Attack on Workers Comp by New Bill H 709/S 544 misnamed Protect and Put NC Back to Work.
Raleigh Report – March 21, 2011
New bills on the budget, care of creation, criminal justice, election and campaign law, gambling, guns, health and health care, immigration, mental health, developmental disabilities, substance abuse services, public eduction, and taxes.