EVENT (Toronto) - Health for All: Fixing a Broken Healthcare System for Immigrants and Refugees (March 4/2010)

*please forward widely*

Health for All: Fixing a Broken Healthcare System for Immigrants and Refugees

March 4th, 2010

6:30 PM

Location: Bahen Centre, Room 1180

Address: 40 St. George Street

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Meb Rashid, Family Physician

Jackie Esmonde, Immigration Lawyer

Manavi Handa, Registered Midwife, WestEnd Midwifery Collective

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The cost of healthcare has been established as a barrier for under and uninsured migrant communities in accessing healthcare for decades. Despite the talk, few affordable healthcare options have been made available to these communities.

In recent years, the midwifery model of care in Ontario has proved to be a cost effective, accessible option for uninsured populations in Ontario to access maternity care. Payment structures that resulted from collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and professional midwives have served as an innovative way for persons without status living in Ontario to access maternity care.

Community Health Centres are another point of access to primary healthcare for underinsured populations in Ontario. Interdisciplinary staffing and coordination of care, with alternative payment structure arrangements from the Ministry of Health, seek to ensure that uninsured populations have access to primary care.

This evening will look at the opportunities and barriers to ensuring health for all! The panelists will discuss the successes of these two models of care, and the victories won by various professionals and communities in providing healthcare for the uninsured. As the momentum and pressure to recognize the fundamental human rights of those residing in our cities and communities grows, so must our organizing efforts within the health sector and beyond.

Join "Health for All" for an evening where we re-envision what a just healthcare system looks like and show how we are working to make it a reality!

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For more information, please email healthforalltoronto@gmail.com

‘Health For All’ is a group of healthcare professionals, students, and activists. We believe health is a fundamental human right. Health requires not only access to medical, mental health and dental care, but also full economic, social, environmental and political rights for all people. We call for universal health coverage and full regularization for all people to ensure health for all!

Endorsers:

Canadian Doctors for Medicare, University of Toronto

Health Providers Against Poverty

Law Union of Ontario

Medical Reform Group

Public Health Interest Group, University of Toronto

No One Is Illegal - Toronto

Ontario Public Interest Research Group, University of Toronto

Right to Health Coalition

Residents Without Borders, University of Toronto

Right to Health Coalition

Health Is Political