MSNA/NNU would like to thank all of the volunteer RNS, MDs NPs and community members that came out to the Health Care as a Human Right Events.

It was quite an experience!  At the MSNA Conference back in April members were interested in sponsoring a clinic under the Maine Street Campaign and it kind of took off after that.  With the help from the RN Respons Network (RNRN), the screening clinics were set up.  We had wanted to add a Town Hall meeting component to discuss our Health Care is a Human Right Campaign.  In both locations we had a steady flow of people coming in for the screenings.  The number of volunteers that showed up from RNs, MD's, and activists was incredible.  

RNRN had set up the RN and MD volunteers for the actually screenings but so many other nurses and activists showed up! The extra volunteers went into the streets to have our health care surveys filled out.  The town hall meetings  were energizing with a room full of RNs, workers, MDs, NPs, and students.  It was a diverse group of participants from many different walks of life and what brought them together was the belief that health care is a human right.

Cindy Young from NNU and the Campaign for a Healthy California Coalition brought a presentation that was informative and eye opening to many and we appreciated her putting Maine on her own tour.  The highlight of these meetings was when such a diverse group of people stood up and told their stories about their experiences with health care - from the uninsured hotel/service worker to the NP that has to either turn the uninsured/underinsured away, close her practice of let it get bought out by a hospital chain. 

The Maine Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign seeks to win a universal, public health care system in Maine based on the following human rights principles:

1. Every person is entitled to comprehensive, quality healthcare.
2. Systemic barriers must not prevent people from accessing necessary healthcare.
3. The cost of financing the healthcare system must be shared equitably.
4. The healthcare system must be transparent in design, efficient in operation and accountable to the people it serves.
5. As a human right, the healthcare system that satisfies these principles is the responsibility of the government to ensure.

RELATED NEWS:

Maine Health Care Advocates Press for 'Medicare for All'
Maine Public Broadcasting Network, 10/16/13

Maine nurses say Obamacare doesn’t go far enough, argue for universal coverage
Bangor Daily News, 10/15/13

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