WELCOME TO THE CALGARY LINK!

INTRODUCTION

The executive and committee members of the Calgary Chapter of Friends of Medicare (FOM) met for the first time on April 2, 2000. Given the urgent action required to stop the passage of Bill 11, much work needed to be done to alert Calgarians to the very real dangers to public health care posed by the ill-conceived privatization scheme of the Klein government. We met weekly to plan strategies that would give citizens an opportunity to send a message to the premier and, hopefully, other Canadians as well. Our message to the government was clear and strong:

Make no mistake about it. Private, for-profit surgical facilities [hospitals] are not acceptable solutions to health care problems.

The public response to our mission was inspirational. Thousands of people have joined us at rallies, many have written to government officials as part of our letter-writing campaigns, and people continue to ask, “What can I do to help save public health care?”

Despite the passage of Bill 11, significant protests against it prove that even in the heartland of conservatism the government of Klein has crossed the line. Because the process and outcome of Bill 11 demonstrated that neither democracy nor health care is alive and well in Alberta, people willingly joined forces in protest. We believe that our pressure tactics have not failed. Given the current political circumstances, our mission continues to be challenging but not daunting; we are committed to continually develop creative, effective initiatives to safeguard our public health care. We hope you will support us in whatever way you can. Please click on the action link to find out how you can help stop creeping privatization and the erosion of public health care delivery.

Thank you for dropping in.

FOM, Calgary Chapter

CALGARY FOM EXECUTIVE

Chair: Dr. Judy Johnson Secretary and Edmonton Board Member: Frank Reaume

Co-chair: Dr. Arthur Clark Treasurer: Dr. Avalon Roberts

/jj

ACTION -- New FOM Initiatives

1. MRI Phone-ins
Alan Rock, the Minister of Health and Wellness, has "promised to take action", contingent on information from Albertans who felt forced to dig into their own pockets to pay for MRI tests that should've been paid for by the public system. Accordingly, we are seeking information about people who have gone to a for-profit MRI clinic, paid for the diagnostic test and used test results to get treatment ahead of the rest of the public who're still waiting in line for the same test. That's two-tiered health care; that's queue jumping.

To provide health minister Rock with specific names of people in those circumstances, FOM is appealing to Albertans to phone our toll-free number:

1-877-488-0168

The Calgary FOM committee wishes to re-emphasize:

1. No Albertan should feel forced to pay for an MRI (or any other diagnostic test/treatment).

2. No Albertan should have to wait longer because wealthier citizens paid for services which enabled them to get faster treatment in the public system.

We sincerely thank you for helping us provide Alan Rock with case examples that clearly violate Canada's Health Care Act. Please forward this message to others.

Judy Johnson, Chair

Friends of Medicare, Calgary Chapter

2. Annual General Meeting

            Location:          Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Centre
                                    1320 – 5^th Ave. N.W.
            Date:               September 11, 2000
            Time:                7 p.m.

The purpose of this meeting is two-fold:

1. Familiarize people with our mission statement, our past achievements, and our future goals.

2. Elect a new executive. There will be nominations from the floor for executive positions, followed by voting.

WE INVITE YOU TO ATTEND THIS IMPORTANT MEETING

For further information please contact judyjo@telusplanet.net