In ATLANTA, LP Just Health Care activists were involved in an energetic fight to keep Grady Hospital from imposing a drastic increase in prescription prices. A series of protests and arrests that involved Atlanta Central Labor Council President Stuart Acuff (an LP member), LP activist Peggy Dobbins, church leaders, advocates for the homeless, and others finally succeeded in stopping the proposed increases.

Now the coalition is setting its sights on Emory University, which sponsors Grady Hospital. Activists are holding vigils at the university gates demanding that 15 percent of Emory’s huge endowment (mostly from Coca Cola stock) be used to restore standards at Grady.

After the victory over prescription costs, reports LP activist Ebon Dooley, "We brainstormed about how we could keep the movement going, how we could get the public to understand that a local solution is a band-aid solution, and to get the Labor Party program out before as wide a constituency as possible." An upcoming forum on the Grady/Emory struggle will include a Labor Party representative who will describe the Just Health Care plan and talk about how, in Peggy Dobbins’ words, "the situation at Grady draws attention to the national need for single-payer health coverage."

The SEATTLE Labor Party has helped spawn a Just Health Care Coalition of Washington, reports LP activist Craig Sailins. Several months ago, the Seattle activists sponsored a Just Health Care forum featuring LP co-chair Kit Costello of the California Nurses Association and representatives from a Canadian hospital union, a local nurses’ union, and Citizen Action. After the forum, says Sailins, Just Health Care supporters, including several local union leaders and representatives from citizen, church, retiree, and immigrants’ groups, formed a taskforce to map out a strategy. In September, this taskforce agreed to establish a new statewide Just Health Care Coalition which aims to "develop and carry out a plan for a campaign in Washington consistent with the national Just Health Care principles and guidelines."

The coalition’s first move will be to "have a series of one-on-one meetings with about eight unions we’ve identified that we think will sign onto the campaign," says Sailins. The group plans to develop a speakers’ bureau, establish a newsletter, organize educationals and speakouts, and conduct a media campaign around Just Health Care. They aim to add 20,000 names to the Committee of a Million from the state of Washington.

From the Chicago Labor & Arts Festival exhibit, "Just Health Care: Get a Life", a piece by Greg Boozell.

This September, CHICAGO’s annual Labor and Arts Festival took "Just Health Care: Get a Life" as its theme. Artists were asked to use their own style and content to respond to the health care crisis. The resulting exhibit included everything from pointed cartoons by Carol*Simpson to more abstract interpretations. The festival also included music, film, and poetry readings. Cathleen Schandelmaier read a poem about her father, a trimmer of cow hooves, who died of liver cancer after his lack of insurance delayed treatment.

The MASSACHUSETTS Labor Party has succeeded in putting Just Health Care on the ballot in Somerville, MA, reports Bill Bumpus, after collecting thousands of signatures to qualify. In the lead-up to the November 2 vote on the nonbinding referendum, Just Health Care activists will be distributing thousands of leaflets, visiting homes, tabling with "The Goddess" (as the Just Health Care’s mascot, a giant replica of Lady Liberty with an IV, is coming to be known), and collecting names for the Committee of a Million. If the Somerville resolution passes, it will be the third Massachusetts community to go on record supporting Just Health Care.

LP organizer Ed Bruno suggests that local LP affiliates and organizations set a specific goal for local organizing for the Committee of a Million. For instance, a local organization’s first goal might be to establish a local "committee of five thousand" for Just Health Care. Once that goal is met, the new "committee" can sponsor an event to increase the campaign’s visibility and push toward the next goal (i.e., a committee of 10,000). Most important is to have a well thought-out campaign with attainable short-term goals that builds on our growing Committee of a Million roster .

Labor Party Press will continue to highlight Just Health Care activities around the country. Please send a brief report of your union or chapter Just Health Care activities to the Labor Party Press via e-mail: lmclure@aol.com or fax: 212-353-1203.

• See also: Just Health Care Airs Nationally (September, 1999 Labor Party Press)