PUSH now on PayPal

You can now donate to Healthcare for All PA/PUSH at the PayPal button on the right.  You can donate online securely.  You can also decide to make the donation either one time or recurring.  All donations go to local support PUSH activities.

New Podcamp Presentation on Social Media for Nonprofits Immediate Needs

Ali McMurtrie of Haitian Families First discussed at PodCamp her use of social media to aid relief efforts after the earthquake in 2010.  You can follow her on twitter at @alimcmutrie

Also David DeAngelo of the blog 2 Political Junkies and Jon Delano of KDKA Pittsburgh gave a good workshop on Old and New Media at PodCamp on how they get their message out.  You can see the talk here.

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PodCamp 7 Presentation on Social Media for Non Profits

 

Crowdsourcing at Red Blue Voice.com

Truth, Rock and Revolution Tour 2012 Begins Jan 5

Go to a demonstration or protest gathering in and around the ‘Burgh’ – for universal single-payer healthcare, a union for UPMC employees, against the shutdown of Braddock Hospital, against the endless wars overseas, alerting the public to the dangers of hydraulic fracking in the Marcellus Shale
region, memorials commemorating workers killed on the job – chances are Mike Stout will be there, with guitar in hand, rallying and firing up the troops.

From the steel mill shutdowns and food bank formations of the 1980s to the present day battles of poor and working people, for more than 30 years Mike’s music has chronicled these struggles, as well as the heroes and heroines who have led these fights for social and economic justice. And after 13 CDs, 9 tours of Europe and 125 songs later, this musical ever-ready battery just keeps on ticking.
His upcoming 2013 Tour will begin Jan. 5 at Southside’s Club Café, take him through a Quaker High School in eastern Ohio, Detroit and Ann Arbor in March, Lexington Kentucky, Washington DC in April, Philadelphia on May Day and Germany in late May, peppered with appearances in and around the
Burgh that are yearly staples, such as Workers Memorial Day on April 28 in Market Square.

His band of seasoned Pittsburgh musicians and vocalists not only put on a hell of a show, with superb craftsmanship and intricate harmonies, but raise funds for needy causes and organizations, ranging over the years from the Pgh. Community Food Bank and Just Harvest, to the Thomas Merton Center and Healthcare4allpa. The Jan. 5 Club Café Show will pass the buckets for “Water For the
Woodlands,” an area of Butler County with more than a dozen families and households whose water has been poisoned with the advent of hydraulic fracking nearby, and who have no source of clean water for
drinking and bathing.

Doors Open 6 PM - Show Time 7 PM
Club Cafe on the Southside
56-58 South 12 Street, Pittsburgh, Pa

Purchase Tickets Online at Club Cafe.com
or call Mike at 412.461.5650
www.mikestoutmusic.com

Truth, Rock and Revolution Tour 2012

PodCamp 7 Presentation on Social Media for Non Profits

Zack Tanner from WQED gave a talk at PodCamp about how they use social media to improve their practice in the face of budget cuts from the federal and state governments.

Crowdsourcing at Red Blue Voice.com

Last weekend was a productive one at PodCamp.  I met several activists interested in using social media to get their message out.  I went to some informative sessions and the session I gave on presenting statistics in social media went well.  There were others that I missed because they were going on at the same time.  The day began with the keynote address by the creators of the YouTube series Pittsburgh Dad.  This is enlightening because it shows how new media is challenging old media.

Of particular interest for was the session I went to on Crowdsourcing by Josh Lucas.  He is one of the the creators of Red Blue Voice (Now defunct but kick starter works) which allows groups and individuals to advocate for issues and causes. Kickstarter is another type of crowdsourcing site which Tony Buba used to raise funds for the film on Braddock Hospital closing called We Are Alive.

**Related Posts**

Special Screening of Tony Buba Documentary on Braddock Hospital Closing

 

New Mike Stout Video on Braddock's Need for a New Community Hospital

 

PodCamp 7 Sessions are Being Announced

New Mike Stout Video on Braddock's Need for a New Community Hospital

I received this new video that was put together by Tony Buba of Braddock Films on the need for a new community hospital in Braddock, PA.  Mike Stout who sings the tribute to Braddock Hospital will also be performing on October 7 at the Frick Fine Arts Center at 7:30 with the Human Union Band.  Details can be seen at the Facebook page here.  Buba is also raising money for a documentary profiling the damage done by Braddock Hospital being closed by UPMC called the Kickstarter Campaign.  Info is below.

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Unbelievable Promises Monopolized Care—UPMC

Mike Stout & the Human Union Band Concert

Fundraiser for Injured Cyclist

On September 6 a cyclist, Colin Albright, who works at Pittsburgh Pro Bikes was savagely attacked on Pittsburgh's Southside in a road rage incident (details can be read here).  This Saturday there will be a fundraiser for him at the Over The Bar bicycle bar on the East Carson St (details are on the poster at the left).  There will be raffle prizes donated by sponsors listed.

Not specifically mentioned is whether this fundraiser is to pay for his medical expenses but it seems a safe assumption.  These kinds of fundraisers happen frequently and I encourage you all to either attend or if you cannot to donate here at the Bike Pittsburgh page.  It goes without saying that many of these fundraisers would be unnecessary if we had a comprehensive universal health care system that put patients over profits.

**Related Posts**

 

Healthy Artists Video on Bicyclists Injury

 

STOP Obamacare in Pennsylvania and the Uninsured

 

New Census Uninsured Data Out: White & Female Rates Getting Worse in PA

Mike Stout & the Human Union Band Concert

Please  forward to your friends and post on Facebook! You can RSVP to the Facebook event page here.

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Thomas Merton Center Announcement A Call to Unite Concert October 7, Sunday   7:30 pmMike Stout & the Human Union Band Concert              A CALL TO UNITEFrick Fine Arts Auditorium (Oakland)  - Schenley Drive by Carnegie LibrarySuggested donation $15 or $10 Low IncomeFunds raised benefit the TMC & Pennsylvanians United for Single Payer Healthcare Thomas Merton Center                           5129 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224 For more information call  412-361-3022

Here is a music video of Mike's band giving a tribute to the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victims.

Social Justice & Injustice in the Field of Healthcare

Duquesne student intern Neal Caldwell has written a poignant essay about his experience working in the PUSH office.  He sounds like another who would make a good blogger.

Neal Caldwell

Social Justice

Paper 3

3/27/12

Social Justice & Injustice in the Field of Healthcare

          

            Throughout the course of the service-learning portion of the Social Justice course I have gained considerable insight into the problems of justice and injustice in the field of healthcare.  As with so many other issues I have explored in my short twenty years, I fear I have vehemently sought after but have failed to find any answers.  I will discuss, however, what I have found.

            Healthcare is certainly of most prominent social concern, and for good reason.  True also, as with so many other things, it has become a commodity in this country.  Medicine is a booming business and one of the most profitable in the nation.  With no concern other than the dollar, health care providers have no incentive to lower costs for those in need.  Rather, the incentive is to raise costs for those who already can, and will continue to be able to, afford this commodity. 

            I have seen and heard firsthand both sides of the argument regarding healthcare.  The first premise to be considered is this: is healthcare an inherent right of every citizen of the United States?  This question is often posed somewhat idealistically, and most are inclined to answer “Why yes, of course.  This is the United States! Every citizen should be entitled to the proper medical care needed to live a healthy and fulfilling life!”  This answer, however, must be considered carefully.  If every citizen is entitled to healthcare, is every citizen then, too, entitled to a house?  A car?  One can see the slippery slope that is approached by such questions of inherent rights. 

Some argue further that should healthcare be provided to every citizen that the incentive to work is removed.  I argue the opposite– that citizens will be more inclined to work when they are free from worry about medical care.  Perhaps this is an idealistic and lofty notion, so we must examine another question.  Are the majority of the underprivileged citizens of this country trying to make something for themselves, so to speak, or are they simply trying to get over on the system?  I have spent the current semester working in the office of Healthcare4AllPA and have heard the horror stories of the injured, crippled and disabled who are unable to work and therefore unable to receive medical care.  These are the people who must be placed at the very front of consideration regarding the healthcare issue in our country.  Have we become so lost in our quest for the dollar that we have forgotten our responsibility to our fellow men?  When did our sense of community and compassion become replaced with greed and callousness?

Of all things instilled in me by this service-learning project, fear is the most ubiquitous.  I fear that men have been made insensitive in the name of business and profit.  I fear what will happen when man’s responsibility to and concern for the common good of others is not dwindling, as it is now, but completely gone.  In a society as fruitful, free and pioneering as ours, it is unjust for so many to go without healthcare.  I do not have an answer for those of immoral persuasions who wish to dishonestly use a system aimed at providing for those in need, but I believe the majority of the underserved and underprivileged are not immoral.  I believe in the good of all men.   

**Relevant Posts**

IF the PUSH/HEALTHCARE4ALLPA SW OFFICE IS A KEEPER, IT'S UP TO YOU!

 

Duquesne University Healthcare 4 All PA Fundraiser

 

Racial and Gender Differences in Pennsylvania's Uninsured

Duquesne University Healthcare 4 All PA Fundraiser

Healthcare 4 All PA is having a fundraiser sponsored by Avon Representative and Duquesne University student Trenita Finney to raise money for creating the Student Alliance for Healthcare Reform (STAHR) at Duquesne University. Please contact me @ finneyt@duq.edu to place an order if interested in making a purchase. The fundraiser ends April 30th. What is being offered are included in the link below. Thank you for your contribution!
Fundraiser Products