“Healthcare is a Human Right” – Oct. 20, 2009
“Healthcare is a Human Right”
Healthcare reform panel discussion about Medicare for All
Tuesday, Oct. 20 @ 6:30 PM
St. Bartley Primitive Baptist Church
3020 Belafonte Ave., Huntsville
(see directions below)
FREE and open to the public
Physician Panel:
+ Wally Retan, MD, FACP – State coordinator, Health Care for Everyone–Alabama
+ Celia Lloyd-Turney, MD – Medical director, Choice Medicine, Huntsville
+ Pippa Abston, MD, PhD – Pediatrician and educator, Huntsville
Moderator: David Person – Host of WEUP Talk, 1700 AM
This discussion focuses on the moral and human rights aspects of providing healthcare to everyone, as well as the disproportionate effect of our current healthcare system on minorities.
Panelists will also address the practical elements of how a better system – Medicare for All (universal single payer) – can work for all Americans.
A question/answer session will follow the panel discussion.
Hosted by: St. Bartley Primitive Baptist Church
Sponsored by: North Alabama Healthcare for All
Information: jerryburnet@knology.net 256-655-9330 or www.NorthAlabamaHealthcareForAll.org
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Panelist Biographies
1) J. Walden (Wally) Retan, MD, FACP, is state coordinator of Health Care For Everyone – Alabama, a coalition of organizations, businesses and individuals supporting a Medicare-for-All type healthcare system. Dr. Retan is also State Coordinator of the Alabama chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. He was originally educated at Hamilton College, MIT and the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York. In the 1950s, he received his post-graduate training in hospitals of the Harvard Medical system before moving to Alabama as a faculty member for the University of Alabama in Birmingham. After more than 30 years of running his own internal medicine practice in Birmingham, he currently serves as a part-time physician and travels throughout the state to speak about universal healthcare. Dr. Retan is a member of the American College of Physicians, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, and the Jefferson County Medical Society.
2) Celia Lloyd-Turney, MD, is Medical director for Choice Medicine Highway 53 Medical Center in Toney, AL. She has been practicing medicine in the Huntsville area for over 25 years including her time at Central North Alabama Health Services, a community health center, as part of her commitment to the National Health Service Corp. In 2006, she established Choice Medicine to serve the health and wellness needs of North Alabama and Southern Tennessee indigent populations. Dr. Lloyd-Turney also devotes much her time to the develoment of Restore Care, Inc., a group-home organization providing care to mentally disadvantaged individuals in Madison County. Recognition for her efforts includes an honorary award from 100 Black Men of Greater Huntsville for her contributions in the field of medicine. Dr. Lloyd-Turney graduated Magnum Cum Laude from Fisk University in 1975 and received her medical degree from Meharry Medical College in 1980. She currently serves as president of the North Alabama chapter of the National Medical Association.
3) Pippa Abston, MD, PhD, is a pediatrician and educator in Huntsville, Alabama. She is a founding member of the Society for Equity in Child Health and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Madison County Medical Society. She is also a member of Physicians for a National Health Program and North Alabama Healthcare for All, as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. Dr. Abston received her medical degree from the University of South Alabama in 1993, where she also earned a national medical student award. Her community work includes serving as a Deacon and Chairperson of Health Ministry at her church. She also received an award from Interfaith Mission Service in 2007 for her instrumental work in founding a local homeless clinic. One of her most recent accomplishments was establishing an Autism Diagnostic Clinic in Huntsville.
Moderator:
David Person is the director of communications at Phoenix, a nonprofit company in Huntsville that provides jobs, work placement and other services for people with disabilities. He is a member of USA Today’s board of contributors, writes for the Adventist Today website, and hosts “WEUP Talk,” a daily call-in talk show for WEUP-AM, the oldest black-owned radio station in Alabama. Person has also done feature reporting for National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” He is retired as an editorial writer and columnist at The Huntsville Times, where his writing earned awards from the Alabama Press Association and the Alabama Associated Press.
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DIRECTIONS TO: St. Bartley Primitive Baptist Church, 3020 Belafonte Ave., Huntsville
From Memorial Parkway
Take the University/Hwy 72 Exit.
Go West on University/Hwy 72.
Go across Pulaski Pike and travel about five more blocks.
Turn RIGHT onto Yukon.
At the “T”, turn LEFT on Poplar.
Turn RIGHT on Fairbanks.
Turn LEFT on Love.
Turn RIGHT on Belafonte. (The church is at the corner of Love and Belafonte.)