Columbia University And Newyork-Presbyterian Hospital Join 21 Northern Manhattan Organizations To Raise Awareness During National "Cover The Uninsured Week"
New York, March 10, 2003 - Columbia University, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Alianza Dominicana Inc. are joining together with health care practitioners, community leaders, and community-based organizations in northern Manhattan to host a series of community and campus events to raise awareness about the crisis of the uninsured. The activities will take place during Cover the Uninsured Week, scheduled for March 10-16.
Forty-one million people in the United States currently lack health insurance, including an estimated 1.6 million in New York City. In northern Manhattan, where the number of uninsured is higher than the city’s average, approximately 147,000 people, or 28 percent of the population, are without health insurance. For many Americans, the high cost of coverage is the primary barrier keeping them from obtaining health insurance coverage. In the northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood, however, cultural and language barriers—along with substandard social and economic status—compound the problem, making access to health care especially difficult.
“Lack of health insurance for families in New York City has reached epic proportions,” said Dr. Thelma C. Davidson Adair, a veteran community advocate and educator. “It is my hope that this initiative will not only raise awareness but mobilize community leaders and elected officials to continue to advocate for our uninsured families.”
Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Healthcare System, adds, “Americans have access to the best medical care in the world. However, being medically uninsured takes a toll on men, women and children. They are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of disease, suffer from illnesses that are preventable and treatable, and have their lifespan shortened as a result of their uninsured status. Healthcare providers, like NewYork-Presbyterian, need the support of the community and government in order to provide the best medical care.”
“There are many myths about who is uninsured. One of the most common myths is that that the majority of those without health insurance are unemployed. This is simply incorrect. The uninsured are all around us. They are our family, friends and neighbors. They are of different ages and different ethnicities, and the majority of uninsured work two or three jobs that for many reasons do not offer health insurance,” said Moisés Pérez, executive director of Alianza Dominicana Inc, the lead agency for facilitated health insurance enrollment in northern Manhattan.
During Cover The Uninsured Week, Columbia University’s Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative and the Community DentCare Network, a collaboration among the School of Dental & Oral Surgery, the Harlem Hospital Dental Service, and a group of community-based oral health care providers, will join forces with 21 northern Manhattan organizations to offer health care resources and health insurance enrollment services for residents in northern Manhattan. Throughout the week, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s Ambulatory Care Network will provide free health screenings for blood pressure and diabetes at various community-based sites, while facilitated enrollment specialists from Alianza Dominicana and representatives from Community Premier Plus and Affinity Health Plan will be available to identify and register community members eligible for New York State-sponsored health insurance.
Crest Healthy Smiles 2010 has joined these organizations by providing free Crest products, educational materials and access to dental professionals, with the goals of helping children attain healthier smiles and affecting real change in the state of the community's oral health. Information on programs for asthma, immunizations, and tobacco cessation also will be available at the event.
On Thursday, March 13, Columbia’s Center for Community Health Partnerships will host a seminar titled Covering The Uninsured: A National and Local Crisis for members of the Columbia University Health Sciences community; students at Columbia’s Health Sciences campus will have the opportunity to discuss the plight of the uninsured—and to talk about their roles as future healthcare leaders—at a luncheon on Friday, March 14.
“Lack of health care coverage affects all of us, not just the uninsured and their families,” said Dr. Allan J. Formicola, Vice Dean for Community Health Partnerships at Columbia University. “For the individual it means he or she is less likely to receive preventive care, diagnostic tests, and the appropriate medical interventions. For medical institutions it means increased emergency room use and longer waiting periods. For the community it means indirect costs to taxpayers, and, most importantly, the loss of human potential.”
Cover the Uninsured Week in New York is funded by the United Hospital Fund, the Commonwealth Fund, Health Plus, Pfizer Inc., the New York Community Trust, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans. The California Endowment and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation are also providing significant funds for events throughout the nation.
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*The Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative is one of 13 learning laboratories working to improve health care access under the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Voices: Health Care for the Uninsured program. For the last five years, Columbia University’s Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaboration has been working with residents in northern Manhattan to not only help reduce the number of uninsured but also to build lasting community collaborations to increase the quantity and quality of health care services available to the uninsured and underinsured.