Over a dozen community advocacy groups are collaborating on a discussion on Wednesday in Charlotte to spotlight residents' challenges with gaining access to medical care.
The discussion aims to share personal experiences of residents who don’t have access to care providers or have lost access to services such as Medicaid. It will include doctors and Mecklenburg County representatives who will provide support to residents.
Corine Mack is with the NAACP, which is leading the event with the group Health Care Justice NC.
“Someone may think I’m the only person going through this, but the fact is, it’s not so,” Mack said. "So, when you tell your story, it’s a way to empower other folks.”
The conversation is part of the "Last Paragraph Campaign" that aims to give a voice to those impacted by changes to the health care system. A system that advocates say is under strain amid proposed cuts tied to Republican federal budgets. Rev. Janet Garner Mullins is also behind the campaign.
“This campaign brings lived experiences of harm to the forefront,” Mullins said. “Not as isolated tragedies, but as evidence of a broken system. A system that is failing.”
The "Last Paragraph Campaign" is supported by several other groups, including the Reimagining America Project, Healthcare for All NC, and NC Medicare for All Coalition. Katherine Nelson is a part of the campaign and helped unite the different groups.
"This is building partnerships and working with people,” Nelson said. "People will continue to be partners because they realize that a coalition of partners is needed to get the message out.”
Dr. Doug Robinson is the chairman of Health Care Justice NC. Robinson says they have a major goal they hope to achieve.
"To full transformative health care reform in the United States,” Robinson said. "And that is universal health care, single payer, publicly financed, publicly accountable health care.”
The Wednesday discussion starts at 5 p.m. at Little Rock AME Zion Church.
