King Day message here places spotlight on health

Lancaster New Era

Updated Oct 03, 2008 11:06

Lancaster

Dr. David Satcher, the 16th surgeon general of the United ...
About 600 people attended today's Martin Luther King Jr. b...

Originally Published Jan 21, 2008 12:24

By CINDY STAUFFER
Staff

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. championed justice and equality in civil rights.

But he also supported another cause.

Equality in health care.

Today, 600 people who gathered for a breakfast in King's honor in Lancaster heard what the great man had to say on that topic.

"Of all injustices known to man, perhaps the inequality in health care is the most shocking and most inhumane," King said.

Those words were shared by Dr. David Satcher, the 16th surgeon general of the United States.

Satcher spoke at the Crispus Attucks Community Center's 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

Equal access to health care is not a political or a social justice issue, Satcher said.

"It is a matter of life and death," he said.

Consider that African-Americans have a shorter life expectancy than whites. They have a higher death rate due to causes such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. More African-American babies die in their first year of life than white babies.

To change things, people must take responsibility for their own health, said Satcher, a man who rose in the darkness to go jogging in the 14-degree weather before today's breakfast.

Satcher advocated what he called the Surgeon General's prescription for the nation: more physical activity, a better diet, the avoidance of tobacco, drugs and excess alcohol, responsible sexual behavior and better mental health.

Americans also need to take responsibility for their own communities, ensuring families have access to good nutrition, education and jobs.

And government needs to take responsibility for good health as well, he said.

"Anyone who is running for president ought to have something to say about health," Satcher said.

Our nation spends more on health care per person than any other, yet has 47 million people who do not have health insurance. Universal access to care is needed, he said.

Let us work to continue King's dreams, he urged.

Satcher quoted Benjamin Mays, who was president of Morehouse College when Satcher was a student there.

"It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin."

"On this day," Satcher said, "Let us never be guilty of low aim."

At the breakfast, several awards recognized community members.

William Griscom, Thaddeus Stevens College president, received the Crispus Attucks Legacy Award, which honors someone who demonstrates exceptional support for the center.

The Essence of Humanity Awards, recognizing a spirit of caring in the face of adversity, went to Freda Hall Stewart, who lost her son to violence, and Emily Marbury, who founded a business that provides home health care to the ill and dying.

The Ruby M. Payne Cook Awards, for those who serve the center and surrounding community, went to Erick R. Lukacs, a city mounted police officer, and Ebenezer Baptist Church.

CONTACT US: cstauffer@LNPnews.com or 481-6024

Help us improve: suggestions, corrections, clarifications, added information welcome

We welcome opinions and information from all points of view. They enrich our news coverage.

We ask that your comments respect the opinions of others. Personal attacks and hate speech are not acceptable and, when reported, will be edited or removed. Offenders will be banned from making comments.

To post comments, you must provide us your real name and contact information. Sign up takes only a moment. You can do it here.

charlie_crystle

QUOTE(Lancaster Online @ Jan 21 2008, 01:27 PM)

Post your thoughts and comments about this article.

"Of all injustices known to man, perhaps the inequality in health care is the most shocking and most inhumane,"
And it's a problem we can solve, and do so in the Family & Business Healthcare Security Act (HB 1660, SB 300). Everybody in, nobody out, regardless of employment, through a simple single-payer payment system that eliminates the biggest costs of healthcare: the insurance industry, its commercials, its executives, its redundancy, its position as expensive middleman. Turns out that same system lowers costs for the majority of businesses as well, and it's morally right.
That quote is on every email I send. We owe it to ourselves to change the system, not simply rearrange it. Every healthcare proposal among the major candidates is designed to refine a system that is unjust,inadequate and expensive, even if it were functioning at 100%: it's simply not designed to provide healthcare to Americans. Refining it will never elevate it to the goal of covering all Americans (the moral impetus) or ending its drag on the economy (the economic impetus).
www.healthcare4all.org

01/21/2008 1:17 pm

Report Abuse

littledutchboy

QUOTE

To change things, people must take responsibility for their own health, said Satcher, a man who rose in the darkness to go jogging in the 14-degree weather before today's breakfast.

Satcher advocated what he called the Surgeon General's prescription for the nation: more physical activity, a better diet, the avoidance of tobacco, drugs and excess alcohol, responsible sexual behavior and better mental health.

Americans also need to take responsibility for their own communities, ensuring families have access to good nutrition, education and jobs.

And government needs to take responsibility for good health as well, he said.

"Anyone who is running for president ought to have something to say about health," Satcher said.

I was pleased to read that people should take responsibility for their own health, then I read that it’s not really the individual’s responsibility it’s the “community’s” responsibility …………… no it’s the governments responsibility.
In other words GET YEE DOWN TO THE FREE CLINIC!

01/21/2008 2:13 pm

QUOTE(littledutchboy @ Jan 21 2008, 03:13 PM)

I was pleased to read that people should take responsibility for their own health, then I read that it's not really the individual's responsibility it's the "community's" responsibility …………… no it's the governments responsibility.

In other words GET YEE DOWN TO THE FREE CLINIC!

Personal responsibility is an important component, but not the only one. Just like personal responsibility won't build the roads or supply the troops, it also won't solve the healthcare crisis. But it's an important component, yes. It doesn't mean everyone for themselves, as you've repeatedly implied in other posts. And the community is all of us, and the government works for us. Just so we're clear--it's not us vs them.

01/21/2008 3:00 pm

QUOTE(P. Floyd @ Jan 21 2008, 05:24 PM)

clearly there is a difference between roads/national defense and one's level of health care. apples and oranges my friend, apples and oranges.

besides that fact, everyone's combined personal reponsibility is needed for roads and troops. just imagine if there were no wage earners.

btw, isn't there something in the constitution about the troops, something about providing for the common defense? just thought you might like to check that out.

Big part of the problem is that many wage earners aren't covered (an unemployment is around 4.5%), and about half who are covered aren't covered well. We have a healthcare denial system, not a healthcare system.
The Constitution is a framework for governing the nation, not the governance itself. If you think that ever-increasing and high insurance premiums on businesses are good for the country, by all means, fight against the bill. If you think 18,000 annual deaths from lack of care is acceptable, fight the bill. If you think that high cost ER care is better than clinic and primary care, then by all means, fight the bill. And if you think personal responsibility means losing your home because of an uncovered health emergency, fight the bill.
The combination of selfishness and short-sightedness has led to the current inhumane, economically disastrous system. Seems you're ok with that.

01/21/2008 4:57 pm

Username:
Password:
Become a member

King Day message here places spotlight on health

Related Topics