This year, in lieu of our annual all-day in-person seminar, we went virtual with 5 sessions, one a week in the month of October. The theme is “Pandemic Response: How Do We Center Health Equity?”
It’s been a great run so far! The series began with a compelling keynote presentation by Dr. Rhea Boyd, followed by a discussion with Edwin Lindo on the impact of racism on health. They discussed the legacies and current practices of racial exclusion and discrimination that create adversity and provide conditions for disease. A recording of the webinar is available here[JV1] .
At the second session, we started with an update on health care related law and legislation by NoHLA’s Emily Brice. Next, state agency leaders Amy Johnson (WA Health Care Authority), Catherine Kinnaman (WA Department of Social and Health Services), Joan Altman (WA Health Benefit Exchange, and Paj Nandi (WA Department of Health) discussed how the state has tried to marshal resources to address the current crisis and center health equity, especially their efforts to address the large disparities in rates of illness and mortality for racial and ethnic groups compared to whites.
Our third session began with a panel on the significance of Medicaid and other safety net programs in Washington, with presentations from Leo Cuello (National Health Law Program), MaryAnne Lindeblad (Medicaid Director, Health Care Authority), and Dr. Bob Crittenden. Kristi Cruz (Northwest Justice Project) discussed the importance for accessing health care of language resources – interpretation and translated materials – for those who are limited English proficient. The final panel was about ways to re-envision Washington’s safety net, going beyond health care to social determinants of health, and identifying the . Our presenters were State Senator Emily Randall, Sybill Hyppolite (Washington State Labor Council), Monserrat Padilla (Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network), Dara Taylor (Community Catalyst), and myself.
Session #4 began with NoHLA’s Huma Zarif presenting on the behavioral health impacts of COVID-19, followed by presentations from Jane Beyer and Mandy Weeks-Green at the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, discussing their efforts to determine whether health insurers are complying with mental health parity requirements; Chen-Chen Jiang (TeamChild) on services for special education students during a virtual school year; and Kim Mosolf (Disability Rights Washington) on emergency response and arrest diversion. In the final panel on secondary trauma and self-care, Huma Zarif framed the ethical issues for lawyers relating to behavioral health issues, and Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (The Trauma Stewardship Institute) provided information on how to survive overwhelm and trauma.
Don’t Miss Our Last Webinar on Friday October 30, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm, when we will focus on the pandemic’s impact on older adults and people with disabilities (including those with underlying health conditions). We have a great list of speakers – you can still register here!
If you were not able to attend…
- Recordings and materials: We are working on making materials and recordings of all sessions available. Stay tuned for more information.
- Resources: We’ve created this reading list with resources on race equity related to health. We hope you find it useful. Registration for Webinar Series
Immense gratitude to our sponsors for this year’s webinar series:
Angel Series Sponsor:
Kaiser Permanente
Champion Series Sponsor:
Arcora Foundation
Keynote Sponsors:
Washington Association for Community Health
Community Health Plan of Washington
Session Sponsors:
International Community Health Services
Justice In Aging
AARP Washington
ACLU Washington
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
Columbia Legal Services
Washington Association for Community Health
–Janet Varon, NoHLA Executive Director