Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action

Join Senator Wendy Davis

& Representative Donna Howard

with Women Partners in Health for a

 SARA HICKMAN CONCERT
TO BENEFIT A WOMEN’S HOSPITAL IN UGANDA

 TICKETS $50

Uganda Fistula Fund of Seattle, is partnering with Terrewode, a non-profit organization in Uganda, to build a dedicated women’s hospital and rehab/education center to help prevent and end the suffering caused by obstetric fistula.  Please join us to hear Sara sing and to learn more about this hospital, the first of its kind in Uganda.  Alice Emasu, the co-founder of Terrewode and Sharon Howe, the co-founder of Uganda Fistula Fund, will both speak.  We will watch a brief documentary about a similar hospital in Ethiopia: “A Walk To Beautiful.” 

Our goal is to fund the surgical building with Texan donations. 

Friday – February 17, 2017

7:00PM to 9:00PM

Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church ~ 1725 West 11th Street ~ Clarksville

(small reception to follow)

Tickets/Information/Donations

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sara-hickman-concert-to-benefit-a-womens-hospital-in-uganda-tickets-29941626210

or contact ranapierucci@gmail.com for more information.

Upcoming Red Bench Events:

February 28: Spirituality & Nature

March 28: Mental Health

Earlier this month, leaders from the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to all governors and state insurance commissioners requesting input on potential changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid. The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance sent a separate letter seeking similar input to members of the Republican Governor’s Association.

As Congress prepares to take up federal health care laws, the Cover Texas Now coalition submitted a detailed letter to Governor Abbott, and Texas Insurance and Health and Human Services Commissioners Mattax and Smith, urging them to voice support for policies that will create a more stable, affordable, and high-quality health care system that builds on recent progress, while making improvements.

Cover Texas Now is opposed to:

• Congress repealing the ACA without simultaneously passing a replacement plan that would ensure no loss of coverage or loss of consumer protections, and
• Congress fundamentally altering and reducing federal funding for Medicaid, either through a block grant or per capita cap.

Cover Texas Now is a coalition of consumer and faith-based organizations that desire to see the state of Texas implement a sustainable health care system and provide quality affordable health coverage to its citizens.

Sign up to participate in the Health Justice Sabbath, November 18-20, 2016.

Why Health Justice Sabbath?

Six years after passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), uninsured rates across the U.S. have dropped significantly, but Texas leads the nation in both number and percent of uninsured residents. Nearly a million low-income adults are caught in a “coverage gap”— too poor to qualify for subsidies through healthcare.gov, but earning too much to qualify for Medicaid. And lack of insurance isn’t our only health woe: Texas ranks 34th among the states for health overall, and 41st for senior health. Texans with education beyond high school do better, and Hispanics are particularly at risk.

We can do better.

Faith communities play a unique role in the health care landscape. We are providers, consumers, and advocates. We engage health care as an issue of both charity and justice. Our scriptural traditions affirm physical, mental, and spiritual health as core human needs. We celebrate the human mind and body as gifts of a loving Creator.

Increasingly, individuals and communities of faith are concerned about the politicization and polarization of health care in Texas. We want to engage in meaningful, nonpartisan discussion about the future of health care in our state. We want a conversation that integrates physical and mental health and wellbeing; that empowers individuals and local communities; and that envisions affordable, quality health care for all Texans.

We want a health care discussion that is Above Politics.

Let’s start that conversation. This November, join faith communities across the state in prayer, study, and action, as we lift up faith-based teachings and aspirations for healthy families and communities; for the disadvantaged and dismissed; and for our shared future.

Join congregations and other faith groups around Texas in holding a Health Justice Sabbath on the weekend of November 18-20.

• You might do a big project—like a forum or health fair your whole community can attend.
• You might simply include special prayers for health and healing in worship.
• Whether it’s saying a prayer for healing, volunteering at a local clinic, holding a forum on health care issues, or something else, your participation in Health Justice Sabbath will help Texas focus on the importance of health care for all Texans.

Sign up to participate in the Health Justice Sabbath, November 18-20, 2016.