CIR Meets With Gov. Richardson, 5/3/07
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May 3, 2007
On Wednesday, May 2nd, Elizabeth Burpee, Department of Internal Medicine, and John Ingle, Department of Otolaryngology, sat down with Democratic Presidential Candidate and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to discuss his proposals to expand health coverage so that every American is insured, and his plans to protect the right of workers to form unions. It was the most recent of a number of meetings that UNM residents have had with public officials since voting to form a housestaff union in late January.
One of the main reasons many of us supported joining CIR was the hope of using our collective voice to advocate for our patients in the political arena. In the conversation with Governor Richardson, our CIR representatives shared our first hand experiences as frontline health care providers at UNM. They explained to the Governor how these experiences illustrate not only the problems with the current health care system, but also the possibilities that exist for solutions.
The visit was also organized in part as the latest step in a national effort by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), of which CIR is an affiliate, to reach out to presidential candidates about the issues most important to working families. Preeminent among these issues is access to quality, affordable, and reliable health care, and SEIU, in conjunction with CIR, is determined to ensure that this issue be at the center of the national presidential discussion.