Consumer Health Coalition Inc.

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011

Signed

Jun 13, 2012

Return Version

2011v1.2

Gross Receipts

$343,999

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Community Organizing: Health Committee for People with DisabilitiesOver the past few years, CHC has elevated its Health Committee for People with Disabilities to a whole new level of effectiveness. This past year saw continued development and growth of consumer leadership and advocacy involvement. The Committee convenes on the third Wednesday of each month from 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm at UCP: CLASS, Pittsburgh, PA. The Committee is cross-disability in make-up and advocacy, intentionally gathering together people with all types of disabilities (i.e. physical, developmental, cognitive, mental, behavioral, and sensory) for a health care system that is responsive to their needs. The committee has two workgroups which also meet monthly: The Physical Health and Mental Health Workgroup and the Budget Bunch which focuses on advocacy strategies and implementation around resources needed to live well and participate fully in community. The Health Committee for People with Disabilities is comprised of consumers, family members, disability advocates, and staff of disability-related organizations. We estimate that 90 percent of participants at Committee meetings are persons with disabilities. Over the past year, we held a successful five-part training series on building advocacy skills ranging from how to write a letter to the editor to public speaking to designing and implementing a creative advocacy campaign. Based on this training, our consumers wrote and had published eight letters to the editor; were interviewed and featured in stories in both print and on radio; participated in a local town hall forum; and did several legislative visits on both the state and federal levels.We continued our expansion into surrounding counties. We began the process of doing a Photo Voice project in Westmoreland County entitled, "What I Need to Live Well;" did trainings on how to be proactive in one's health care in Beaver, Butler, and Westmoreland Counties; and several counties participated in our shared advocacy efforts around increasing home and community based services including our "I Would Give the Shirt Off my Back to Live in the Home and Community of my Choosing" which involved persons designing t-shirts conveying what home means to them. Photos of these shirts were made into postcards and shared with elected officials.Our "Living Together is An Art" photo voice project continues to be an amazingly sustainable effort and was displayed at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg for 3 months; as well as featured prominently at local universities during their disability awareness events.

Activity 3

Community Organizing: Expanding Health Care AccessCHC has worked to advance state and federal health care reform primarily through its participation on the PA Health Access Network (PHAN) Leadership Team. We also organized a variety of community events and rallies to ensure passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the past year, CHC wrote three sign-on letters that were endorsed by more than 140 organizations statewide. Topics of the letters included implementation of the Affordable Care Act and restoration of the Tobacco Settlement Funds into health-related programs. CHC also provided testimony a total of 4 times on health reform, adultBasic, and the Tobacco Settlement Fund. In the past year, CHC held a total of 4 rallies on adultBasic and the Tobacco Settlement Fund that were attended by over 260 people and developed three creative leave-behind materials to educate elected officials on health-related policy including implementation of the Affordable Cart Act, restoration of the Tobacco Settlement Fund, and preservation of Medicaid. In 2011, CHC celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act by delivering birthday bags filled with facts about the Affordable Care Act to 35 elected officials at the State Capitol and held a community forum featuring Joanne Grossi, Regional Director of Health and Human Services.In November 2011, CHC gathered community members and advocates across the state to create the Keep Pennsylvania Covered Quilt in response to the upcoming Super Committee vote. We collected hundreds of quilt squares with messages about the need to preserve Medicaid and Medicare, and held a statewide Day of Action to rally outside multiple locations of Senator Toomey's office. Throughout 2011, CHC was featured in nearly 50 news articles and TV interviews with media outlets across the state.Community Organizing: A Consumer Voice in the Health Care Quality MovementThe PA Campaign for Better Care (PA-CBC) lead four "LIFT UP YOUR VOICE" Advocacy Trainings for vulnerable seniors living with chronic conditions and caregivers. We trained 56 persons and conducted trainings in Erie, Pittsburgh, Wellsboro, and Williamsport. In addition to these trainings, we also facilitated three workshops attended by 60 people that focused on quality issues of health care policy.We continued to hold statewide, monthly conference calls for members of the PA-CBC and which feature a topic expert dealing with issues ranging from Medicare and Medicaid, to home and community-based services and ongoing education around the Affordable Care Act. To continue to keep our PA-CBC members informed and involved we launched a monthly e-newsletter, The North Star News in October.We were very active in advocacy efforts around the defense of Medicaid and Medicare and participated in the "Keep Us Covered" Quilt Project for Medicaid and Medicare which had persons design quilt squares expressing the importance of these two programs. As part of this effort we held a rally to deliver our quilt squares and did legislative visits.In June, we launched the Healthy Hospitals Workgroup which meets monthly and works to reduce hospital readmissions by focusing on education efforts with seniors and their caregivers.

Filer

EIN

25-1753030