First, great news! Legislative Concept is on the list of things for legislators to consider during this week’s Special Legislative Session. Thank you to all of you who wrote and called your legislators to make this happen.
Second, our work is not done. Now we need your help again to ensure that Legislative Concept 52 passes and people with disabilities can access healthcare in Oregon, and have support from people they trust when they are in the hospital or having end of life discussions.
Today, the most important thing you can do to ensure Legislative Concept 52 becomes law is to submit written testimony to the email addresses below before Monday, June 22 at 3 p.m.
Please submit written testimony even if you already contacted legislators about this concept last week.
Legislative Concept 52 is a step toward ensuring that Oregonians experiencing disability can access healthcare, use support from people they trust while they are hospitalized and have support when making end of life decisions.
Legislative Concept 52 does this by:
- Mandating hospitals allow support people to patients as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, consistent with the order recently released by US Health and Human Services and current Oregon Health Authority guidelines.
- Clarifying that Crisis Care Guidance may not include provisions that consider the presence of a disability as a determinant factor in the decision of who gets care and who does not.
- Ensuring that people are not pressured to make end of life decisions on the basis of their disability or as a condition of receiving care.
- Ensuring that people can have support from people they choose if they are discussing end of life care.
How can you help?
First decide what to say in your email, below is something to get you started:
Provide your name and city where you live.
Start with something like “everyone deserves access to healthcare and support from people they trust to help them understand their care and communicate with doctors. Today, too many people experiencing disability are not able to access healthcare, are denied support from people they trust while they are hospitalized or having end of life discussions.”
Ask that Legislative Concept 52 (or “LC 52”) be introduced and passed this Special Session so that
Oregonians experiencing disability can access healthcare, use support from people they trust while they are hospitalized and have support when making end of life decisions.
If you have a personal story about being denied access to healthcare, denied support in the hospital or being asked to sign documents about end of life care just because you were being admitted to the hospital, please say a few sentences about that.
End with a "Thank you!"
Don't Delay! Send your story today to legislative leaders at the following email addresses with the subject line of
“LC 52: Access to Care for Oregonians with Disabilities”
:
Email the Legislative committee directly
before Monday, June 22 at 3 p.m.
to be posted as written public testimony on the record to:
Send a copy to this email group:
Type in your full address in the upper right hand corner, and a box will appear on the screen. In it, you’ll find three tabs. You’ll find out who your State Senator is, and if you click to the next tab, who your State Representative is.
