[van-announce] Urgent Action Needed to Stop Private Urgent Care Centre!

[Stephanie Smith]

Dear medicare supporters:

Councillor Raymond Louie has brought forward the following motion 
to Vancouver City Council:

That Vancouver City Council request the Mayor to write a letter 
to the Urgent Care Centre on behalf of Council directing that the 
facility not commence operations pending proper compliance with 
City by-laws along with Federal and Provincial legislation.

We need people to email city council today, if possible, to ask 
to ask to speak on this motion.  Please email: 
mayorandcouncil at vancouver.ca to request to speak.  We are also 
asking people to cc the BC Health Coalition at 
coordinator at bchealthcoalition.ca and let us know if you have 
requested to speak.  The motion may be discussed as early as 
tomorrow, November 30, 2006.

Sample email request to speak:

November 29, 2006

To:  Mayor and the Council,

This is my request to speak at a meeting at City Hall on a motion 
introduced by Councillor Raymond Louie regarding the Urgent Care 
Centre currently scheduled to be considered on November 30, 2006.

Sincerely,
NAME
Contact daytime phone number
Full address

Background News Release from the BC Health Coalition:
November 24, 2006

Stop user-pay emergency room from opening, BC Health Coalition 
tells government

Health minister hesitates while private surgical clinic moves to 
expand profit- making enterprise

The BC Health Coalition is calling on the provincial government 
to immediately stop plans by the private, for-profit False Creek 
Surgical Centre to open Canada’s first user-pay emergency room in 
Vancouver on Monday.

"The False Creek Surgical Centre’s latest entrepreneurial venture 
- an emergency room - appears to involve charging fees for 
medically-necessary treatments and procedures," says health 
coalition co-chair Joyce Jones.

"If that's the case, it's a blatant violation of the Canada 
Health Act (CHA) and the provincial government must put a stop to 
it before it starts."

Jones says that judging from his comments earlier today, BC 
health minister George Abbott doesn't truly grasp the severity of 
this development and sounds as though he's prepared to allow more 
U.S.-style health care into B.C.

"British Columbians' considerable skepticism about Premier 
Campbell's 'conversation on health' will only increase if the 
False Creek Surgical Centre is allowed to run a for-profit 
emergency room," adds Jones.

It's unconscionable to let the ability to pay dictate who's 
entitled to receive health care services and who is not. This is 
not what British Columbians believe in and it's not what they 
want."