Photo Contest Entry by Grace Williams - Age 13
“Promoting upstream, systemic change through advocacy
is often the most effective strategy for improving community health.”
This is one of the guiding principles of Northwest Health Foundation, and during the 2011 legislative session, NWHF has provided funding and technical assistance to several organizations seeking to pass legislation in accordance with the foundation’s mission “to advance, support and promote the health of the people of Oregon and southwest Washington.”
The following are some highlights of the health-related advocacy efforts that the foundation has participated in. This account was last updated May 16, 2011. For the latest information on Oregon legislative bills, visit the Oregon Legislature Bills and Laws page.
NWHF-led Advocacy during the 2011 Session:
Strengthening Public Health Infrastructure / Public Health Budget (SB 5529)
Possibly the most efficient way we achieve good health for everyone is by funding our state and local public health departments. While many people in Oregon may take clean water, clean air, safe walking routes, school-based health centers, health hazard investigation, and important surveillance data for granted, the Oregon Legislature cannot, and NWHF staff has provided legislative testimony to help ensure adequate funding for this important state function.
Tobacco Taxation (HB 2110, HB 2553, or HB 2231),
More than 7,000 people die in Oregon each year from smoking-related causes, and Northwest Health Foundation staff has testified in support a higher tobacco tax, both during the 2011 session, as well as in previous sessions. Tobacco taxes help prevent children from smoking, which is one reason tobacco companies oppose them. They know that ninety percent of smokers start as teens.
Various bills have been proposed on this issue (HB 2110, HB 2553, and HB 2231), but the bottom line is that NWHF is supportive of a substantial tax (i.e. $1.00) — ideally, to fund statewide tobacco prevention efforts.
An increase in the tobacco tax has a clear impact on cost by lowering the number of smokers and, in turn, lowering the number of smoking-related illnesses that are currently being paid for by the state. In Oregon, this translates into $1.25 billion in direct medical costs, which includes both public and private health payers. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $347 million of that is in direct Medicaid costs to the Oregon Health Plan. For more information on tobacco prevention efforts in Oregon, take a look at the state's Tobacco Prevention and Education Report 2009-2011.
NWHF Funded Advocacy Efforts
Northwest Health Foundation has provided a number of advocacy-related grants leading up to the 2011 legislative session in Oregon. Earlier this year, NWHF awarded 26 advocacy-related grants through our health care reform focus area. In 2010, the we awarded 11 grants to partnerships organized around advocacy during the 2011 session.
In addition, advocacy projects were also funded through the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund and our Community Health Prioririties project.
The following are some highlights of the work funded through Northwest HEalth Foundation grants:
The Racial Equity in Prevention in Health Care Project
Northwest HealthFoundation provided funding to Urban League of Portland, the Center for Intercultural Organizing, Upstream Public Health, and the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) to provide policy analysis and advocacy, and a monthly capitol briefing series for legislative staff on health equity issues in immigrant, refugee and minority communities. Project partners mobilized hundreds of diverse participants, many of whom were not previously engaged in statewide policy advocacy. These groups included Asian/Pacific Islander groups, African-American community members, Iraqi refugees, Somali youth, and many others.
The partnership has tracked about two dozen bills with a prevention focus and developed and delivered testimony from several diverse communities. The partnership also provided a racial equity analysis on proposed legislation and advocated for community-based preventative solutions to the leading causes of preventable death (e.g., obesity and tobacco use).
People of Color Health Equity Coalition
Leading up to the 2011 legislative session, Northwest Health Foundation funded sixteen community-based organizations representing people of color, immigrants and refugees. One outgrowth of these grants was the creation of the People of Color Health Equity Collaborative (POCHEC), whose vision is “an Oregon where all residents have equal health outcomes regardless of color, race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation or immigration status.” The collaborative includes a long list of organizations, with a steering committee led by Oregon Action, TREE Institute, the Urban League and APANO.
POCHEC has been following a variety of legislative issues, among them: including cultural competency legislation (SB 97), the health insurance exchange (SB 99), expanding the Healthy Kids program to include children of undocumented immigrants, and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (SB 349).
Oregon Health Authority Story Bank
Throughout the session, the Oregon Health Authority has worked with the state's Health System Transformation Team, and now the Legislature, to create sweeping changes to Oregon's health systemthrough the creation of coordinated care organizations (HB 3650). Northwest Health Foundation has funded a "story bank," so the Health Authority can provide thorough and engaging information about this process to policymakers and the general public.
Farm to School Advocacy - HB 2800
In its most recent cycle of funding the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund at Northwest Health Foundation awarded an implementation grant to Upstream Public Health to advocate for the passage of a farm to school bill during the 2011 session. The bill would reimburse schools—equivalent to 15 cents per lunch and seven cents per breakfast—for purchasing Oregon food products and provide competitive education grants to schools to support teaching gardens and cross-curricular nutrition education activities that could help kids learn about local food production and increase their preference for fruits and vegetables. The funding for the program would come from the Economic Development Fund, which comes from Oregon’s Lottery Fund.
Permitting charitable distribution of used eyeglasses - HB2312
As part of the 11 health care reform advocacy grants awarded in 2010, NWHF provided a funding to the Oregon Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation to pass this bill which allows for agencies to provide previously owned eyeglasses or hearing aids for people who need them. Prior to the bill, such a process was hampered by severe liability issues. HB2312 passed the Senate 28-0 after passing in the House 60-0. While it seems like this bill was a slam-dunk, Glen Gilbert, Executive Director, Oregon Lions Sight & Hearing Foundation said “I can honestly say this would not have happened without NWHF funding.”
Strengthening Oregon’s Smokefree Workplace Law - HB 2726
Oregon’s Indoor Clean Air Act, also referred to as the Smokefree Workplace Law, prohibits smoking in almost all indoor workplaces and public places with the exception of cigar bars and certified retail smoke shops. Since the law took effect on Jan. 1, 2009, a number of new hookah lounges have opened for business in Oregon using the "smoke shop" definition exemption. This loophole is allowing a proliferation of hookah lounges, which target young people with candy and cocktail flavored tobacco and online marketing. Hookah tobacco contains nicotine, and hookah pipes produce more smoke than cigarettes. Members of the Tobacco-Free Coalition of Oregon (of which NWHF is a member) are advocating to fix this loophole and protect the smokefree workplace law's original intentions.