The Oregon Health Fund Board & You (Feedback Wanted)
Throughout September, the Oregon Health Fund Board (OHFB) will be holding a series of "community town hall forums" across the state asking for your feedback before finalizing their report in October. At each forum there will be a presentation by OHFB board and its staff members on the plan’s concepts followed by audience questions and comments.

Audience members will be asked to focus comments on the concepts being presented and to limit comments to no longer than 2 minutes per speaker. Comment cards will be distributed. Attendees are encouraged to leave written testimony at the end of the evening.

Participants' comments will be summarized and forwarded with the Final Report to Governor Kulongoski and the Legislature. The latest draft report from the Board is now available to view. This is the draft you will be commenting on.

Also, check out their website for the latest updates on the community forum locations. Since many folks are coming back from a summer break, it's understandable that you might feel a little behind on things. Our director Liz Baxter has just posted background information to prepare you for the upcoming meetings and you can check out Mallen Kear's blog to read her take on how Archimedes can play a role in what's going on.

Making sure your voice is heard
In addition to the community forums around Oregon, a meeting of the OHFB will be held in Portland on Sept. 30th. This is the only date that will include formal oral testimony. If you're unable to attend the Sept. 30th meeting or any of the other forums you can still mail or email your written testimony to the Board. For full details, check out this letter from the OHFB to Oregonians. Submit your testimony/comments by email to ohfb.info@state.or.us or by mail to:

Oregon Health Fund Board
General Services Bldg
1225 Ferry St SE, 1st Floor
Salem, OR 97301

Membership Has Its Privileges
Last month staff held 2 conference calls for members that focused on orientation and action steps. This month we'll be focusing on more action steps and also on making sure you know how to best use the tools available on our website. On each call an Archimedes Movement staff member will help introduce new members to the movement and familiarize participants with chapters and the website. What's that? You're not a member yet? There are a whole host of great reasons to become an Archimedes member and below are two more:

• "Things You Can Do" Conference Call

Our audacious goal is to reach out beyond our membership and help others get a new perspective on health and health care reform. This call will help you play a key role in this outreach. Join us for our monthly outreach call on September 18th from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. Please visit our Outreach web page to sign up. Once you've signed up we'll send you the conference call details a few days before the event. If you are interested and not yet a member, please become a member prior to the start of the call.

• "Website 101" Conference Call

Would you like to know how to use the tools on our web site? Join us for our first monthly "Website 101" call on Sept. 25th from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. The We Can Do Better website is not only an excellent resource but also a great outreach tool that's an integral part of our/your success. Join Rick Ray as he explains how to get started using our site. Please visit the Website 101 web page to sign up. Once you've signed up, we'll send you the conference call details a few days before the event. If you are interested and not yet a member, please become a member prior to the start of the call.

Help Grow Membership in the Movement
Why become a member? We want to make a difference, influencing policy direction and decisions. We can't do that unless we're building a movement of lots of people who are committed to making change happen. If you're not a member yet, become one now. If you know of someone else who would be interested forward this email to them, or give them my phone number. I'd be happy to talk to them about what the Archimedes Movement is about and how members are making change happen.  

Upcoming Events
In our web site's Events section, we endeavor to list all Archimedes Movement events as well as other health care reform events around the state. There are too many events to list them here, but some September highlights:

• The September community meetings of the Oregon Health Fund Board are great venues for letting the Board and its staff know what you want in their final report;
• The Corvallis chapter will be co-sponsoring a Health Care Advocacy Workshop on Sept 10th;
• The Beaverton chapter will be introducing the Suggestion Box at the Beaverton Farmers Market on Sept. 6th;
• The Eugene Chapter plans on participating in the 2008 Eugene Celebration Parade on Sept. 13th;
• The Corvallis chapter will be co-sponsoring a Presidential Forum on Health Care on Sept. 29th.

Beyond the listed events above, keep an eye out for an Archimedes Movement table at your local farmers market in Beaverton, Corvallis and Eugene. If you are a chapter member, you can add local events to your chapter's web page. When you add an event, everyone in your chapter will get a notification email. To get started, see our Help section or contact Matt.

Community Leadership Council
This past August 14th marked another evolutionary growth step for the Archimedes Movement as the Community Leadership Council (CLC) gathered for their inaugural meeting. All 18 members attended (in person or by phone). Also present were four member guests, staff, and Governor Kitzhaber.

Gov. Kitzhaber described his vision for an organization that catches fire at the grassroots level and moves the country toward an effective health care model that measures its success by an improvement in population health. “Moving forward requires that we no longer allow our future to be defined by our past, and I am very optimistic that this group will do exactly that.”

The CLC is in process of establishing their priorities. Front and center is getting its committees up and running. You can learn more about the committees as they are described in the Structure for Growth and Action (section IV, paragraph 12). If you are interested in learning more about and/or serving on any of these committees, please email Julie DeLano to let us know.  

The Community Leadership Council meetings will be open to the public so that members and supporters can observe and take part in discussions.

Suggestion Box
The folks in the Beaverton chapter will be introducing their Suggestion Box to people at this Saturday's Farmers Market. Their idea behind the box is to engage the public by asking them what positive change they would suggest improve health care. Lots of people have grievances or complaints about the current health care system, and the Archimedes Movement is all about change and positivity.

Is a Suggestion Box going to reform health care? Probably not right away, but again, it's a great way to engage the public and bring people into the conversation who otherwise might not participate. So keep an eye out in September for an Archimedes Movement Suggestion Box near you. Perhaps you'll see it on the Hawthorne Bridge on your morning bike commute or down in Pioneer Square at lunch? If you would like to participate in the Suggestion Box Project please send me an email and I'll tell you how to get involved. I'd love to see photos of our box travelling to every corner of Oregon and beyond.

Team Archimedes Part Deux
Last month Archimedes Movement members came out to participate in the annual Providence Bridge Pedal bike ride (See top photo). It was a great excuse to enjoy the Portland sunshine, get some exercise and "talk Archimedes" with the 2,000 or so people around us (okay, so maybe I only talked to about 50 people but I tried).

On Sept. 21st in Portland is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and I'm wondering if anyone wants to form a group to participate. It is too late to register an official team with the race but we can still register individually and participate as a group. If you're interested email me at matt@wecandobetter.org. And if there is a walk, bike, race or other health-related event going on in your community, let me know and I'll help get an Archimedes Movement contingent there too.

If you have questions about any of these items, have an idea that you want to share or want to chat about anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Let's ring in the fall and bring in some change,
Matt

Matt Webber
Outreach Coordinator
The Archimedes Movement