I represented my local Epilepsy Foundation at the
Proposed Disability Act Town Hall in Philadelphia with the EEOC and the DOJ. The concept was to get Epilepsy covered under the Proposed Disability Act so that we would be protected under disabilitiy laws like so many others. Happily my prsentation was well received.
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/67880727.html
I also went to a very discouraging
Healthy People 2020 meeting held by
Health and Human Services in Philadelphia (one of 3 across the nation) also representing the local Epilepsy Foundation.
Participants were limited to 3 minutes. Most were cut off in the middle of their presentations.
I didn't get any sense of engagement by the panel. They were passive to the presenters, few notes were taken, there was no question and answer session. In fact, there was no interchange between the panel and those present. Unlike the previous week's Town Hall.
(Note: They said something about expecting 400 people -- there were even tables set outside of the auditorium for the overflow, but only about 100 people showed up.)
Basically, the panel said their thing and then suffered through our fragmented presentations. Although I was number one as a speaker, I was cut off and so I sent the Foundation's presentation to
HP2020@hhs.gov.
What I did get from the panel presentation was:
The formation of a new office of Health Care Quality -- "a federal interagency workshop."
There was much talk about "framework, objectives and collaboration."
And the vision was stated as: "A society in which all people live long, healthy lives."
I found it interesting that 3 out of the 6 panel members talked about being big fans of Steven Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.) What has this country come to?