Health Care Access Coalition workshop topics include faith, business, media coverage and global health care

The public is invited to attend an upcoming program focused on health care and social responsibility.

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Health Care and Social Responsibility” is the title of the day’s program sponsored by the Health Care Access Coalition. The program includes workshops and a keynote address, and runs from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, at Christ United Methodist Church in Olean. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. There is no charge to attend but registration is strongly suggested.

Four workshops will be held, and the day’s keynote address will be given by Dr. Wendy Johnson, who has more than 15 years’ experience in public and international health as a clinician, teacher, policy-maker, technical adviser and manager.

Several members of the St. Bonaventure University and Olean health care communities are involved in organizing the workshops. Attendees will be able to choose from between two workshops that will be held simultaneously. Topics and presenters for the workshops are as follows:

Workshop I:  9:30 – 10:30 a.m.

Faith and Health Care: Barry Gan, Ph.D., professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Nonviolence at St. Bonaventure; Zahid Y. Khairullah, Ph.D., professor of management sciences at St. Bonaventure and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Society of the Southern Tier; Yogini Kothari, D.M.D., an Olean orthodontist; the Rev. Marie Meeks, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church; and Brenda Snyder (moderator); or Business and Health Care: Laurie Branch, chief executive officer of Iroquois Group; Vic Vena, R.Ph., an Olean pharmacist; and Gilbert Witte, M.D., an Olean internist.

Workshop II: 10:45 – 11:45 a.m.

Media Coverage of Health Care — Dr. Pauline Hoffmann, dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure, and Alexandra Pieper-Jones, vice president of marketing and communications at Upper Allegheny Health System; or

Health Care Around the World: Chisato O. Dubreuil, assistant professor of art history at St. Bonaventure and a native of Japan; David Dubreuil, a retired commercial photographer of Native American descent; Anne Foerst, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science at St. Bonaventure and a native of Germany; and Jean-Paul Mény, a computer programmer, is a native of France.

Johnson, a clinical associate professor with the University of Washington’s School of Public Health, has worked in developing countries where significant public health issues co-exist with political warfare. Through her national and international health advocacy work, Johnson believes the key to overcoming the burdens of disease in developed and developing countries is to strengthen and rebuild public health care systems.

In addition to teaching and clinical practice, Johnson serves as the director of New Initiatives for Health Alliance International, a non-profit organization headquartered in Seattle that works to promote universal access to health care.

Johnson holds an M.D. from The Ohio State University and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University.

For reservations, go to the website, www.healthcareaccesscoalition.org<http://www.healthcareaccesscoalition.org> or contact Dr. Pauline Hoffmann at Hoffmann@sbu.edu<mailto:Hoffmann@sbu.edu> or 716-375-2578. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

The Health Care Access Coalition engages in actions that address specific health care needs in rural Cattaraugus County, as well as advocates at the state and national levels for the legislative/systemic change necessary to bring about universal health care.

Johnson’s visit is supported by the Visiting Scholars Committee of St. Bonaventure.