News Release: For Immediate Release
Date: April 10, 2007

Contact: Miko Tachibana, Director of Development and Communications
Office: (203) 549-0075 Ext 14
Fax: (203) 549-0203
E-mail: mt@bcacct.org

Bridgeport conference highlights health care crisis

 
BRIDGEPORT, CT—Juan Figueroa, President of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, spoke to over 350 Bridgeport community and business leaders, elected officials, and local residents at the Bridgeport Holiday Inn on Wednesday, April 4, 2007.

As the keynote speaker for the 2007 Children’s Breakfast Conference hosted by the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition (BCAC) and Casey Family Services, Figueroa focused on the health care crisis and what can be done to address it. 

“Health care is a fundamental human right.” Figueroa declared.

He went on to say that the of Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut strongly believes that health care needs to be universal, continuous, affordable to low income families and small business, sustainable for the state over the long term, and have elements of prevention and well being.

Figueroa’s remarks included important information on how the health care crisis impacts the more than 400,000 Connecticut residents who do not have health insurance. He also told the stories of hard working individuals and small business owners trying to make ends meet and keep up with rising health care costs.

“We have the opportunity in the state of Connecticut to make the state more competitive from a business perspective and that time is now, during this legislative session,” Figueroa remarked. Those in attendance at this conference he said “represent the kind of broad based constituency we need to fix health care in this state.”

In closing, Figueroa quotes his grandfather as saying “El que no tiene salud, no tiene nada. With good health one can achieve anything.”

According to the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut:

• Connecticut’s uninsured residents cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in direct and indirect spending
• Salaries are rising an average of 3 percent a year, while health insurance costs are rising 12 percent or more.
• Covering every uninsured state resident would increase total health care spending by only 2.3 percent

Additionally, the breakfast conference recognized four active members of the Bridgeport community for their outstanding contributions on behalf of local children. Those who received awards include: Bob Francis, Executive Director of RYASAP, known throughout Connecticut for his life-long dedication to youth and families; Leola Young, an outspoken parent advocate who spearheaded the effort to make Longfellow Elementary School a neighborhood school; and Sister Eileen Boffa and Sister Cheryl Driscoll, active Bridgeport community leaders for over 30 years and founders of Mercy Learning Center.

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The Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition (BCAC) is a collation of over 80 local agencies and community organizations committed to improving the well-being of local children. For over 20 years BCAC has combine research, advocacy, community education and mobilization to ensure health, safety, and education for all of Bridgeport’s children.

Casey Family Services as a child welfare agency meeting the changing needs of vulnerable children and families by providing foster care for children, as well as post-adoption, family preservation and reunification services for families.