Health

  Ron Pollack, Founding Executive Director of Families USA, discusses how the new Healthcare Reform legislation will affect Maine’s growing baby boomer and senior population and the businesses and institutions that serve them.

Families USA is the national organization for healthcare consumers. Ron Pollak is a frequent guest on a variety of television and radio programs, such as ? The PBS NewsHour, CNN, and is often quoted in such leading newspapers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

  This Speaking in Maine talk is titled: "Taiwan's Health Reforms: Lessons for the U.S. and Maine" and the speaker is William Hsiao, an architect of Taiwan's universal health care system.

Dr. William Hsiao is the K.T. Li Professor of Economics at the Harvard School of Public Health.

This talk was recorded on October 18, 2010 at the Harwood Center at Bates College.

Visit the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College website

  Speaking in Maine features Marc Braverman of Oregon State University. He discuss his research on smoking control in both Norway and the U.S. He outlines the differing responses and the resulting changes.

Braverman also describes a recent international tobacco control effort that offers hope for reducing tobacco’s worldwide threat to health.The diseases that smoking causes have taken a toll on global health for decades.

  Dr. David Howes is President and CEO, Martin's Point Health Care based in Portland, Maine. In his ten years as president, Dr. Howes has built the organization into Maine's largest non-profit primary care practice.

Dr. Howes joined Martin's Point Health Care in 1989 as a family physician. In 1991, he was appointed medical director for the entire Martin's Point network. Dr. Howes earned his medical degree from Dartmouth, and completed residencies in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

  Even as a toxic tragedy unfolds in the Gulf, thousands of hazardous chemicals already permeate every aspect of our lives,in plastic water bottles, electronics, even children’s toys, with consequences for environmental and human health. Speaking in Maine offers insight into this issue with a talk by Environmental Journalist & Author Elizabeth Grossman.

  Speaking in Maine takes on health care at a recent panel discussion at the USM Muskie School of Public Policy, Dr. Erik Steele, Interim CEO, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital; Elizabeth Mitchell, CEO, Maine Health Management Coalition/Foundation; and Trish Riley, Maine Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance discussed the impact of the recent health care reform act on Maine.

The panel includes:

Dr. Erik Steele, Interim CEO, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital

  William Caron Jr., President of MaineHealth, Scott Bullock, President MaineGeneral Health and Michelle Hood, President of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems discuss health care in a Speaking in Maine panel discussion.

This panel discussion was hosted by MPBN following it's regular meeting of the Board of Trustees on May 11, 2010.

  The health care debate continues on Speaking in Maine with a talk by Dr. John R. Lumpkin, Senior V.P. of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He focuses on how local community organizations help to improve health care.

Dr. Lumplin's talk was sponsored by the Maine Health Access Foundation in Augusta.

Visit the Maine Health Access Foundation website for more information

  Speaking in Maine features U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She was in Maine late last week talking about health care to members of  the Maine Medical Association, American Cancer Society, the AARP, and others.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius traveled to Maine in early September to formally release a new report on the importance of health insurance reform for older women (ages 55-64) and senior women (ages 65 and older).