HealthWatched is the blog of Joana Ramos of Seattle, an independent consultant on health policy issues, domestic, international and their intersection. Her work focuses on ending health inequalities by improving access to care for underserved populations, including access to appropriate, affordable medicines, and eliminating language barriers in health care. In the past decade, a significant part of her work has been in the field of cancer care. After her own diagnosis with a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that did not respond to treatment, she underwent a BMT (blood & marrow transplant), and later began to work on equity issues in this field. She was a reviewer of the Institute of Medicine’s 2005 report Cord Blood: Establishing a National Hematopoietic Stem Cell Bank Program, and served on the Consumer Advocacy Committee of Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research from 2005-2007. Her work as Program Manager for the MAVIN Foundation’s Healthcare Access Project from 2006-07, resulted in the creation of the BMT Basics website.
Joana is also a community organization specialist, assisting a number of nonprofit groups. She was an active member of Healthy Skepticism, an international NGO dedicated to improving health by countering misleading promotions of medicines, and served on its Management Group from 2006-09. Joana was the Director of the former Washington State Coalition for Prescribing Integrity, one of several state-based projects of Community Catalyst, which sought to promote access to appropriate and affordable prescription drugs. Drawing on her background also as a professional medical interpreter, Joana was a founding member of the Washington State Coalition for Language Access, an education and advocacy group which works at the policy level to eliminate language barriers to essential services statewide. She has served as Co-Chair of WASCLA since 2014, and continues as lead for WASCLA’s Healthcare Committee and in other health equity endeavors. She created this blog to share her observations and to inspire others to take action on a range of health and health care issues and topics.
Websites:
Health Watched 
Well done Joana! Great start to what I am sure will be an excellent blog.
I look forward to reading many more posts.
Lots of good information here. Thanks, Joan!
Hi Joana,
Would it be possible to post info on this upcoming event? Free and Open to the Public. Thanks for your great work!
Rick Turner
Friday, May 18, 2012, 7:00 to 9:30 PM
Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies Is pleased to present:
The film: “THE HEALTHCARE MOVIE” And a Community Discussion with guests:
• AARON KATZ, Principal Lecturer of Health Services and Global Health, UW
• DR. REENA KOSHY, National Physicians Alliance
• DR. SARAH WEINBERG, Physicians for a National Health Program & Healthcare For All – Washington, and
• LAURIE SIMONS AND TERRY STERRENBERG, The Filmmakers,
LOCATION: Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place North, Seattle, 98103 (in Wallingford)
This documentary provides the real story of how the health care systems in Canada and the United States evolved to be so completely different, when at one point they were essentially the same. Most people under the age of 50, in both countries, are not aware of the intensity of the political struggle that led to the universal medical care system in Canada. Nor are they aware of the public relations campaigns, still active today, that have been prevalent in the United States since the early 1900’s to dissuade the public from supporting national health care.
Produced by Canadian/American couple Laurie Simons and Terry Sterrenberg, THE HEALTHCARE MOVIE reveals the personal and emotional impact on Canadians who now have access to universal health care because of the heroism of people who took a stand nearly 50 years ago. It also reveals the continuing struggle in the United States between the fear of government intervention and the right to quality health care for all people.
Every day people are dying or going bankrupt due to the ills of the United States system. Who are we in the face of this human tragedy? If you agree that people are more important than profits, then you must watch this film.
Facilitated community discussion follows the film.
For more information: http://www.meaningfulmovies.org
Event is Free and Open To the Public
Yes, I be happy to share this announcement.
Joana