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By Kerri Provost, January 6, 2010 10:59 am

The City of Hartford Department of Health and Human Services will be offering additional H1N1 flu clinics for Hartford residents and/or anyone who wishes to receive the H1N1 vaccine. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday 01/12/10  3 PM- 6 PM at Parker Memorial Community Center 2621 Main
Wednesday 01/13/10  3 PM–6 PM at Pope Park Community Center @ 30 Pope Park
Tuesday 01/19/10    3 PM–6 PM at Metzner Center @ 680 Franklin Ave.

No appointment is necessary for these clinics and there is no cost for this service or need to present insurance information. Each person who wants to receive the H1N1 vaccine will have to fill out a form providing the needed information for the nurses who will be administering the vaccine.

For further information or questions please contact Jeffrey Lim at (860) 543-8828 or Limje001@hartford.gov

Before getting any vaccine, do some independent research to determine if it has been proven effective and/or if the benefits outweigh the risks.

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By Kerri Provost, December 30, 2009 8:43 pm

It’s way easier to delegate than to take on every last responsibility, so rather than work on gaining muscle mass or weaning myself off chocolate, I’m creating a list of things I would like to see Hartford work on in the upcoming year. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Make the Riverfront Accessible

After having my heart set on a lovely afternoon bicycle ride along the Connecticut River, my plans were thwarted. Continue reading 'Hartford 2010: Resolutions for the New Year'»

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By Kerri Provost, December 21, 2009 1:37 am

During my late afternoon adventures on Sunday, I noticed that sections of sidewalk were not cleared. The Department of Public Works has posted:

It is the responsibility of the property owner to remove snow within 2 hours after it has fallen, or within 3 hours after sunrise if the snow fell in the night.  It is illegal to put the snow into the street.
In the case of an ICE storm, the sidewalk must be sanded within 1 hour.

Residential buildings and homes seemed to do a decent job of clearing snow from sidewalks in a reasonable period of time; I can not say the same for many of the snow removal job in front of numerous businesses. Along one section of Trumbull Street, I found only one crosswalk that had been cleared, and upon reaching the other side, saw that nobody bother clearing a path from the street onto the sidewalk. Continue reading 'Snow Rules Reminder'»

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By Kerri Provost, November 19, 2009 7:42 am

Two days ago Cityline published a letter that Rich Wareing sent to numerous individuals regarding the plan to house a “no freeze” shelter at the Center Church downtown. He wrote:

Indeed, that Mr. McGovern would seriously consider locating a facilty which the City estimates will be 50% utilized by registered sex offenders across the street from two apartment buildings, three blocks from a magnet high school, and right in the middle of the most signficant business and entertainment district in the city, speaks volumes about  the City’s disregard for the welfare of its voters, taxpayers, visitors, and children.

While keeping sex offenders away from youth sounds like an altruistic goal, I believe this argument is deceptive. Here’s why:

In the past, Hartford has had a no freeze shelter. This is not a brand new creation. The previous one was housed at 255 Washington Street, but a mile — if walking –  from the new one. I even created a map to show this:

View homeless shelters in a larger map

What do you notice about the location of the old shelter on Washington Street? For someone with no familiarity with Hartford, the only two things that really should grab his attention would be that it was located in a very residential area, as one can see a number of houses nearby, and that it was very close to the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center.
Continue reading 'No Homeless: The Special Just-in-time-for-Thanksgiving Edition'»

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By Kerri Provost, February 23, 2009 8:30 am

I like to avoid talking about race, mostly because whenever it comes up, people get defensive, they shut down, and then nothing productive comes of it. So, I don’t really want to go there, but there is here.

I think it’s really hard to talk about transportation without pointing out the obvious– only a particular demographic is fuel addicted in America. When the idea of reducing private motorized transportation comes up in certain circles, it’s deemed radical (or too radical). It should not be. The reality is that many Americans do not own automobiles. If, however, a person lives in an area where the ethnic and racial groups with low rates of vehicle ownership do not tend to live, there can be a distorted idea of how life is for everyone everywhere.

In the city of Hartford, 36.1% of households do not have a vehicle. Continue reading 'Getting Around'»

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By Kerri Provost, January 13, 2009 8:36 pm

This evening hundreds of universal health care supporters turned out at Union Station to listen to details regarding the release of SustiNet. They were expecting around 500. I would guess far more than that showed up.

All seats were taken, people were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and people even climbed up the staircases to find a place to see the speakers. There was even a video screen set up for those unlucky enough to be in the back of the diverse crowd.

Continue reading 'Rally for New Health Care Plan'»

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By Kerri Provost,

The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut released their public policy proposal, called SustiNet, today.

The goals of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut are:

• Guarantee all Connecticut residents access to their choice of high quality health coverage and health care.
• Control costs so that health care is affordable and sustainable for individuals, families, businesses, and taxpayers.
• End residents’ worries about losing access to care when they change jobs, finish school, start a business, experience other life-changing events or have pre-existing conditions.
• Prevent illness and disease where possible and improve health.
• Eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health outcomes

The city of Hartford has 34,000 uninsured residents. With a population of about 125,000, this means that around 27-28% of Hartford residents are uninsured. In July of 2008, Where We Live spoke with Mayor Perez about the city task force created to help provide health insurance for those who are uninsured, but who make too much money to qualify for assistance (welfare). This task force has been, among other things, looking at partnering with corporations/private sector. As said in the discussion, someone with an income of $30,000/year can not afford existing options like the Charter Oak Health Plan. Part of the task force’s purpose is to promote healthy lifestyles/prevention.

The SustiNet policy, however, would merge:

state employees and retirees with HUSKY and SAGA participants into a self-insured pool. Three other groups can enter the pool:
• people without access to employer sponsored insurance, including sole proprietors and other self employed individuals;
• people offered employer sponsored insurance that does not provide affordable access to essential care; and
• and employers, starting with small businesses, nonprofits and municipalities, but ultimately including any employer in the state.

HUSKY and SAGA are health care-related forms of welfare.

SustiNet would include home medical services, mental health care, and dental care. Medical home services are broken into three categories: care coordination (non-medical referrals and reminders about immunizations etc.), patient empowerment (encouraging people to quit smoking, improve diets, etc.), and timely access to care (goal is to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits). People with pre-existing conditions would not be turned away, which makes sense since they are among the most vulnerable and in the most need of medical treatment. They are proposing that co-pays and premiums be based on income. For those whose employers do not offer any insurance, they could be self-insured regardless of pre-existing conditions. Those who have inadequate coverage could also switch to a self-insurance plan. What makes something inadequate? “Coverage is also deemed inadequate, regardless of income, if out-of-pocket health care costs are at least 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income.” Continue reading 'SustiNet: Health Care for Everyone'»

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By Kerri Provost, January 8, 2009 11:32 am

While some Americans are holding on to hope that soon-President Obama will lavish us all with presents like health care, others are taking action. Healthcare4every1 will be rallying outside of Union Station from 5:30-7pm this Tuesday (1/13/09). Their website announces:

The healthcare4every1 Campaign will unveil a road map to health care that all of Connecticut’s residents can count on. The approach, developed over the past two years with input from key stakeholders and the support of the nation’s leading health care researchers, offers the state a historic opportunity to be on the cutting edge of state and national reform.

See their website for more details and to learn where to park for free. This campaign has been endorsed by dozens of groups/organizations including labor unions, the Working Families Party, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, American Lung Association of Connecticut, Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, Love Makes a Family, and the Hispanic Health Council.

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By Kerri Provost, November 30, 2008 10:30 pm

On November 17, 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a study which has found a bit of ink for the racial disparity aspect: minority students are more likely than white students to be arrested at school for committing similar crimes. According to the report: “In 2006-07, African American and Hispanic students together accounted for 69 percent of the student population in East Hartford, but experienced 85 percent of school-based arrests. Likewise, the same year, in West Hartford, African American and Hispanic students accounted for 24 percent of the population, but experienced 63 percent of arrests” (25). To be more specific, “African American students involved in physical altercations at school in West Hartford were twice as likely to be arrested as similarly situated white students” (26) and “in East Hartford, both African American and Hispanic students involved in disciplinary incidents involving drugs, alcohol, or tobacco were ten times more likely to be arrested than were similarly situated white students” (26). The report finds that “in West Hartford, in 2005-06, for every 1000 Hispanic students in the student population, there were 30 arrests of Hispanic students, and for every 1000 African American students, there were 43 arrests of African American students. By contrast, for every 1000 white students, there were only 5 arrests” (37). If this were not infuriating enough, the ACLU writes that the disparities with school-based arrests also:

exemplify a broader trend, observed in other school districts, toward overpunishing students of color for offenses whose definition is largely subjective. No clear objective definition exists for the terms “fight,” “physical aggression,” or “physical altercation,” so the determination that a student has engaged in such conduct may require educators to exercise considerable discretion. But research suggests that educators view certain behaviors more harshly when observed in students of color than when observed in white students (e.g., a white student who talks back is cited for “insubordination,” while an African American student engaging in the same conduct is found to have engaged in “threatening.”) (41)

This part of the report is both devastating and unsurprisingly; though I do not wish to imply that this is not serious, there is more to this report which is being overlooked.

To continue with the theme of disparities, the ACLU finds that students with disabilities are “disproportionately impacted” by school-based arrests. Continue reading 'No Child Criminal Left Behind: Public School Prisoners in Connecticut'»

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By Kerri Provost, November 5, 2008 2:14 pm

The City of Hartford website boasts that 311 received three times the regular number of phone calls yesterday, most related to the election.

(November 5, 2008)— Mayor Eddie A. Perez announced today that Hartford’s 3-1-1 Call Center handled more than 1500 inquiries from voters on Election Day, November 4th—that’s triple the volume of a normal day. Most of the calls were from residents inquiring about their registration status or polling location.
“I am proud that we were able to help people exercise one of their fundamental rights as citizens – the right to vote. Having voter information available by dialing one simple number – 311 – is a major step forward in making government information more accessible,” Mayor Perez said.
The 3-1-1 Call Center opened in September of 2006 in order to provide a centralized location for requesting non-emergency city services or information. Normal daily call volumes range from 300 to 500 calls per day. On Election Day, the center’s regular staff worked extra hours and was supplemented by staff from the Mayor’s office. The center was open from 6AM to 8PM to match the hours for voting.
Susan McMullen, Director of Constituent Services, manages the call center. “Our staff was excited to be part of the Election Day process,” she said. “We anticipated high call volumes because of the historic and exciting nature of this race, and we were not disappointed. Hartford voters were engaged and we were happy to help them exercise their voting rights.”
Any callers requiring more specific assistance or information were transferred to the Registrars of Voters office. “We enjoy our partnership with the Hartford Registrars on voting day,” McMullen added. “We look forward to supporting them for many elections to come.”
The 3-1-1 Call Center is open Monday through Friday from 8AM to 6PM. After hours callers may leave a message or access the 3-1-1 self-service portal at www.hartford.gov. Those unable to connect by dialing 3-1-1 can reach the Call Center by calling (860) 757-9311.

Are we supposed to interpret this as a positive thing? Seriously? If there was not so much misinformation on the City of Hartford website and the Connecticut Secretary of State website regarding polling places, then perhaps such phone calls would not have been necessary. To find out where I needed to vote (the information given on my registration card was correct, but what was posted on the websites was not), I made a phone call to the Registrar of Voters and waited a few minutes on the line before someone qualified gave me accurate information.

How to make government more accessible? Create a user-friendly website. Hire people for 311 who have customer service skills, or at the least, train the current staff.