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Texas Hepatitis C Coalition
PO Box 643
Hempstead, Texas 77445
TEL: 979-826-2569 TexasHepPac@aol.com
Please foward this to ten fellow
heppers.
HOUSTON, February 22, 2004 --- We have learned
Mayor Bill White intends to appoint a 5-member Hepatitis C
task force headed by an insider in the Houston Health Department.
We pray that is not true. (We learned this sad news after
releasing the attached press release praising the mayor).
Additionally, we understand that the task force will only
be composed of so-called medical professionals. NO grass roots
heppers will be appointed. We hope this is not true! Of course,
I would not know. I was not consulted by the White Administration
on this very important matter. I learned it through a member
of the city HIV Task Force.
The City Hall insiders, and political, medical
bureaucrats, have been the problem all along. They have excluded
grass roots victims of Hepatitis C in their discussions and
deliberations. I pray that Mayor White WILL NOT let this happen
to OUR task force. We had such high hopes.
The mayor needs to reconsider who he is listening to.
--Ed Wendt
Chair and Founder, Texas Hepatitis C Coalition
This happened after we released the following press release:
HOUSTON MAYOR BILL WHITE TO NAME HEPATITIS C TASK FORCE
"IN 30 DAYS"
February 21, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Houston Mayor Bill White has promised to create a Hepatitis
C (HCV) task force within 30 days to help the nation's 4th
largest city develop and implement a plan to combat the deadly
blood-borne virus.
White made the announcement during a public session of city
council on Tuesday after HCV activists asked him to create
the task force.
The Texas Hepatitis C Coalition supported and campaigned for
White in the hotly contested 2003 mayor's race in which White
eventually won by a landslide. The group's political arm --
Texas Hepatitis C PAC -- endorsed White after screening him
and other candidates in the race. A major issue for Texas
Hepatitis C PAC was the HCV task force. White agreed to create
the task force and to make HCV a top priority of his administration.
Coalition leaders Ray Hill and Ed Wendt appeared before City
Council and expressed concerns that the Department of Health
and Human Services had failed to create a task force after
being directed to do so by City Council. Council Members Ada
Edwards and Carol Galloway asked Mayor White to order an investigation
to determine why the health department failed to create the
task force. White agreed.
Houston HCV activists decided to politically organize last
year "to better get the attention of politicians and
elected officials to help them understand that Hepatitis C
is a crisis in our city, state, and nation," said Wendt,
chairman of the Pac and coalition. Several activists, including
Wendt and Hill, created the Texas Hepatitis C Political Action
Committee (Texas Hep-Pac) with the Texas Ethics Commission
to accomplish their political goals.
"I think our elected officials are listening to us now,"
Wendt said.
"We are thankful that we finally have a mayor and city
council who know that our city's Hepatitis C crisis needs
the kind of attention it has not had in the past," he
added. "I think we can work very well with them in the
future."
The Texas Hepatitis C Coalition is making recommendations
to Mayor White for appointments to the task force.
"We need members who are dedicated to the cause and not
city bureaucrats and political operatives who are rubber stamps
for the health department," warned Wendt. "I would
rather not have a task force than to have one stacked with
bad people. From his record during his first two months in
office, I know that Mayor White will appoint only the very
best to our task force. We are very lucky to have him."
"We need members from the medical profession, especially
from the Texas Medical Center, as well as grass roots Hepatitis
C activists, who can work together to come up with a comprehensive
HCV plan that will be the envy of the nation," Wendt
stated.
Texas Hep-Pac now intends to organize for this year's congressional
and presidential election.
"There are over 80,000 voters with Hepatitis C in the
greater Houston area and we can make a difference if we turnout
to vote," Wendt stated.
Texas Hep-Pac is currently screening candidates for the March
9 Texas Republican and Democratic primaries.
"Our votes can make a difference," Wendt concluded.
"What we did at city hall, we now intend to do on the
state and national levels -- that is to endorse the very best
candidates and help get them elected."
Note from Lloyd:
What we need to do is have a fly-in and demonstrate in the
streets like the Aids people did in many events. We need to
close down the streets in a show of "Civil Disobedience".
One of the problems is that the main stream believe that
Doctors are best qualified to deal with disease.
They are not and this is seen to be true in many ways but
in Hepatitis C it is blatantly obvious for anyone who knows
how to read. Doctors, medical institutions, politicians
are to distant from the people to participate in a forum concerning
hepatitis c with out having the Guinea Pigs (US) as participants.
The DRUG MONEY is to big for us to ever get a part unless
we demonstrate like we did during the Vietnam War!. Some of
us need to get shot before these issues generate a good round
of discussion in government.
In Good Health
Lloyd Wright
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