Ideas

PROTECT CARE: Empathy Tent:

Ideas and rough design notes.

To Do

  • ( ) Come up with a good name for this initiative.

    • Protect Affordable Care

    • Occupy empathy

    • ACA: Hungering for Empathic Care

  • ( ) Build a committed Empathy Team to brainstorm, prototype and test this ideas.

  • ( ) Start with

    • Mark DeSaulnier - CA 11

      • ( ) Build a local team

        • ( ) Strategizing

        • ( ) Doing some test prototypes/ role plays

      • ( ) Find 3 willing participants with pre existing conditions

      • We are looking for people that would be most dramatically affected by the repeal or undercutting of the ACA. So they should be on the ACA. We want to give them an opportunity for their concerns and voices to be deeply heard. Also for them to be a voice for others in a similar situations.

      • ( ) Hold pre circles with participants

        • ( ) explain and practice process.

      • (x) contact Mark DeSaulnier

      • ( ) Line up camera crew

      • ( ) Set Date and Time:

      • ( ) Select Location:

        • ( ) Richmond City Hall Plaza

      • ( ) Hold Event

      • ( ) Edit video

      • ( ) Post video

    • Barbara Lee - CA 13

      • ( ) build a local team

      • ( ) find 3 willing participants with pre existing conditions

      • etc

Resources

Representatives

Contacts

CA 11 Mark DeSaulnier

  • Michael McRae: District Representative/Deputy Press Sectary - Michael.Mcrae@mail.house.gov

  • Jessica Angulo: Scheduling Manager/District Representative - jessica.angulo@mail.house.gov

From Kook Huber kook4ofa@gmail.com

Marilyn Lucey marilynlucey@twwusa.org (e1)

  • Erica Chase. ericakchase@gmail.com She is both articulate and has spoken about this in the past.

  • Rhea, Community Liaison for First 5 Contra Costa to East Bay Regional Community Group rlaughlin@first5coco.org

Yasmin Peled (ypeled@health-access.org) Northern CA Organizer, health-access.org)

Lisa Edwards mslisaedwards@gmail.com (510) 926-7922

Health Care State Lead, OFA CA - now with Barbara Lee Lisa J.

Hilary Crosby 510-375-5647 homehilary@comcast.net - ECDC

Madelyn Ruth Weiss madelyndon@sbcglobal.net

Indivisible Berkeley Healthcare team lead.

Finding the three Participants for the Empathy Circle.

We are looking for 3 people that would be most dramatically affected by the repeal or undercutting of the ACA. So they should be on the ACA. So basically we want to hear from the most vulnerable. We want to offer them an opportunity to share their experiences, concerns, stresses, fears, etc and for their voices to be deeply heard. Also for them to be a voice for others in similar situations.

They must be willing to;

- take part in some 'pre-circles',

- use the empathic listening process,

- allow their dialogues to be recorded and place on the internet.

- generally help refine this initiative.

This is the first of a series of empathy circles we want to do in every congressional district, so this will be our first prototype and we will keep improving and refining the process.

In districts where the representatives will not dialogue with then, participants need to be willing to camp out in the empathy tent until the representative is willing to talk with them.

Thank you for offering to assist.

Perhaps we can have a brainstorming and strategizing with **** at some point as we design this Empathy Tent ACA initiative. We want to design it so that it addresses the needs of the community. The need we see, is that people on the ACA need to be deeply heard and empathized with by their representatives about their concerns, anxieties and fears regarding repeal of ACA. Also that representatives need to incorporate these concerns into their policy making and design solutions for the well-being of their constituents.

Notes to Sort

    • We will have two videographers to tape the session which will be posted to Youtube.. It will be in the empathy tent with the doors closed, so be private in that sense. We do want to get it out to the media but the circle will be private to foster more intimacy.

Feedback on the idea from the Big Ideas group.

  • Philosophy

      • Empathy and politics is like oil and water. They do not mix. Politics is about greed, power, selfishness, etc. It's hopeless to try to bring empathy into politics.. but I could be wrong.

      • (Reply: It's time we mix the two. Barack Obama said the country had an empathy deficit and was able to win elections.)

      • Concern that it will not be effective since we have an immediate crisis in healthcare and an empathic approach is longer term change in the way people are. It will not be able to address the immediate problem... but I could be wrong.

      • (Reply: We need to start working now to change the culture, Empathy is also an Indivisible Berkeley value, so let's stand up for our values.)

      • Educate the public about how the ACA is being undermined though underhanded ways.

  • Participants

      • have participants be people with non pre existing conditions

      • Have insurers take part in empathy circles

      • Have local city and state representative take part in empathy circles

      • We will do empathy circle training. We can invite local city officials to come and take part in an empathy circle.

  • Consider the naming of the project

      • Affordable Healthcare.

    • Protect Affordable Care

    • Occupy Affordable Care

    • etc

  • Empathic listening and facilitation Training

      • Have a training the trainer

      • Empathy circle training at weekly Tent popups in civic center park.

  • Groups/orgs to work with.

      • Connect with the IB healthcare group.

  • Prototype

      • just start prototyping

      • We can start prototyping the project. The empathy tent will be set up on most Saturdays in Civic Center Park.

      • create prototype role playing empathy circles. have one person role play being a Congressional representative.