Introductory Resources

Does Advocating Limited Government
Mean Abandoning the Poor?
May 4, 2011, Heritage Foundation

Social Justice, Not What You Think It Is
Dec 29, 2009, Michael Novak
Heritage Foundation

Additional Resources:

Values Driven Healthcare:  Freedom of
Conscience for the Consumer
Heritage Foundation

Remember "Community Dashboard Reports” ?
 They're gone!   But traces still exist in the annals of
   the County Health Dept. and county website.
Also see this trace and this.   Poof!  WhatcomCounts was critical, now it's gone.  Here's the old logo:

Now WAHA is in the lead, "Obamacare central":

Whatcom County Community Network
Whatcom Alliance for Healthcare Access
  now "Alliance for Health Advancement"

800 East Chestnut St., Lower Level, Suite 2
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 788-6531 - Admin office number

Public health in Whatcom County is complicated.  There seem to be a number of NGO's with various mandates operating simultaneously.  We're working on deciphering the situation.   These shape-shifters keep morphing.

”Whatcom County Community Network” until recently was identified with WhatcomCounts.org, a chapter of a national NGO, the Healthy Communities Institute with headquarters in San Francisco.  But that network connection seems to have changed or morphed.  The regular "dashboard reports" and CHP reports to council are no longer directly accessible through a local chapter.  But we still may have a WFCN - the "Whatcom Family Community Network."   But there's also the "Whatcom Alliance for Healthcare Access" (WAHA).  The two may overlap or even be synonymous.

It is certain that many community health activities operate here through local-state sanctioned “partner agencies."    These receive public funds from various sources that flow through the county's coffers without receiving tangible council oversight.   But their decisions and operations affect the public.   Their "work" is referred to in the Comprehensive Plan.  Citizens should know what they're doing.  We're not sure that's possible anymore.

Last year, WE reported (accurately) that WhatcomCounts was working with the Health Department, collecting information and even conducting invasive surveys, like the communityship quiz that we cached.   That quiz asked questions about private citizens' personal behavior, such as the extent and nature of their political involvement and even church attendance.  And it asked questions about folks' environmental attitudes and behavior.  Not long after that survey was discovered and exposed, the survey was pulled from their site.  Now, the entire site is gone.   Who knows how or why that happened, or what became of WhatcomCounts.

But since "Obamacare" (the Affordable Care Act) was adopted, "health care reform" groundwork has begun to kick-in.    Council seems to be losing its ability to determine what is locally necessary or feasible in the way of public health services.   The federal government and the state will dictate what health policy shall be.   We will see more input from "partners" than from our own elected representatives.   Surprised?

Don't look for much transparency as this transpires.  WE will report what it can.  But "Health Care Reform" has become the order of the day - and it appears that WAHA, that refers to itself as a "non-partisan" group, will be the hub.  WAHA claims to be the spark for reform although this county and Bellingham are no backwater.  We have a wide range of healthcare choices, including some of the most stellar diagnostic, lab, and medical services in the Northwest.  A wide  variety of options exist:  osteopaths, naturopaths, birth center options, walk-in clinics, medical massage, sports and therapeutic massage, great EMS, and most practices offer nurse practitioners.   Peacehealth's St. Joseph hospital is renowned for advanced cardiology 

WAHA with its own management board ties into other NGO's and official Washington State “community health” agencies.  How scientific is the “social science” that drives policy – who knows?   But they'll be making calls about public directives.   'Can't call it "public policy" in any real sense now.   It's become a regional "apex" organization.  WE know that Regina Delahunt, Public Health Director is also "agent" and "president" of WAHA.  And it got an up-to $5.7 million (!) grant this year.   Hot diggity, nice connection there.

Many of the reports and plans that we uncovered even recently have been pulled from the internet - gone.   We'll cache what we can before it's all wiped.