Dear Support Group Leader,
As always, thanks for being there for us and helping to get the word out
about what is going on with NY Lyme activism.  It has been a journey which we
couldn't have made without your continued support.  Once again, we have an
update and if you can, we hope you will be able to post the message below and
send it to many people.
Thanks!
Ellen and Eva
 
 
Hi folks,
First we want to thank you all for the terrific work you have done these past
many months. The Lyme community has become a political force through the
commit-ment of patients across the country who have fought this NYS battle
with us.
 
Although the OPMC Reform Bill we supported did pass the Assembly by
unanimous vote, it happened too late in the legislative session to also get
the same bill to a vote on  the Senate floor. It is, however, looking very
good for
passage of the OPMC Reform bill in the next legislative session!!
 
The Voices of Lyme/NYLyme group leaders had originally been optimistic that
if we
fought hard enough we could pass this bill in the 2 months that followed its
introduction in the Assembly.  Luckily no one told us beforehand that passing
a controversial bill in that period of time is just about impossible!
Although we were naive about what we expected, the utter belief of Lyme
patients in our cause gave us the optimism to launch a terrific fight.
Keeping in mind that these things typically take years, in a very short time,
together, we achieved a HUGE victory by getting the unanimous Assembly vote
for the bill.
 
The controversial nature of the bill has to do with the difficulty of
crafting a law that would protect good doctors like ours, while not letting
the bad doctors off the hook.  We believe that the bill that was passed by
the Assembly accomplishes this.
 
However,  when the vested interests start to get themselves into the picture,
you wind up with big controversy.  So we were basically faced with the trial
lawyers  Fighting against the State Medical Society, both of them staking
claims in the language of this bill that would give their side leverage in
future tort (malpractice) reform. (The Medical Society has the pull in the
Senate equal to that of the Trial Lawyers in the Assembly.)
 
Given this level of controversy, it is understandable that it will take more
time until the debate is resolved.  And it is wonderful that the bill did get
as far as it did in this session.
 
Our fight for this bill will continue  during the months that the legislature
is not in session. We hope that New Yorkers will be lobbying Senators in
their district offices. We will also be meeting with many officials and
others in helpful positions to educate them to the problems our doctors face
in NY and how reform can help remedy the situation.
 
So it is back to work for all of us to lobby in NYS to make sure that our
doctors
are protected. We don't know whether or not the OPMC will try harassing our
doctors again in the next few months. But we do know that we are ready for
them.   The NYS Assembly and a significant portion of the Senate are strongly
behind us!   We have Lyme patients throughout the country who have shown that
they are ready to show up or call or write at a moment's notice to support
us. We have media that is interested in this story.
 
So, although we will need to exercise some vigilance until the OPMC Reform
Bill is passed, our work has put us in a position of much greater power. We
all have every right to feel extremely proud of what we have accomplished
thus far.
 
We ARE going to get this bill passed, and we ARE going to completely reverse
the prejudice against chronic Lyme disease.   We are not going away and we
are getting stronger all the time.
 
For better or worse, you will be hearing from us regularly about the fight we
will all be going through together.
 
Much love to all of you who have been fighting together for our right to
treatment.
Pat Smith, Jill Auerbach, Eva Haughie, and Ellen Lubarsky
 
If you know New York State residents (whether or not they have Lyme
disease) who would be willing to work with us on lobbying or calling
their legislators, please ask them to email If you live in NYS, please
contact Voices of Lyme/NYLyme by emailing VoicesNYLyme@aolcom with your name,
address with zip code and phone number. If you do not have email, please call
631-874-3130 and leave the same information.
 
 
 
 
To get timely email announcements about scientific and political news in
Lyme disease, please join lymeinfo at lymeinfo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 

I am writing to request that Kaiser patients, both former and present, take
part in an informal survey that we are conducting.  We have a suspicion that
a great number of the Kaiser Lyme Disease patients are having their
specimens sent so far away from the patient that they are rendered
ineffective due to the time it takes to transport the specimens.  We believe
that if we can gather enough of patients denied care by Kaiser for this
reason that there may well be enough evidence for a class action lawsuit
against Kaiser.

It is a brief survey and it is at:
http://www.kaiserpapers.org/lyme.html

Thank you for your time in this matter and if I have missed any Lyme Disease
contacts, please forward this letter to them.

Vickie Travis
Former Caregiver and Eldest Child and Daughter of
Adam Wesley Arnold
http://www.kaiserpapers.org
Kaiser looks good on paper - but then so did communism - A Kaiser Observer
Vickie@kaiserpapers.org