Health care reform has been an ongoing effort for the Sisters of Charity Health System and its collaborative partner, Catholic Health Association. Even though SCHS has not endorsed any particular part of the bill, the main concern of these two organizations is to advocate for health reform that achieves coverage and access for all Americans. Robin Bachman, director of public policy, in collaboration with Catholic Health Association has been on the road providing updates on current federal legislation. In partnership with the ministries, her informative presentations have been heard by administration and staff of St. Vincent Charity Hospital and Mercy Medical Center, Providence Hospitals leadership in South Carolina, the Board of Catholic Community Connection and the First Friday Forum of Lorain County. For more information, contact the Public Policy office at (Mickey number) or visit www.chausa.org.

We learned this week that some of our 2010 federal appropriations requests have moved another step forward. We're grateful to the support of our federal elected officials in Ohio and South Carolina. Here's what we know about recent House Labor-Health and Human Services Committee action:

Rep. Marcia Fudge has moved forward $500,000 for St. Vincent Charity Hospital for information systems.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has moved forward $300,000 for St. John West Shore Hospital for information systems.

Rep. John Spratt and Rep. James Clyburn moved forward $110,000 for Healthy Learners Midlands.

And Commerce-Justice-Science also recently included $265,000 for South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families for Alternative to Incarceration from Mr. Spratt.

Back in May, a group of employees from the Sisters of Charity Health System made health reform personal by creating signs expressing why they can't wait for health reform. We submitted those to the Catholic Health Association as part of their "I Can't Wait" for health reform photo essay project. The video was shown at the Catholic Health Association Annual Assembly in June and lo and behold many of our photos made the final film. You can see the full CHA video here.

Here are few of our photos that made the film.

Angela D''Orazio, Administrative Assistant, Foundations and Marketing

Joe Purton, Director of Accounting

Milton Ruffin, Environmental Services, St. Vincent Charity Hospital

Robin Bachman, Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy, and our greatest champion of this cause!

We were a sponsor of Sen. Sherrod Brown's State of Health Care Reform address at The City Club of Cleveland on May 21. Here are some photos from the event.

Pictured left to right are Jeff Jeney, president and CEO of St. Vincent Charity Hospital in Cleveland; Tom Cecconi, president and CEO of Mery Medical Center in Canton; and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Sharon Glaspie, of Building Healthy Communities in Cleveland, and Ellen Ospelt, director of the Center for Vascular Health at St. Vincent Charity Hospital.

Teleange Thomas, health program officer for the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and Sister Marian Durkin, CSA, board member of the Foundation.

Tom Cecconi, president and CEO of Mercy Medical Center in Canton, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown chat before Brown's address on the state of health care reform.