Rochester Regional Health held their 20th annual Behavioral Health Conference Thursday. The focus was on providing health care to those in the community who live in poverty.
“What we don’t know is what solutions are going to best help certain people move out of poverty. What we know is that one size won’t fit all,” says Ann Johnson, director of ACT Rochester, an organization that gathers data about poverty in the region. She sat on a panel at the conference.
Christine Wagner is the executive director of St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center and the panel facilitator. She says it’s important for people to share what they know about poverty. She used the example of talking to a congressional representative who didn’t know that some people living in poverty can’t afford to use the insurance they got through the Affordable Care Act.
“It’s a matter of all of us taking responsibility for what works and what doesn’t work. And when something is not working, we need to tell those that can be change agents to tweak the system so that it can work for more people,” says Wagner.
Wagner continues by saying the ACA is a step in the right direction. She says Medicaid took 50 years to improve and it’s still being approved upon.