The best way to start preparing our Democracy for the next flu season is to ensure that every United States citizen has the ability to cast their ballot by mail. Already in Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, virtually all voting is done remotely, generally with an option to mail in ballots or drop them off at voting centers or in special drop boxes. We know this process works. In the 2018 general election, these states averaged turnout 10 percent higher than the country as a whole. Too many states were unprepared for the Coronavirus pandemic during their primary elections. Such results would be a disaster for our democracy in November. Please join with us in demanding a universal vote-by-mail system now!

Due to the coronavirus, election days have been closed, changed or possibly cancelled. Only five states have Vote By Mail laws in all elections. It should be national Vote By Mail for all 50 states. This is the perfect time to advocate for a Vote By Mail law.

All of a sudden, Americans overwhelmingly support the principle of federal payments to the poor and middle class alike to establish a floor below which they cannot sink. Thus, the status pf the middle class is protected, and, in the case of the poor, the necessities of life are assured. Americans are now coming to recognize that the economic straitjacket in which most of them find themselves is not their fault, but rather is the result of a fickle and rapidly changing economy, along with tax policies unfavorable to them. Thus there is no moral issue involved in receiving these payments. In fact, with economic pressure relieved, Americans will be freer to pursue advances in their lives, educationally and vocationally. Nobody is going to live off the fat of the land under this modest stipend. Rather, it will serve as an investment in our country's most precious resource: human capital. And for the poor, this will mean the dismantling of the humiliating welfare bureaucracy, with its rules and regulations that have always smacked of a plantation mentality. Additionally, this reform will help heal the tension between the middle class and the poor, which has always been used by unscrupulous politicians who profit from dividing these two groups that belong on the same page. It will also raise the level of basic consumer demand, which is the chief vehicle on which our economy depends. Additionally it will provide desperately needed permanent relief to state and local governments - which have been devastated financially by the Virus Depression - by abolishing the requirement that they appropriate money for welfare, as under the present system. Building on the latter point, we should seize this opportunity to combine Medicare and Medicaid, so both are financed exclusively by the federal government.This would alleviate the longtime Achilles heal of state finances, Medicaid. Not only will this help fill the immediate financial pit the virus has created for the states, but as a permanent feature will free up more state funds for education and other essential local services. Additionally, the new expanded Medicare will give to the poor the dignity that the program has brought for the last half century to seniors of all income brackets. This proposal does not seek government expansion into any area of medical finance it does not presently control. It simply makes uniform the programs it already runs, both in their coverage and in the source of their funding. With the economy collapsing, the federal government is able to find $2 trillion to shore it up. This means that in more prosperous times, it would surely be able to do so on a continuous basis. Tell former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump to support making the $1200 payments a permanent monthly feature of American life and to combine Medicaid and Medicare.

President Trump is blatantly using the news organizations’ extensive, live coverage to freely campaign for a second term. It is wrong and dangerous to provide so much unfettered airtime to someone who is happily, shamelessly spreading terrible, damaging misinformation that is already costing fellow Americans their lives. Please tell national and local media outlets to monitor and then broadcast valid, accurate information from medical experts, rather than feelings and diatribes from the President that only serve his own electoral interests.

I am a doctor working on the frontlines at a NYC hospital battling coronavirus and am already seeing the fatal impacts from our failure to take the strictest precautions. At my hospital we have already lost colleagues and far too many patients to coronavirus because we have failed to enact the stringent protections necessary. In addition to the the need for for increased PPE (personal protective equipment), respirators, ventilators, and testing, we also need to protect hospital workers and patients from airborne transmission of the disease. Studies are finding you don't need to be directly coughed on to get the virus - it can linger in the air for up to 3 hours, and contained spaces with closed ventilation (e.g. medical floors and ER departments) are most at risk. The current and tragically inadequate CDC guidelines protect health care workers only from droplet transmission (think of the moisture that lands in your tissue when you sneeze) but this virus can be transmitted by much smaller aerosol particles that float in the air. In order to defeat the virus, we must prevent aerosol transmission in our COVID treatment centers and make sure the treatment center workforce can wear at all times the proper PPE (full body hazmat suits with PAPR or N95 respirators with face shields, gloves, goggles, shoe/boot covers) so they will not get infected, stay healthy and be able to continue to treat patients. We can do this - together. Please sign your name to help get it done and defeat this virus. Reference: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/487110-tests-indicate-coronavirus-can-survive-in-the-air

Doctors are violating the civil rights and liberties of mental health patients and they are NOT listening to patient’s opinions and do NOT CARE to understand patients’ experiences. I have struggled with depression, ADHD, PTSD, and social anxiety for my entire life. I have been traumatized by sexual assault which none of my treating physicians even bothered to ask me about. When I start to become angry, the reason is because I am UPSET and TRAUMATIZED. Every medical student and particularly treating physicians need to DO BETTER. Prior to my mother calling the paramedics on me, I was on a medication regimen that was working very well for me. I initially was taken to the hospital against my will and then forced into an inpatient mental health ward called Carrier which is located in New Jersey. As soon as I was admitted, they made me stop taking my medications cold turkey. I NEED these medications to help me get by on a day-to-day basis. They took my medications away and forced me to take 20 different medications including anti-psychotic drugs including, but in no way limited to, Sero-QUELL and Rispiridone. I did not want to take these medications and I informed my doctors that they made me feel suicidal. Instead of listening to my feedback and responding with empathy, they threatened me by saying that i would never be released from the facility if I didn’t take them. There were several physicians who were in on this conspiracy. When I say I feel suicidal, I am not lying or attempting to me dramatic. I am not a passive aggressive person and I do NOT have illusions of grandeur. I am NOT a psychopath. There was a physician at Carrier, an African American woman named Dr. Abi, who I trusted. However, she was gaslighting me. She told me if I was good and took all the medications they were forcing me to take, I would be released in a couple days. However, they kept pushing out my release date in spite of the fact that i was extremely cooperative despite being extremely unhappy. She said I would be there for 2 or 3 days. I ended up being forced to stay there for 14 DAYS. This is lying and this is the definition of GASLIGHTING. At carrier, they also wanted to put me in solitary confinement because I was upset about the medication regimen that they forced on me. When I tried to resist and tried to hide from them, 2 large men VIOLENTLY grabbed me and forced me into solitary confinement. I do NOT think physical assault has any place in a mental health ward. I would like to report each and every doctor at Carrier for HIPAA violations. They need to have their medical liscenses revoked. Medical health professionals need to GO BACK TO SCHOOL and learn how to EMPATHIZE WITH MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS. After finally being released from Carrier, I began an outpatient program called High Focus located on Princess Road in Lawrence, New Jersey. Again, at this facility, they kept forcing me to take anti psychotic medications in spite of the fact that I told them that they made me feel suicidal. One doctor there in particular, Dr. Orr (a male physician) at High Focus, would NOT LISTEN or did NOT CARE to listen to my opinion. The social health care workers at high focus (all women) were EXCELLENT. However, the program was trying to de-individualize patients. The building was FREEZING and we were only allowed to go outside once or twice per day for people who wanted to smoke cigarettes. Nothing breaks your spirit more than health care professionals not even letting you go outside to feel the sun on your face. They made me feel like a rat or an unwilling participant in a clinical drug trial. Regardless of whether or not this was actually the case, it certainly felt like they were trying to strip us of our individual identities. These doctors broke my spirit and made me lose faith in humanity. I feel like a rat stuck in a rat race. Again, the medical physicians at Carrier and High Focus are fundamentally lacking in EMPATHY. They need to go back to school and learn EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. These physicians are in violation of HIPAA laws. Please strip them of their medical liscenses until they are able to STOP BEING EGOTISTICAL and begin working to understand and EMPATHIZE with their patients. These mental health professionals need to GO BACK TO SCHOOL and learn humility and how to be humble and empathetic human beings. Mental health patients are Still HUMAN BEINGS, not RATS. cannot overstate how traumatic my experiences at Cartier and High Focus were. These doctors have broken my spirit. I feel like I am at the end of my rope here and I’m barely holding on. I no longer TRUST mental health doctors or mental health professionals. This industry need to TRY HARDER and PRACTICE EMPATHY and HUMILITY. I cannot let this medical malpractice continue unchecked. There is something deeply wrong with this entire pharmaceutical industry.

None of us have ever seen anything like the coronavirus crisis. The whole world, all at once, has been brought to its knees, is shut down, and individual governments are working, sometimes together, to defeat the global pandemic. Most of the news right now is soul crushing, but it’s also heartening to see so many people doing things big and small to try and make it through this. Because the truth is, it’s going to take all of us, everywhere, doing our part. That’s what every doctor, every scientist, and every public health official is telling us. Yet in far too many corners of the world, some of us are still trying to kill one another on the battlefield. And we are seeing before how the military-first approach responds to global health crises — it deprioritizes human needs. So let’s do something BIG. Add your name NOW and join the chorus for peace and tell U.S. leaders that YOU support a global ceasefire!

Over the course of the past few weeks, COVID-19 has impacted countries across the World and disrupted daily life as we know it. Among those who have been impacted most by COVID-19 are healthcare professionals including PAs, NPs, MDs, DOs, RNs and many other healthcare providers. The coronavirus has not only impacted practicing professionals, but also the students who are currently in training to become the future of healthcare. ARC-PA, the accrediting body of physician assistant educational programs, has been far from helpful during this national crisis. PA programs and their students have been struggling to find answers on what to do for clinical education during this time due to students being removed from clinical sites and the lack of guidance from ARC-PA. Since March 10th, ARC-PA has released two vague statements that have provided very little direction on what is acceptable for completing clinical education during this time. Thankfully, ARC-PA has high standards of education for their programs and students, however during this time of crisis ARC-PA needs to make clear temporary exceptions to their standards of clinical education. Specifically, we are asking ARC-PA to clearly state that clinical students may temporarily fully complete clinical rotation requirements in the form of online distance learning rather than in-person clinical experiences. While we understand the importance of in-person clinical experiences, we must look at the practicality of these types of experiences being completed given the current circumstances. Programs will be unable to place students into clinical sites for weeks to months due to students currently being banned from most health care systems across the country. It is irresponsible for ARC-PA to continue to not acknowledge this, which is why it is necessary that temporary exceptions be made. It should be noted that ARC-PA would not be alone in making these types of exceptions as many other accrediting boards, medical associations, and medical schools across the country have been allowing unique exceptions to occur in order to graduate students on time. Now more than ever the United States needs its healthcare heroes, and now more than ever ARC-PA needs to support PAs and PA students. #PAsSaveLives

USA has the most COVID19 cases with a minimum of testing, suggesting the true number of cases is much greater. There is no strategy for quelling it happeninig. The President has asked people to minimize contact and home for two weeks, but now says he wants to "open up by Easter," which would be a disaster. The impactful containment efforts of China and South Korea suggest that a commitment to long-term (2 months or more), social distancing, vigilant hand-washing, surface cleaning, ubiquitous testing and containment of sick people will reduce the spread. China and South Korea's new cases are minimal. We must follow their lead. Please press your representatives to protect you and the ones you love by mandating a shelter-in-place order now.

Governor Baker needs to use his vote to elect a president who is going to be the best for Massachusetts. Governor Baker is the most popular governor in the country. He is a member of the same party as the President and he left the presidential ballot blank in 2016. The citizens of the Commonwealth want Governor Baker to vote for a president who will help the residents of our state, not tell us to do it ourselves and then outbid us.

A lot of people cant afford rent or mortgages, because they have either been laid off or work is suspended during the coronavirus pandemic. They need our help. As a group, the working-class of Nevada have been financially crippled by the critical and necessary measures put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus. Though the federal or state government may eventually provide relief, the immediate conservation of our limited financial resources is necessary for our own and our family's health and well being. Renters, lessors, banks and other relevant institutions can, as a class seek their own relief; the state and federal government is much more responsive and historically more likely to act on their behalf. We must protect our limited cash flow, ensure people can keep their homes, and protect credit ratings immediately.

Joe and the zoo are an important part of society