There will be a proposed concurrence* around Digital Equity at the LWVUS Convention and a caucus to review the proposal will be held. The organizers would like to hear from CO delegates who will attend the Convention and enlist your support in speaking about your situation.
* see attached background
Please let me know if you, or someone from your rural League, plans to be present.
Linda Mahan LWV Larimer County, CO <Lmahan@bu.edu> 970-222-0242
How does digital equity relate to health care?
A reply from Judith Esterquest, LWVNYS (coleader of the proposed concurrence on healthcare)
Digital Equity is also a HC issue because, without internet access, rural families cannot access telemedicine; local general/family doctors, nurses, PAs, etc., can't access specialized expertise for diagnosing, treating, operating on patients; and the isolation of not knowing if one's symptoms are sufficiently serious to warrant several hours drive to see a doctor or take a test that turns out to be nothing sounds overwhelming.
From a public health perspective, many children in rural areas went without any schooling (except for the assignments that school buses dropped off and picked up) — so schools HAD to open; workers couldn't work remotely, even if their work didn't require in-person service; and community networks relied on phones and in-person visiting to get info out.
While the DE concurrence isn't everything it could be, it would give 46 state leagues something they don't have now — a basis for advocating that for-profit ISP monopolies are harming rural and marginalized urban/suburban residents in seriously deadly ways.