Durham Community Members Use Town Hall to Share Their Health Care Concerns, Urgently Call Attention

Town Hall is part of a series of statewide meetings highlighting what is at stake for North Carolinians’ health care.

Durham, N.C. — Piedmont Rising held the first of two town hall meetings scheduled this week to discuss recent attacks on North Carolinians’ health care, health equity, and call attention to the need for defending crucial protections enshrined in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

(February, 25, 2020) -- Speaking to a room of roughly 20 people, Piedmont Rising Executive Director, Casey Wilkinson, took questions and listened to the concerns of local residents who shared stories of how access to health care has impacted their lives during the meeting in Durham on Tuesday evening.

The Health Care Town Hall was part of a series that Piedmont Rising will hold across North Carolina in the coming months, with the next meeting taking place in Morganton on Thursday.

More than 13,000 people in Durham County would lose their health care coverage if the ACA were repealed.

(February 25, 2020) – During the meeting, Durham-area residents, medical professionals, health care educators, and advocates shared personal health care stories of how they and their families have struggled to afford life-saving medical care and prescription drugs.

(February 25, 2020) – Xaviera "Zay" Bell-Dorcilien and Dan Dorcilien held a photo of their late son, Xander, to shed light on the lack of representation and access to resources for mothers of color who have suffered from perinatal loss.

After the loss of her son Xander, Xaviera ‘Zay’ Bell-Dorcilien learned there was a lack of representation of African American mothers that suffered perinatal loss. Her personal mission, as she explained at the Town Hall, is to elevate the voices of bereaved African American mothers by serving as an example that suffering does not have to be alone and can have a voice.

“Medicaid expansion needs to take place because lots of women don’t have transportation, don’t have adequate care, and don’t have a voice. All of us deserve a voice. We have a problem in North Carolina and we need to do something about it,” Bell-Dorcilien said.

BACKGROUND: Snapshot: Durham Health Care

Media Contact:

Jessica Coscia, jessica@piedmontrising.org

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About Piedmont Rising

Piedmont Rising is an issue advocacy organization built by and for North Carolinians to advocate for lower insurance premiums and prescription drug costs, and to ensure that more people have access to safe and affordable health care. Through grassroots organizing, education, and engagement, we are amplifying our health care stories and holding our elected officials accountable to the people, and issues, they were elected to represent. www.piedmontrising.org