News
TPV Featured in Prosper Magazine
(by Judi Fertig Panneton)
May 2006
October 21, 2004 -- Project GHB “A Friend To Have" Award Recipients
Project GHB , a non-profit organization committed to preventing abuse, rape and death involving the drug gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB) today announced the 2004 recipients for the “A Friend To Have Award.” This year's awards go to Rosemary Roberts for her Internet radio three-part series featuring GHB issues ...more
October 15, 2004 -- California Healthcare Consumers Get New Radio Platform
Adding to a growing national audience of healthcare consumers with her popular online radio show, The Patient's Voice , Rosemary Roberts, founder of the creative services firm Girl On Point© and the producer/host of TPV debuts a new, state-specific affiliate program, The Patient's Voice California.
“Having spent over twenty years within the greater Sacramento healthcare arena, I have a lot of contacts here who would like us to feature state and local events, issues and advocacy trends” Roberts said, adding, “and I needed an outlet for those things happening in my own backyard, but which people in New Jersey might not relate to.”
Sighting a barrage of political commercials targeting economically frustrated and often ill-informed voters with misleading ads, Roberts chose Indian Gaming and its relationship not only to better healthcare access for tribal members, but its cost-savings benefits to all Californians as the show's premier topic. “ Not only do these ads completely misrepresent any connection between taxation and the tribal governments or their “fair share” payments to the state, people have no idea how much gaming supports taxpayers and care providers on the healthcare front, or how much beyond their “fair share” the tribes are giving back”.
Featuring Howard Dickstein, general counsel to five northern California tribes and historical expert on the healthcare challenges native California Indians have endured for decades, the show explores the impact of gaming on the state's healthcare crisis as a whole. Dickstein states, in part, “ Providing access to quality healthcare for the first time to each and every tribal member is a top priority for these recognized governments, but beyond that, they also – as a result – relieve taxpayers and hospitals of the burden of paying for the previously uninsured population.” In addition, northern California casinos employ over 8000 tax-paying individuals (a large majority of whom are not Indian) who receive top-shelf, full medical coverage despite a recent sharp increase in premium, which was absorbed in full by tribal chiefs in lieu of increased profits. He adds, “They made a promise to their employees and are going to keep it for as long as they're here, regardless of the bottom line.”
Roberts believes in their (tribal government) mission and the benefits to all concerned. “There's a great deal of social responsibility and philanthropic gestures being demonstrated by successful gaming governments, including large grants for medical research in the areas of cancer and diabetes, and for non-profit, non-Indian outreach efforts. Californian's are benefiting more than they know, they're just not hearing about it.”
