Fort Worth town hall promotes public discussion of health inequality

by PegNews wire

A segment of a PBS documentary will be shown and a discussion will follow.

FORT WORTH — A discussion on health care issues, hosted by Fort Worth Public Health officials and District 8 City Councilmember Kathleen Hicks, is set for 7 p.m. April 9 at the Sycamore Community Center, 2525 E. Rosedale St.

A segment of the first episode of the PBS documentary Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? will be shown, and discussion will follow. Participants will be asked to weigh in on what can be done to reverse health inequalities in Fort Worth. If they wish, residents can come early, at 6 p.m., for a showing of episode 2 of the four-part documentary.

Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? coincides with intensifying debate about the estimated 47 million Americans lacking health coverage. Unnatural Causes questions what makes people ill in the first place, and probes why economic status, race and ZIP code are powerful predictors of health status and life expectancy.

The series will begin airing on local PBS channel KERA 13 at 10 p.m. March 31. Community viewings provide new opportunities for Fort Worth residents to improve local social structures in order to promote health. Town hall participants are invited to watch, learn, discuss and respond to the questions and implications raised by the series.

Community leaders at City of Fort Worth Public Health, Tarrant County Public Health, Texas Christian University Center for Civic Literacy and the University of North Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health have joined together to provide community viewings of the series. National partners include the American Public Health Association and the National Association of County and City Health Officials. For more information about Fort Worth’s town hall discussion and viewing, call 817-871-7201 or visit our Web site at www.fortworthgov.org/publichealth.

Unnatural Causes... is inequality making us sick? was produced by California Newsreel in association with Vital Pictures Inc. For information about the entire series, go to www.unnaturalcauses.org.

Source: City of Fort Worth