News Release

September 5, 2008

Contact: Carolyn Pennington, 860-679-4864
e-mail: cpennington@uchc.edu

Medical Students Help Launch Voter Registration Campaign

Drives to be Held at Community Health Centers Around the State

FARMINGTON, CONN. – University of Connecticut medical, dental and public health students are joining forces with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and American Medical Student Association (AMSA) to launch the Rx: Vote Campaign---a nationwide voter registration drive from September 15 to October 28. The UConn students will be volunteering at Community Health Services, Inc., 500 Albany Ave., Hartford on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 1:30 – 5 p.m. every week to register new voters and educate existing voters on the location of their local polling places.

“We feel that voter registration will bring the issue of health care reform to the political forefront by empowering disenfranchised communities and those most affected by the health system crisis,” explains UConn medical student and campaign organizer Neena Qasba. “The NACHC coordinated a similar initiative in 2004 and we hope to expand on their previous successes by involving more student groups across the state.” UConn students helped recruit volunteers from other colleges and agencies to participate at all of the 13 community health centers in Connecticut.

NACHC is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to expanding health care access for America’s medically underserved through community-based health centers. They are local, non-profit, community-owned and federally supported.

“We want to help empower patients to get involved in their health care through voter registration,” says Qasba. “People need to get involved in the political process to help make sure our health care system delivers accessible, affordable, high-quality health care to all Americans.”

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

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