They came from Carrington, Hillsboro, McClusky, and Mayville, North Dakota.  From Halstad, Oslo and Parker's Prairie, Minnesota.  And from Havre, Wolf Point and Miles City, Montana - each with somethin' to say about health care reform. 

Fellow Center for Rural Affairs organizer Steph Larsen and I did a whirlwind tour of North Dakota last week, hosting community forums and policy advocacy trainings in Mandan, Harvey and Hillsboro.  We were thrilled to have 75 North Dakotans show up in total. 

With health care reform making headlines almost everyday, chairs were full and folks were outspoken at each of the meetings.  In Mandan, a construction worker with two small children talked about the importance of affordability so that his family can get the care they need.  A woman working on rural development in Harvey spoke up about accessibility to primary care doctors and mental health services in rural communities.  A nurse from Mayville, North Dakota talked about "growing our own" medical professionals, where young people going into medicine are provided incentives, like assistance with student loans for working in rural areas. 

In each town the necessity of a public health insurance option was discussed.  Uninsured and insured North Dakotans alike told us that their state needs a public health insurance option to compete with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, which controls 88% of North Dakota's health insurance market.  You can read more health care thoughts from the North Dakota forums here.

The policy advocacy trainings following the Mandan and Hillsboro forums provided an opportunity for North Dakotans who have experience contacting their senators and representative to give pointers to those wanting to get involved.  A young man from Bismark told us he ran into Rep. Earl Pomeroy at Dairy Queen and chatted with him about health care reform.  A woman was inspired to talk to her legislators about health care and Native American issues at grand openings and ribbon cuttings at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck. 

Also last week, The Center for Rural Affairs co-sponsored a statewide town meeting called "Montana Talks Health Care" in nine locations across Montana.  In total, more than 400 people registered. The small town of Wolf Point on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana registered 70 people! 

Center for Rural Affairs organizer Kiki Hubbard attended the meeting in Great Falls where over 80 people showed up.  The meetings were connected via video conference and panel discussion members participated from a few different locations.

Kiki reported that the Great Falls group concluded that community conversations like these need to keep happening. They said "we need to be involved to get what we want."

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  We need people to speak out from towns like Mayville, Oslo and Wolf Point.  Tell your senator why health care reform is important to your community at
http://www.cfra.org/09/health-care