Health Care for All - Washington

Board of Directors

President

Chuck Richards

Chuck Richards is a recently retired school teacher, who has taught history and English as a Second Language in Seattle, Puerto Rico, Boston MA and in both Kent and Highline School Districts. In his spare time, he enjoys researching his colorful/shady family history back in Wyoming Territory.

He has been on the Board of Health Care for All-Washington since his retirement in 2006. Chuck enjoys speaking with community groups on the comparative advantages of public, "single-payer" health care programs over those using private market insurance companies. He is available to work with groups forming in neighborhoods around the state to work for a state plan, like the Washington Health Security Trust introduced by HCFA-WA in the 2007-08 state legislature.

Vice President

Sarah Weinberg, MD

Dr. Weinberg is a retired pediatrician who has long been involved in advocacy for reform of the health care financing system in the U.S. She is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine, and completed a residency in Pediatrics in the University of Washington system. She practiced first in the North End Community Health Care clinic in Wallingford, and then managed her own private pediatric practice in Woodinville for 18 years. That experience only reinforced Dr. Weinberg's conviction that the financing of the U.S. health care system is a disaster, severely undermining physicians' ability to deliver high quality care to their patients. Dr. Weinberg has been involved with Health Care for All - Washington since 1998 when she joined in the work of drafting the Washington Health Security Trust (WHST) legislation that was first introduced as Initiative 725 in February 2000. She has been involved ever since in numerous lobbying efforts on behalf of the WHST legislation. Dr. Weinberg is also a long-time member, nearly since its founding, of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Treasurer

Dana Iorio, ARNP

Dana is a Family Nurse Practitioner practicing primary care at Harborview Medical Center. He has been a member and Treasurer of HCFA-WA (originally WA-SPAN) since 1994) and has been involved in health care reform since the early 1970s. He is a firm believer that only government sponsored National Health Insurance (single payer) will rectify the inequities and crises in the current health care environment.

Secretary

Kathleen Myers, DDS

Communications

Martha Koester; Seattle, WA

Martha Koester is a retired chemist and current full time activist on health care issues, among many other things. She is a board member of Health Care for All - Washington and a member of Physicians for a National Health Plan. Raised by partially disabled parents who couldn't get health insurance at any price, she has been active on the issue for most of her adult life. She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a doctorate in biochemistry. For the last 20 years she was an analytical chemist at Weyerhaeuser, where she worked on product development, environmental analysis and strategic biology, earning two patents.

Political Action

Mary Margaret Pruit, Seattle

Budget & Finance

Susan Eidenschink, Tacoma

Membership

Ruth Knagenhjelm, RPT, Normandy Park

Chair of the Outreach Committee

Ruth became involved with HCFA-WA during the initiative campaign in 2000. She works as a physical therapist at a private clinic in Midway and treats mostly orthopedic patients but also does vestibular therapy.

She was born, raised and trained as a PT in Norway and has always known single-payer healthcare as a right until she moved to the United States in 1978 and married an American. She has since also worked another four years in private practice in Norway, so she knows the differences in health care systems well. While she knows there is not a perfect system for any country, she had no problem choosing HCFA-WA as the organization to work with for changing health care in Washington state. They had the fundamental changes that she was looking for in their proposal: the Washington State Health Security Trust.

Ruth has served on the board since 2002.

Directors at Large

Joan Bethel, Marysville

Don Bunger, Federal Way

Bob Fithian, MD, Normandy Park

Roger Fulton, Vashon

Richard Glass, Seattle

Don Mitchell, MD, Seattle

David McLanahan, MD, Seattle David McLanahan is Associate Professor of Surgery Emeritus, University of Washington School of Medicine. He worked with the medically underserved at Pacific Medical Clinics and as a volunteer at the Country Doctor and International District Community Health Clinics for 25 years. In 2005, he co-founded the Physicians for a National Health Program Western Washington Chapter, is the chapter Coordinator, and is on the PNHP National Board. He joined the HCFA-Wa Board in 2010.

Rev. Paul Pruitt, Seattle

Bill Robertson, MD, Seattle

Dr. William O. Robertson, a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, former Coordinator of the Pediatric Clerkship Program till June 1999, recipient of four "Distinguished Teacher Awards" from graduating medical student classes over the years (the 1996 award also designates him as "Teacher Superior Perpetuity"), has served as the Medical Director of a Poison Center in Washington State since 1963. Over the years, he has held positions on numerous boards (a member of the Washington State Medical Disciplinary Board, an Examiner for the American Board of Pediatrics), societies (President of the King County Medical Society in 1972), associations (President of the Washington State Medical Association 1975-76, Chairman of the American Association of Poison Control Centers 1988-90) and specialty groups (Chairman of the American Board of Medical Toxicology 1980-85)…..

…He has also been the Medical Director for the Washington State Medical Association's Risk Management Program since 1980 and has authored the "Case of the Month" section of the 'WSMA Reports', consolidating them into a book Medical Malpractice: A Preventive Approach published by University of Washington Press in 1985.

Dr. Robertson has been credited for being responsible for the section of the 2006 Washington State Legislature’s Bill 2292, which mandates “legibility” of all medication prescriptions in the state of Washington, eliminating “scribbled prescriptions” and the errors that follow….

Hal Stockbridge, MD, Olympia