Put People First! PA Enews
June Statewide Call: Take Back our Hospitals!

Every third Wednesday of the month from 7-8 pm ET, Put People First! PA, a statewide, member-led, staff-free organization holds our Statewide Membership Call. This call is for active members, mobilizers, and anyone who is interested in finding out more about our Healthcare is a Human Right campaign and getting involved!


This month’s call will focus on our fight against hospital closures. Take back our hospitals! Click here to RSVP and share the facebook event.

From Crozer Health in Delaware County to Berwick Hospital in Columbia County to St. Joe’s in Lancaster County we’ve been fighting back against hospital closures across Pennsylvania. Private equity, nonprofit and for-profit owners closed 26 hospitals in all regions of PA in just the last 5 years. How have hospital closures impacted your community? Share your story and learn how we’re fighting back.

As always, we’ll share our stories of struggle.

Join this call to find out more about what’s happening and how you can get involved!
Remember – we only get what we’re organized to take!


Click here to join: https://zoom.us/j/5483957623
Or to call in, Dial: 646 558 8656 (US Toll)
Then enter Meeting ID: 548 395 7623



The Big, Beautiful Bill – for Billionaires!

The Nonviolent Medicaid Army knows that Medicaid Cuts equal death. We experienced 25 million people purged from healthcare with the ending of pandemic

protections in 2023 under Biden. We taught ourselves to file appeals, fought back and won. Some of us delayed care, some of us were denied care. Some of us got sicker and some didn’t make it. The war on the poor continues and we will keep uniting and organizing because we don’t believe the politicians are coming to save us. Capitol Hill speaks for the rich.

We have to speak for ourselves.

To read & share the Nonviolent Medicaid Army Statement on the “Big, Beautiful Bill” – for Billionaires! click here o para leer en español, haga clic aquí.



Highlights from Healthcare Rights Committees

In the past month, Put People First! PA Healthcare Rights Committee (HRC) members have been out in our neighborhoods building the movement for healthcare as a human right. Here are some recent highlights.

  • In South Central PA, the HRC celebrated three birthdays and a member being released from county prison at “Songs & Celebration: Art, Singout & Speak Out!”
  • In Southwest PA, members door knocked and listened to people’s healthcare stories and talked about the coming Medicaid cuts.
  • In Southeast PA, members held a People’s Clinics to offer blood pressure screenings, healthcare referrals and appeal cut offs and sign people up for state benefits.
  • In Northeast PA, members held a potluck and a watch party to study our People’s History, specifically the Young Lord’s takeover of a hospital in the Bronx.
  • In Central Appalachia members knocked doors and made plans for an upcoming Justice Jam event.
  • In Southeast PA, members held a vigil and rally against hospital closures with healthcare workers from PASNAP, Movement of Immigrant Leaders in PA (MILPA) and community members – watch the livestream here or read the reportback here.

Put People First! PA was also featured in The Nation for how we’re fighting back against medicaid cuts. Read the full article here. Northeast PA Healthcare Rights Committee leader, Rebecca, was also published in her local paper, the Williamsport Sun Gazette. Read her Op-Ed here.


#MedicaidMondaysEvery Monday we share our stories. What’s your healthcare story? What does Medicaid mean to you and your family? Movements begin with the telling of untold stories that’s why we’re asking you to share your experience with your health and healthcare system. Whether you’re on or unfairly excluded from Medicaid, you have a story to share to build the movement for the human right to healthcare. See #medicaidmonday examples on the Nonviolent Medicaid Army facebook page here.




Upcoming Healthcare Rights Committee Meetings

Put People First! PA is organized into five regions: Southeast, Southwest, Central-Appalachia, South Central and Northeast. In each of these regions, members participate in twice a month meetings held by phone and online, organized around our healthcare struggles. If you’re new to Put People First! PA, attend a monthly Statewide Call or Saturday School or contact any of the members listed below to learn more.

Southeast PA Healthcare Rights Committee (Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties)
Next meeting: Wednesday, June 25th @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Contact: ppfpasepahrc@gmail.com

Southwest PA Healthcare Rights Committee (Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland, Greene, Fayette, Beaver and Butler counties)
Next meeting: Thursday, June 12th & 26th @ 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Contact: Barbara at bawhite2012@gmail.com or Rica at phillipsfrederica@gmail.com

Central-Appalachia PA Healthcare Rights Committee (Centre, Clearfield, Cambria, Blair, Somerset, Bedford, Huntingdon, Fulton, Mifflin, and Juniata counties)
Next meeting: Wednesday, June 18th @ 8 pm – 9 pm
Contact: Josh at joshua.rinaman@gmail.com or Kiki at mftriplin@gmail.com

South Central PA Healthcare Rights Committee (Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties)
Next meeting: Monday, June 16th @ 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Contact: Matt at marosing1979@gmail.com or Jacob at jacob.butterly.pappc@gmail.com

Northeast PA Healthcare Rights Committee (Pike, Wayne, Susquehanna, Bradford, Sullivan, Wyoming, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Northumberland, Carbon and Schuylkill counties)
Next meeting: Monday, June 16th @ 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Contact: Rebecca at prittidayzee@gmail.com or Nijmie at nijmied@gmail.com




Put People First – PA and the Pennsylvania Union of the Homeless hosted a “Songs & Celebration: Art, Singout & Speak Out!” event on Sunday June 1st at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lancaster, PA

  • We celebrated the release of one of our members from Lancaster County Prison, birthdays, and the growing poverty abolitionist movement rising in South Central Pennsylvania!
  • We sang movement songs, made buttons and more Nonviolent Medicaid Army flags together and shared testimonies!
  • We moved forward with next steps in the development of our Project’s of Survival modern day Underground Railroad organizing work for our human rights!

To learn more about Put People First! PA go to our website at: www.putpeoplefirstpa.org

To learn more about the National Union Of The Homeless. go to our website at: www.nationalunionofthehomeless.org

Our organizations are a part of the National Nonviolent Medicaid Army and we have been fighting against Medicaid cuts since 2023 when the Biden Administration purged 25 million people!

We need YOU to help us Organize to Protect and Expand Medicaid! Send us a DM and join us for our Medicaid Cuts Organizing Drive!

#UniteThePoor
#AbolishPoverty
#Medicaid4All
#PutPeopleFirst
#HumanRights

Put People First! PA welcomes the passage of HB 1460 from committee in the PA House, a bill which takes a step toward more accountability for Wall Street private equity firms that run our hospitals into the ground, then close them and put our families’ lives at risk. 

The closure of the Crozer Chester system is devastating for Southeast PA communities. Sadly, the Southeast region is not unique. Private equity, nonprofit and for-profit owners closed 26 hospitals in all regions of PA in just the last five years. 

It’s a positive sign that lawmakers from both parties are beginning to agree with our calls for accountability for non-profits like UPMC and Geisinger as well as for-profits and private equity. 

HB 1460 extends the existing powers of the Attorney General, and we agree that more is needed. A Public Heathcare Advocate would represent the interests of the people of Pennsylvania in our life and death struggle with the healthcare industry. We’re tired of getting sick while they get rich! 

Click here to learn more about the Public Healthcare Advocate.

We are building a mass movement to keep our hospitals open and put healthcare into the hands of workers and communities, instead of lining the pockets of Wall Street. Our 5 healthcare rights committees are active in more than 40 PA counties. Change comes from below, not above! Join Put People First! PA today. 

Click here to sign up for Put People First! PA’s Enews or go here to see regional facebook pages and local contacts.

On Saturday, May 10th, the Southeast PA (SEPA) Healthcare Rights Committee members gathered bright and early for our monthly basebuilding event at a local leader Robin’s beloved food bank in Phoenixville, PA. 

At the event, Put People First! PA members listened to people share their healthcare stories and talked about the dire effects of hospital closures – Crozer Health AND the ER & acute care closing at nearby Suburban Hospital Community Hospital. Members also offered blood pressure screenings and support with state benefit sign ups and Medicaid cut off appeals.  

Robin reflected after the basebuilding, “We shouldn’t even have to have food banks. The safety net is not working! There’s profit in keeping us poor. There’s profit in keeping us sick. As much as I love the food bank, I wish I didn’t have to go. I wish I wasn’t food insecure. I wish my neighbors didn’t have to go. Through doing this work with Put People First! PA, I’m grateful I can see the bigger picture and open my mind more and more. We met amazing people.”

Another member, Legs, shared on their experience basebuilding for the first time.  Legs said, “There was a line for the foodbank and then a second line for additional services. Our members talked with people in pairs to connect with people there. It was a really great opportunity even though it was so early!”

Raphie, another member who lives in Phoenixville, expressed, “Everyone seemed to believe health care was a human right, that the rich are hoarding wealth to spend on unnecessary things while the poor suffer, and that neither party was actually solving any of our real problems with healthcare. Even someone I talked to who was a Republican was on the same page. It’s heartening to know that a lot of people are on this track of thinking that will lead to change.”

#putpeoplefirstpa
#nonviolentmedicaidarmy
#healthcareisahumanright
#hospitalclosuresequaldeath
#crozerhealth
#suburbancommunityhospital