What: Press conference to call on Congress to fund mental health care

When: Saturday, September 25 at 1 p.m.

Where: Suffolk Station Park, 100 Forest Oak Ln., off of Carolina Rd., Suffolk, VA 23434

Suffolk, Va. — Virginia Organizing’s Suffolk Chapter will hold a media conference on September 25 at 1 p.m. at Suffolk Station Park across from Jakafi Behavioral Health Center. Members will call on Congress to expand funding for health care, specifically mental health care. Service providers and members of affected communities will speak about the urgent need to increase funding for mental health care services all across Virginia. 

“I suffer from mental health issues. The pharmaceutical corporations keep raising up the prices of my medication,” said Vonita Williams, a Suffolk Chapter member. “My doctor knows I need this medication but the drug companies don’t care if I get it.”

Robert Anderson, a provider and chapter member, pointed to the current debate in Congress. 

“We need the biggest reconciliation package possible and for it to include funding for expanded health care and mental health care. I work in mental health. Mental health services like Jakafi are critical for ensuring the well-being of our community. Virginia’s mental health infrastructure is without adequate funding, and as a result, many of our most vulnerable community members have suffered without access to critical services,” Anderson said. “We call on Congress to support the biggest Build Back Better Plan possible and ensure that Virginia’s mental health hospitals, centers, and agencies receive the funding they so desperately need.”  

The Build Back Better plan will make health care more affordable while making the rich and big corporations pay their fair share. Making health care affordable is at the heart of this historic proposal — that’s why groups backed by the pharmaceutical industry are spending so much money to try to kill it. This bill is about every single lawmaker making a choice: to make health care more affordable and accessible for millions of people, or to support wealthy pharma and insurance corporations who are price-gouging us while getting big tax breaks. 

To interview a spokesperson about this event, contact Tony Jones at tjones@virginia-organizing.org or 757-660-6080.