Ann Arbor needs to prepare field hospitals now!
March 22, 2020
To the Ann Arbor City Council, Mayor, and Human Rights Commission, with a copy to the news media:
I am still the only candidate for Ann Arbor City Council, 4th Ward, who is on the ballot. I am also the closest thing to representation which Ward 4 now has, as of the March 16th City Council meeting. No other candidate or sitting representative even showed up to that City Council meeting — only I attended, and I spoke as well, demanding that field hospitals be prepared before our existing hospitals are swamped with COVID-19 cases.
Today, I still urge the Ann Arbor City Council to prepare field hospitals before our existing hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 victims.
I have also asked Washtenaw County Commission members why they can’t do the same.
In no case has any Ann Arbor City Councilmember, or any Washtenaw County Commission member, agreed to initiate the preparation of field hospitals. None of them have even agreed to advocate for that urgent action.
They need to get busy now, filing a Letter of Intent for an emergency Certificate of Need with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Certificate of Need Commission.
Unfortunately, since that Commission’s next scheduled meeting is not until June 18, 2020, our local authorities will also have to seek emergency approval directly from MDHHS to prepare a field hospital in Ann Arbor, unless they have a better plan, such as convincing the Governor to seek help from the U.S. Army:
In race against coronavirus spread, Cuomo asks feds to build eight hospitals in downstate region
Military field hospitals on way to state to meet projected need for hospital beds
In Madrid, the government is preparing a field hospital for 5,500 patients right now: https://www.thelocal.es/20200322/madrid-turns-conference-centre-into-big-field-hospital
And in Stockholm now: https://www.thelocal.se/20200322/a-field-hospital-will-be-built-in-stockholm-to-prepare-for-more-coronavirus-cases
In other words, the City Council needs to act now to get us a field hospital, before our existing hospitals are overwhelmed.
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, PhD
Candidate for City Council, 4th Ward.
March 22, 2020
“Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist who is running for council, urged city officials to look to lessons learned in other countries and set up field hospitals now.”
* See full coverage in MLive, March 17, 2020, at https://www.mlive.com/news/
Statement by Dr. Mozhgan to the Ann Arbor City Council, the Mayor and the Human Rights Commission
Ann Arbor, Michigan: US sanctions are killing Iranians during a global pandemic. Listen to the outcry demanding an immediate stop to all sanctions on Iran to protect lives. See the articles on the subject which have been released in recent days; some are referenced below.
In Ann Arbor, we can easily do our part to save 80 million Iranians from sanctions-induced death during this pandemic. Ann Arbor City Council must pass this simple humanitarian resolution: “We demand that all sanctions against Iran be removed immediately, to save millions of Iranian lives.”
That 16-word resolution won’t cost you a thing, and it will save many lives.
See these recent articles:
” ‘Literally Weaponizing Coronavirus’: Despite One of World’s Worst Outbreaks of Deadly Virus, US Hits Iran With ‘Brutal’ New Sanctions”https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/18/literally-weaponizing-coronavirus-despite-one-worlds-worst-outbreaks-deadly-virus-us
Coronavirus: Ilhan Omar calls for lifting of sanctions on Iran amid outbreak: With more than 11,000 reported cases, the Islamic Republic is one of the worst affected by Covid-19 outside of China
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-ilhan-omar-calls-lifting-Trump-sanctions-iran
“U.S. Sanctions on Iran Are Increasing Coronavirus Deaths. They Need to Be Stopped Now. The measures—imposed by Trump with bipartisan complicity—curtail desperately needed medical supplies.”
https://inthesetimes.com/article/22387/iran-sanctions-coronavirus-deaths-democrats-trump-nuclear-deal-medicine
“The Coronavirus Is Killing Iranians. So Are Trump’s Brutal Sanctions.”
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-iran-sanctions/
“”Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Trump administration has slapped new sanctions on Iran”https://mondoweiss.net/2020/03/amidst-the-covid-19-crisis-the-trump-administration-has-slapped-new-sanctions-on-iran/
— That last article quotes Senator Bernie Sanders saying “Iran is facing a catastrophic toll from the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. sanctions should not be contributing to this humanitarian disaster. As a caring nation, we must lift any sanctions hurting Iran’s ability to address this crisis, including financial sanctions.”
As the only candidate on the ballot for a 4th Ward seat on the Ann Arbor City Council, I am telling the City Council to approve this resolution as quickly as possible:
“We demand that all sanctions against Iran be removed immediately, to save millions of Iranian lives.”
In case you have forgotten that Iranians are human beings, take a look at the attached photos from Iran.
Thank you,
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, PhD, Candidate for Ann Arbor City Council, Ward 4.VoteForTheDoctor.com
March 18, 2020
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/11/scientist-who-exposed-health-impacts-burn-pits-iraq-awarded-rachel-carson-prize
The City Council needs to start setting up a field hospital for this pandemic
The City Council needs to start setting up a field hospital for this pandemic – Ireland & Italy are doing just that. Otherwise, existing hospitals will be overwhelmed.
As the University of Michigan campus is evacuated, it can become the site of a field hospital, if the City is unable to find any other space.
Look at Italy: “Work was underway on a new field hospital in Milan today, with a structure normally used for sports being converted to a makeshift intensive care wing” – See photo here:
Look at Ireland: “University of Limerick could become field hospital amid coronavirus pandemic”:
This pandemic is just the beginning. Here is my public health program as your City Council candidate.
This pandemic is just the beginning. Here is my public health program as your City Council candidate
March 13, 2020
For Immediate Release
CC: Ann Arbor City Council, to the Mayor, and to the Human Rights Commission
Ann Arbor, Michigan: This is a good time to share my program for the basic building blocks of our public health. The pandemic which is staring us in the face won’t be the last one. Let’s get prepared for it all.
As of today, I am still the only candidate on the ballot for Ann Arbor City Council, Ward 4.
I am also the only candidate who is an environmental toxicologist, a PhD who is focused on global public health. I am an author of dozens of articles in environmental and public health journals. I have delivered dozens of lectures worldwide on public health. My latest lecture at the University of Michigan, just four days ago, is here:
http://leccap.engin.umich.edu/
You may wonder why I campaign so hard for the public health of everyone facing contamination from the Gelman dioxane plume, and why I’ve demanded an immediate cleanup now, unlike any other candidate for City Council.
You may wonder why I campaign so hard for the public health of the Palestinian people, millions of whom are caged up in the Gaza Strip, with severely crippled hospitals, thousands of whom are massacred by Israel with your tax dollars. Of course we should stop sending military aid to Israel, all $38 billion of it. Don’t forget that a large part of our Ann Arbor community is Palestinian too. Their lives matter. Their loved ones’ lives matter. It should be said more often.
You may wonder why I am campaigning for the basic building blocks of public health, like a $15 minimum wage now, affordable public housing now, expanded public transport now, the immediate unionization of every workplace where a majority of workers sign up for it, the immediate provision of single-payer health care for every person, and emergency unemployment checks so that no one starves. Those things give us the strength and organization to preserve health and life.
Wealth is a poor means of rationing the necessities of life.
You may wonder why I say that our City must do its best to expand our available hospital beds, our medical personnel, quarantine centers (including motels), and homeless shelters. If the federal, state, and county governments refuse to do that bare minimum, then our City should do it quickly.
You may wonder why I campaign so hard for public health, inside and outside Ann Arbor. Now you know: because the health of every person, from Ann Arbor to China to Palestine, is literally connected. The first person who sneezes in the Gaza Strip (which Israel has turned into a prison with only a few crippled hospitals), could infect millions with no means of treatment or escape.
This August 4th, I urge everyone reading this message to vote for our public health.
If you agree with my program for our public health, then I would appreciate your vote.
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, PhD
VoteForTheDoctor.com
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Environmental toxicologist Dr. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani will be awarded the 2015 Rachel Carson Prize for her work highlighting the impact of war on the environment and public health.
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About Dr. Mozhgan
Dr. Mozhgan is an award-winning environmental toxicologist. She has been an Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences, and the Managing Editor of a global health journal. She has published over thirty environmental toxicology studies in scientific journals and has gained worldwide media attention for her work in that field.
Dr. Mozhgan fights for environmental and human rights. She has long demanded an immediate city cleanup of the toxic Gelman dioxane contamination of our water, declaring that it’s time to “put the shovel to the ground and clean it up now.”