Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

On August 17th, more than 50 health professionals, public health advocates, and water protectors rallied outside the US Army Corps of Engineers’ office in the Lloyd District of Northeast Portland. The attendees delivered a letter signed by over 300 Oregonians calling on President Biden to revoke permits for Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline being built by Canadian corporation Enbridge through Anishinaabe treaty territory in Minnesota. The rally occurred at the same time as a dozen other actions across the country, including in St. Paul, Minnesota. Our sincere thanks to everyone who joined us in solidarity with water protectors and other health professionals across the country opposing Line 3.

Wildfires fueled by climate change are becoming more intense in the Pacific Northwest. Preparation and adaptation to these climate disasters is vital to building climate resilience and protecting our health. Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility (Oregon PSR), Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), and Neighbors for Clean Air (NCA) hosted a webinar in June of 2021 titled Our Health in Wildfire Season to explore these issues.

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for our August 6th, 2021 Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial ceremony and the We Hold Sacred exhibit! Even with our audience size limited as a precaution relative to the ongoing pandemic, we were so honored to share an evening of remembrance of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all those negatively impacted by more than 76 years of nuclear injustice, as well as a celebration of the nuclear justice movement, especially as led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color individuals and communities, with our fully vaccinated and masked attendees.

Oregon PSR and our community partner organizations have begun planning the annual Portland-area memorial of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which this year will be held on Friday, August 6th beginning at 6:00 PM at the Japanese American Historical Plaza at Waterfront Park in downtown Portland (NW Naito Parkway & Couch Street).

We are experiencing temperatures in the upper 90’s and even higher throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, and wildfires are already burning throughout our state and region. While no one wants to repeat the severe air quality crisis of last summer, we also know that it is essential to be prepared.

Great news! In June, the US Supreme Court denied a petition to overturn Washington State's 2017 denial of water quality permits for Millennium Bulk Terminals' proposed coal export facility in Longview, WA. Multiple courts at the state and federal levels have now held that Washington State was within its rights to protect public health and safety from the increased air and water pollution that would have come with transporting coal along the Columbia River. With the Supreme Court's dismissal of this final legal appeal, this is the official end of this coal export proposal.

All the major open-access slide shows on the Public Health and Social Justice website, curated by Oregon PSR Advisory Board Member Martin Donohoe, MD, have recently been updated (6/23/21 update). Open access means that all or a portion of any slide show can be used by anyone, with appropriate citation. The site addresses the social, economic, environmental, human rights, and cultural contributors to health and illness. Some of the content focuses on the medical humanities and the history of medicine.

In May 2021, we welcomed Samantha Hernandez (pictured above) to the Oregon PSR staff as our new Climate Justice Organizer. Samantha will be supporting a wide range of Oregon PSR's Healthy Climate Program work including our advocacy efforts in coalitions to stop fossil fuels and nuclear power and advance a just and equitable transition to clean energy. She will also work on our partnership with the Oregon Justice Resource Center to re-frame mass incarceration as a public health crisis as well as issues relating to the intersection of public health and water quality and forests. Here's what Samantha has to say about joining Oregon PSR:

Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei (pictured above) is a dear friend and colleague in Gaza whom I met on a medical delegation to Gaza with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. He is psychiatrist and is the Director of Gaza Community Mental Health Program. You could not imagine a more gentle, thoughtful and lovely human being. 

Our US  tax dollars ($3.8 billion each year) go to the Israeli military. This assault and all the horrors now being perpetuated by the Israeli military are happening on our dime. Please speak up if you are outraged and despair at this current intensification of the violence and the disregard for human rights and human life. -Maxine Fookson, RN, MN, Oregon PSR Board Member