CareOregon is working on a video project to learn from Oregonians about the role health care plays in their lives. We're talking to people who either have the Oregon Health Plan or who are uninsured about their experience with and without health insurance.

We're partnering on this project with a nonprofit group called The Oregon Center for Christian Values (OCCV). The OCCV sought and received a grant, which CareOregon cosponsored, to create a digital storytelling project. The idea is to record personal stories about the importance of health care access that can be shared with communities all over Oregon as well as with legislators and other policy makers.

OCCV will share the stories at church and civic meetings. CareOregon will share them on our web site, with legislators and with others interested in this important issue. Videographer Emily Jameson has experience with similar work in Haiti following the earthquake this year.

To prepare for this project, CareOregon’s communications and health policy departments are reaching out to providers across the state — both within our network and non-network — to ask for suggestions of patients who might be willing to participate in the program. We follow up by talking with them by phone and, if logistically possible, meeting them at locations of their choosing — home, park, shopping center, church — to talk with them and take still photos and videos.

We then invite videographer Emily to get their thoughts about health care on video.

If you would like to recommend patients who have good stories to tell, please contact Jeanie Lunsford, at lunsfordj@careoregon.org.

In addition to the grant project, this effort may also provide photos and video for publications, newsletters and web sites.

For example, DeWitt Rhodes is one of the members we’ve prescreened. DeWitt is in his early 60s, is disabled from various knee and shoulder ailments, so is a member of the Oregon Health Plan. Despite asthma, DeWitt is a fixture on the Portland-area karaoke scene, with a great voice and stage presence. Inspired by DeWitt, we put together a story on karaoke, which we ran in the fall issue of CareLink, including a video from some of the clips we gathered for the storytelling project. DeWitt will soon do an interview with the OCCV videographer to complete the video that Emily will edit specifically for the grant project.