What I'm Doing To Help
Now more than ever, Oregonians need a forum to share their concerns and to be heard — so I quickly set up a telephone town hall meeting for last Friday. I reached out to public health expert Dr. Jennifer Vines to join the call and help answer medical questions. Nearly 3,000 Oregonians joined the conversation, and many shared heartbreaking stories about losing their jobs and their fear of losing everything. Thank you to all who joined.
Day to day, I’m constantly on the phone talking with local public health experts, superintendents, the Governor, Speaker Pelosi, my colleagues, health care providers, business owners, and working families struggling to get by. I called Dr. Robert Kadlec, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services, multiple times to urge him to fulfill Oregon’s urgent request for personal protective equipment. I was glad that he offered to help, and relieved when a second shipment arrived this week. But we know we’re going to need more supplies soon, and I’ll continue to work to secure additional federal supplies for Oregon.
My staff is on the phone all of the time too: responding to constituents, asking federal agencies for assistance, and checking in with state and local entities. My office has always provided casework to help Oregonians who are facing an issue with a federal agency such as the VA, IRS, or Social Security and Medicare, and we continue to offer this important service to anyone in NW Oregon. In the last several weeks my caseworkers have been calling embassies around the world and advocating to help Oregonians get home from other countries. I am relieved that people have been able to return and we are continuing our efforts to help everyone abroad come home.
More information on how my office is working to serve Oregonians can be found here.
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