RWJF项目管理副总裁Michelle A. Larkin, JD, MS, RN,关于新泽西州无烟赌场的证词
Good morning.
I’m Michelle Larkin, vice president for program management at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation—thank you for the invitation to speak today and answer any questions you might have.
I believe that all of us in this room want New Jersey to be a place where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to reach their best health and wellbeing—no matter their race, ethnicity, or class.
And though New Jersey leads the nation in many measures of health, that opportunity is not everyone’s reality today.
Persistent gaps exist; laws and practices have the impact of putting greater value on some lives than others.
For the most part, smoke-free policies are a bright spot in New Jersey.
Reflecting our society’s values, we have strong, sensible laws that protect people in government workplaces, most private workplaces, schools, childcare facilities, and retail stores from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Even within the hospitality industry, people who work in restaurants and most bars—as well as the patrons they serve—are protected from second-hand smoke.
But not casino workers.
Denying casino workers protection has no basis in science.
It has no basis in equity.
There is no basis in common sense for some 20,000 New Jerseyans working in Atlantic City casinos, and the customers they serve daily, to be victims of a loophole that treats them as second-class citizens when it comes to their health.
Across New Jersey and the nation, health disparities hit people of color hardest.
On this, the casino industry is not an exception.
The industry employs a more diverse workforce than most in the US: 45 percent of the gaming workforce are people of color; 50 percent are women.
The threat their workplace poses is but one more obstacle to good health—one more example of inequity that has gone on too long.
The legislation being discussed today, A2151, would bring casino workers the protection to which they are entitled.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation appreciates your consideration of this issue and all that you are doing to make our home state a safer, healthier place to live and work—a place without inequitable structural, procedural, or legal barriers that shorten lives and threaten wellbeing.
Thank you.
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下列听证会证词由米歇尔·拉金,罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会负责项目管理的副总裁在议会卫生委员会和议会旅游、博彩和艺术委员会联席会议上就第2151号议会法案提出的意见。
早上好。
我是米歇尔·拉金,罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会负责项目管理的副总裁,感谢你们今天邀请我发言,并回答你们可能有的问题。
我相信,在这个房间里的所有人都希望新泽西成为这样一个地方,在这里,无论种族、民族或阶级,每个人都有公平和公正的机会获得最好的健康和福祉。
尽管新泽西州在许多健康指标上领先全国,但这种机会并不是每个人今天的现实。
持续存在的差距;法律和实践对一些人的生命比其他人更有价值。
在很大程度上,无烟政策是新泽西州的一个亮点。
我们有强大而明智的法律来保护政府工作场所、大多数私人工作场所、学校、儿童保育设施和零售商店的人们免受二手烟的危害,这反映了我们社会的价值观。即使在酒店业,在餐馆和大多数酒吧工作的人——以及他们服务的顾客——也受到二手烟的保护。
但赌场工作人员除外。
否认赌场工人的保护是没有科学依据的。
它没有公平的基础。
在大西洋城赌场工作的约2万名新泽西人,以及他们每天服务的客户,成为法律漏洞的受害者,在健康方面,他们被视为二等公民,这是没有常识依据的。
在新泽西州和全国范围内,健康差距对有色人种的影响最大。
在这一点上,博彩业也不例外。
与美国相比,该行业雇佣的员工更加多样化:45%的游戏员工是有色人种;其中50%是女性。
他们的工作场所构成的威胁只不过是健康的又一个障碍——又一个持续太久的不平等的例子。
今天正在讨论的A2151号法案将为赌场工作人员提供他们应得的保护。
罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会感谢你们对这个问题的考虑,感谢你们为使我们的家乡成为一个更安全、更健康的生活和工作场所所做的一切——一个没有不公平的结构、程序或法律障碍的地方,这些障碍会缩短生命,威胁福祉。
谢谢你!
关于罗伯特伍德约翰逊基金会
罗伯特·伍德·约翰逊基金会(RWJF)致力于改善美国的健康和健康公平。我们正在与其他方面合作,努力发展一种以公平为基础的卫生文化,为每个人提供公平和公正的发展机会,无论他们是谁、住在哪里或有多少钱。
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我们的家乡:新泽西州
我们需要一系列全面的、促进公平的政策,以确保我们国家的每个人都有公平和公正的机会过上健康的生活。
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