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<span><b>The Institute for Ethics in Public Life invites you
to join us for "(Women's) Healthcare in the North Country" on Wednesday,
April 29, at 3:30pm (in person and on Zoom) with special guests <span>Mr. Joel LaLone, Director of the Center for Community Studies at SUNY Jefferson, and </span>Dr. Akanksha Misra, Assoc. Prof. of Gender and Women's Studies and current Institute Fellow.</b><br> <br></span><div style="margin-left:40px"><span>Rural-Urban <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/rural-health-disparities&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1777477312350336&usg=AOvVaw1ABebZy6MGVr58WAX0RALR" target="_blank">health disparities</a> and the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2025/march/rising-rural-mortality-rates-from-natural-causes-for-working-age-adults-lead-to-widening-gap-with-urban-counterparts&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1777477312350336&usg=AOvVaw1n9ANO8Z5HqGDl3fJZx7OE" target="_blank">failing health of rural Americans</a> have been well-documented. In the current political climate, with increasing Medicaid and social service cuts and <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/pdf/rural-health-shortages.pdf&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1777477312350336&usg=AOvVaw3ipnT4y4xywETaPDTe3ReT" target="_blank">provider shortages</a> that are overwhelming rural areas such as <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2026/04/07/doctors-discuss-loss-of-medicaid-in-new-york-s-north-country&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1777477312350336&usg=AOvVaw1qiWZ7edNAn8SYwAYF6Wya" target="_blank">the North Country</a>,
these health inequity statistics are expected to get worse. Rural
women's health is an especially under-studied area of research, even
when current trends point to <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ruralhealth.us/getmedia/59200550-91c7-48c9-bd64-83621a7d93b6/RuralWomensHealth-(1).pdf&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1777477312350336&usg=AOvVaw23BDI6JawOJ_QjeYGBWMF_" target="_blank">declining health outcomes for rural women</a>.
Where does the North Country stand with respect to the health of its
residents and especially women's health? What specific problems do North
Country residents face when accessing healthcare? </span><br><span></span><br><span>Based on
initial data from a yet unreleased North Country Rural Health Survey
conducted in February 2026, Dr. Akanksha Misra, Assoc. Professor,
Department of Gender and Women's Studies, SUNY Plattsburgh, and Joel
LaLone, Director of the Center for Community Studies at SUNY Jefferson,
will attempt to frame the state of health, including women's health, in
the North Country. While the initial data corroborates larger trends in
rural health, it also opens up ethical, philosophical, and feminist
questions around health and healthcare. What do we understand as 'good'
health? What gets treated/assigned as a health condition? Why are public
health agencies not tracking women's menstrual health? How do our
childhoods matter to health? And above all, is society just a
'determinant' of individual health or are the two interconnected? </span><br><span></span><br><span>Mr. Joel LaLone is<span> Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics</span> and the Director
of the Center for Community Studies at SUNY Jefferson Community
College. He has been teaching Mathematics at SUNY Jefferson for 37 years
and Director of the Center for Community Studies since 2002. He is the
author of <i>The Statistics Toolkit </i>and over 300 publications from 25 years o<span>f public opinion research/polling. He earned a M.S. in Mathematics from Syracuse University.</span></span><br><span><p>Dr. Akanksha Misra is Associate Professor in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh. She has<span>
published widely on topics including sexualized violence, sexuality
education, sensual pedagogy, and the phenomenology of gender. Current
projects are dedicated to rethinking the politics and framing of
menstruation and reimagining pedagogy through the desires and labor of
mothering bodies. She earned a Ph.D. in </span><span>Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies from the University of Washington in 2020.</span></p></span>
<span>Topic: Women's Health in the North Country<br>Time: Apr 29, 2026 03:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)<br>Join Zoom Meeting<br><a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://plattsburgh.zoom.us/j/81580689120&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1777477312350336&usg=AOvVaw2jSIrKWRki1-g5fZcX2alg" target="_blank">https://plattsburgh.zoom.us/j/81580689120</a><br><br>Meeting ID: 815 8068 9120</span>
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</div><br clear="all"></div><br><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><b><font size="2">Daniel Lake</font></b></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">(pronouns: he/him/his)<br></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Professor of Political Science</font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Director, Institute for Ethics in Public Life<br></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Hawkins 149A</font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2"><a href="https://maps.google.com/?q=101+Broad+Street+Plattsburgh,+NY+12901&entry=gmail&source=g" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">101 Broad Street</a></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2"><a href="https://maps.google.com/?q=101+Broad+Street+Plattsburgh,+NY+12901&entry=gmail&source=g" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">Plattsburgh, NY 12901</a></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><font size="2">(o) <a href="tel:(518)%5645833" value="+15185642217" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">518-564-5833</a></font></p><p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px;line-height:normal;font-family:Arial"><b><font size="2"><a href="http://plattsburgh.edu/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">plattsburgh.edu</a></font></b><br></p></div><div dir="ltr"><img src="https://web.plattsburgh.edu/files/914/images/SUNY-Plattsburgh-Email-Logo-2018.jpg"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>