Health freedom is the goal of many organizations and countless individuals, and the U.S. Health Freedom Congress brings many of them together in one place to get to know each other.
Health freedom is “the inalienable right of all people to access the health care products, practitioners, and truthful information that they need for their own health and well-being.” Many wonderful groups are working for exactly that, each having a different focus and expertise.
Groups are working to protect us from mercury in dentistry, electromagnetic radiation, and other toxic exposures. Other groups are working to ensure the right of parents to have vaccine exemptions, or the right to choose alternative therapies for their children. Some organizations, like the Minnesota-based National Health Freedom Action, are working to ensure the right of holistic practitioners to practice. Other organizations, like Minnesota-based Organic Consumers Association, are working to maintain organic standards and ensure labeling of GMOs.
All of these organizations have many values in common. The National Health Freedom Coalition (NHFC), also based in Minnesota, felt there could be much potential in their working together for common goals.
That’s why on July 31 through August 2 NHFC is sponsoring its 11th annual U.S. Health Freedom Congress. Like-minded organizations will gather at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and continue their work on developing ways to collaborate more. As these influential groups build cooperative relationships, the energy of the entire health-freedom movement expands.
The summit is open to the public. People can attend for the entire three-day event, getting a chance to meet and interact with national leaders who are working towards a lasting impact on our health-care choices. Or they can choose to attend just the Health Freedom Awards Banquet and keynote speech.
The summit’s Meet and Greet on Sunday evening will include the showing of the “I Stand for Health Freedom” videos from the 2015 Congress Opener, featuring presentations from two lawyers and their experiences along with a local farmer and the issues he faces. Monday evening, after the Congress activities, Clifford Carnicom will speak on Geoengineering; afterwards, the movie Vaxxed will be shown, followed by a Q & A session with the film’s director, Andrew Wakefield. Vaxxed documents an alleged cover-up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of a purported link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
The National Health Freedom Coalition, along with her sister lobbying organization, the National Health Freedom Action, were born out of the Minnesota movement in the 1990s to ensure consumer access to holistic practitioners. The successful passage of MN Statute 146A, which gave unlicensed practitioners an exemption from the medical practice act, led people from throughout the country to contact Diane Miller, JD, an attorney and key drafter and lobbyist of that bill, for help in passing similar legislation in their states. NHFC and NHFA were launched in 2001. Today, ten states have a safe harbor or similar bill that protects access to holistic practitioners.
NHFC has a passion to increase solidarity in the broad spectrum of the health freedom movement. “We all want to protect the right of people to have what they need to be well,” Miller says, “and that sometimes means fighting for our right to choose our own healing path, our right to have accurate information, our right to decline treatments, or to avoid toxic substances.”
U.S. Health Freedom Congress summit tickets are: $25 for the Keynote speech only on Tuesday evening (no dinner); $60 for the Keynote speech and Organic Banquet; $200 for entry to all events on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (includes food for all days). For more information, visit www.healthfreedomcongress.org, email [email protected] or call 608.295.3827.
