Navigating Economic Insecurity During Illness
Navigating Economic Insecurity During Illness
May 7, 2025
Spring Lake Manor, Spring Lake, NJ
1.5 Contact Hours
Description: Guidance and resources to patients and workers are needed to empower patients and workers experiencing economic insecurity due to illness. There are protections available in the Garden State for those struggling with finances such as medical debt and lost wages due to not being able to work. This workshop will provide an overview of patient rights concerning medical debt and paid leave in New Jersey. Participants will gain knowledge to effectively navigate and advocate available benefits for their patients and themselves.
Outcome: Eighty-five percent of participants will be able to name two resources that can help a patient or worker experiencing economic insecurity due to an illness.
Speakers:
LAURA WADDELL, MSJ, MPA is the Health Care Program Director for New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA), a statewide grassroots organization that has been working to improve social, economic and racial justice in NJ for over 40 years. In her role, Laura leads the organization’s health care policy and outreach work and convenes the NJ For Health Care coalition of over 70 state partner organizations dedicated to expanding access to quality, affordable health care to all New Jerseyans. In addition, she leads the NJ For Affordable Drugs campaign of almost 30 state partner organizations which is responsible for passing historic prescription drug affordability reforms in the state and co-leads a growing working group of partners focused on alleviating the harms caused by medical debt. She comes to NJCA with a Master of Science degree in Jurisprudence from Seton Hall University School of Law, a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Lehigh University and is currently finishing a Master of Public Administration degree from Rutgers University through their Executive program.
YARROW WILLMAN-COLE, MLR is currently the Workplace Justice Program Director at New Jersey Citizen Action and convenes the NJ Time to Care Coalition. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she received her master’s degree in management and labor Relations from Rutgers University. For the past 10 years she has helped to lead the NJ Time to Care Coalition (NJTC), a diverse group of organizations focused on passing paid leave policies that help all workers balance the demands of work and family and care for their and their loved ones’ health. Through this work, she helped to pass the state’s first Earned Sick Leave law and expand the state’s Paid Family Leave program and is an expert in those policies. Pivoting to implementation of those laws and focusing on outreach and education, she helped to launch the NJ Paid Leave Outreach Collaborative and the new Paid Leave Advocates (PLA) program. The PLA program trains and supports a cohort of leaders in advocating for universal paid leave and more. In addition to social change organizing, Yarrow is also passionate about gardening, biking, music, and having fun with her family and her two young daughters.
ACCREDITED PROVIDER: American Federation of Teachers/Nurses and Health Professionals is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. P#0003.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: There has been no commercial support of this program, and the presenters declare there is no conflict of interest.
SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION: The learner must attend 100 percent of the session. After the learner has completed the session, a certificate of attendance, program evaluation/survey must be completed and returned to the provider.
CONTACT HOURS: 1.5 Contact Hours may be awarded for successful completion of this program.
