Tommy Thompson Event Re-Cap

Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin Governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services, was in Fort Dodge Saturday prior to the RPI Lincon Day Dinner in Des Moines. The event was held at the Hickory House and filled up the south two rooms of the resturant. The campaign offered free food to the attendees, which I counted around fifty people.

The first thing Thompson did upon his arrival was to walk around the room and greet everyone. One woman told him that her maiden name was Thopmson, which delighted him and referred to her has his cousin.

Thompson talked a lot about his record as governor, which is impressive. He vetoed 1,900 bills, and saved the state billions of dollars. He told the story of his welfare reform, which would became the model for several other states, as well as in Washington D.C. Thompson had invited several welfare mothers to the executive mansion, and asked what would be needed for them to go back to work, after which Thompson worked to help them with insurance, job training and transportation.

Gov. Thompson has a lot of background in health care, most notably his service has head of HHS. He hit on the need for more focus on prevention, and the need to increase health information to help people make healthy choices. He believes that increasing the use of technology can help speed up the medical process and lower medical costs. He also touched on the need for Medicare and Medicade reform, saying that these will go bankrupt in 2013, and thus in far more trouble than Social Security.

The other major topic that Thompson covered is the war in Iraq, and our image around the world. The first thing that Thompson would like to happen is for the Iraqis to vote on whether the US should leave. If they vote no, then we have the definite OK to keep doing what we're doing. If they vote no, then we leave. Thompson would also like for the 18 territories in Iraq to become the equivelant of US states, which would elect their own government, and allow Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to have their own territories. Thompson talked about how the sectarian violence has been occuring for 1400 years, and there is nothing that the US can do about it.

Thompson also talked about the hospital he helped build in Kabul, Afghanistan. When he originally visited there, he was horrified at the conditions, especially in the maternity wards. Afghanistan had one of the worst mortality rates in the world, with 25% of babies dieing not long after birth. Thompson came home, and with the help of the President, Laura Bush, and others, raised $3 Million to build a hospital in Kabul. At it's opening on Easter Sunday in 2003, Thompson said that 700 women had come to thank the US. Thompson thinks its important for the US to continue projects like this, to help the US image in the world. One idea he has is to ask US medical hospitals to supply a couple or so medical students to spend a year on one of two hospital ships and help give medical aid in places like Somalia and the Middle East.

Probably the most powerful story Tompson told was how his mother-in-law, his wife, and his daughter had all suffered from cancer. Before his daughter went in for her mastectomy, she has one of her eggs harvested so she could have a child later on. The egg was frozen for 2 and a half years, when her oldest sister agreed to carry the embryo. With only a 5% chance of success, Thompson had a new granddaughter born earlier this year. He said that looking down at his granddaughter, and remembering that she had come from a frozen egg invisible to the nake eye, reminded him why he had and is pro-life.

Overall, I would gage the event as a success. Thompson had a good turnout, and I heard several positive things from people afterwards.

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