Why all the buzz about the film festival decorated, provocative documentary, "Escape Fire: the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare"?  How about…

·        Timeliness. Village Voice christened it, “an inconvenient truth for the healthcare debate.”
·        Solution oriented. Several patients are followed as they leave the “ill care and over medicated” models for some of the already established – though somewhat ignored – “well care” methods.
·        Resonates with doctors as well as patients.  Sitting among several hundred doctors, professors, and students at the Yale Medical School pre-screening, I was heartened by the audible, positive audience response through out the film.·

 Local. The Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut and its partners have been championing access, healing, prevention, and patient-centered care since 2006. {image_1

 The premise of an ‘escape fire’ came about on a tragic August day in 1949.  The film begins with the story of a group of about 16 firefighters ambushed by a wildfire in the Montana wilderness.  Wagner (Wag) Dodge realized the fire was moving faster than a man could run.  He dropped a match to light a fire in the dry brush that would be large enough to create a circle that the men could stand in for protection.  Most thought the idea bizarre and refused to join Wag.  While those inside the ‘escape fire’ were safe, 13 others perished. It points out the tendency for some to perish before letting go of old beliefs and recognizing a better way.

In answering the questions of the Forest Service Review Board as to why he took the actions he did, Dodge stated he had never heard of such a fire being set, it had just seemed "logical" to him. Happily for us, Escape Fire shares the logical remedies for better health outcomes occurring in our midst.

Hartford
Bow-Tie Cinema City at the Palace
Date: 11/26
Time: 7:30 p.m. 

New Haven
Theater: Bow-Tie Criterion Cinemas at the Palace
Date: 11/29
Time: 7:30 p.m. 

A panel discussion with health care experts will follow the movie, organized by CHART, the Connecticut Health Advancement and Research Trust Advancement and Research Trust.  Tickets must be reserved ahead of time by going to here  for the New Haven event and for the Hartford event here or by calling 203 639 0550.  Tickets are $10 and help support CHART.