Sandra Jordan, health reporter for the St. Louis American, has received elite recognition from the Association of Health Care Journalists and the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Jordan is one of 10 journalists selected for the 2008-09 class of the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship for reporters and editors from Kansas and Missouri.
The aim of the program is to provide established journalists with the tools needed to improve the depth and amount of coverage focused on critical state and local health issues. The result should be a better-educated public and more accountability for policymakers, say the program planners.
The program, which involves a cooperative effort among AHCJ, the Kansas Health Institute and the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, recently graduated its first class of fellows.
Chris King, editorial director of the American, was a member of the inaugural fellowship class and said the Midwest Health Journalism Program was the most intensive professional development experience of his career.
“Our fellowship took us to our respective state houses, our nation’s capital, a top-notch J-school (at Mizzou), two fine Midwestern cities (Columbia and Kansas City, Mo.) and two sites of world-class medical pilgrimage: the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,” King writes in an essay in the current edition of HealthBeat, the AHCJ newsletter.
Training for Jordan’s fellowship class will include a seminar on health policy and reform efforts in Kansas City, a four-day reporting boot camp in Columbia, a three-day workshop at the CDC in Atlanta, a state government day in Jefferson City, a four-day trip to Health Journalism 2009 in Seattle and a seminar on covering rural health issues.
Other fellows in her class include reporters from The Kansas City Star, The Wichita Eagle, The Springfield News-Leader and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Also, Jordan’s story on managing juvenile diabetes, “Young diabetic drummer doesn’t miss a beat” from the Nov. 15, 2007 edition of Your Health Matters in the St. Louis American, won a 2008 A. Philip Randolph Messenger Award from the NNPA, the black press trade association, recognizing “excellence in the field of journalism.”
Jordan’s story is a feature about Brendon Ogunnaike, age 9, and how he manages his chronic condition while balancing an active life as a student and drummer in his church band.
Jordan’s position as health reporter at the American is funded through a grant to the St. Louis American Foundation by the Missouri Foundation for Health. It is her first position as a print journalist. Previously she has worked in communications and as a television news producer.
“It is a pleasure going to work every day with such a committed and passionate group of professionals as work at the American,” Jordan said.
“Having an oral surgeon who is passionate about public health as a publisher like Donald M. Suggs inspires me to tell stories that will help people take control of their health and manage what is manageable about their own personal health issues.”
Jordan also credited American Health Editor Consuelo Wilkins, M.D., for her guidance and insight.
