Hundreds filled the ballroom at the St. Louis Riverfront Hyatt Regency Hotel to honor the excellent health care service given by local men and women who serve as physicians, dentists, nurses, administrators and coordinators reaching out to serve the health needs of the community.
It was the eighth annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon, hosted by the St. Louis American Foundation.
John Maupin, Jr., MD, president of Morehouse School of Medicine, presented a powerful keynote message targeted to health care providers and other African Americans. He challenged them to offer courageous leadership to change the present culture in black and other vulnerable communities to one of wellness and health.
“I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say I am very, very worried,” Maupin said of the prevalence of high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate cancer, poor or no prenatal care and the plight of the uninsured/underinsured.
“Yesterday, we had a ‘difference,’ today we have a ‘disparity’ and tomorrow we’ll call it a ‘deficit.’ We are too sick and die too early.”
He said government does not recognize the importance of public hospitals to the communities they serve and to the training of the next generation of health professionals.
“Our government keeps ignoring that reality,” Maupin said. “They keep lowering the payments. It costs money to deliver high-quality care.”
He also said healthy living and healthy choices are not the examples provided to most black children.
“Kids – they don’t have a culture of wellness and health because the adults don’t have one,” Maupin said. “It will take all of us coming together – the same mindset that took us through the Civil Rights Era.”
He gave examples of the type of leadership we need, including Dr. Yvonne Sanders Butler, principal of an elementary school in Georgia, which he described as “the only sugar-free school in the United States.” As a result, he said, “The children went home and explained what was going on in school. The children became the teachers.” He said nine months later, the school reported a 30 percent drop in nursing referrals and 28 percent drop in discipline referrals.
Maupin said, “Expectations must be taught. Then and only then will we have a healthy community.”
Awardees of excellence
Nathaniel Murdock, M.D., and Georgia Anderson, R.N., were honored as 2008 Lifetime Achievers.
Anderson trained and worked at the historically black Homer G. Phillips Hospital, one of few schools that accepted and trained African-American nurses during times of open segregation.
“We had instructors that truly cared – not only about your medical education. We had to go to church, the opera, ball games – they prepared us to be an all-around person,” Anderson said.
She retired after 42 years of nursing and continues to volunteer at community health events.
Dr. Murdock has delivered more than 5,000 babies over the years, in private practice and most recently at Myrtle Hillard Davis Health Care Center. He said many of the babies he delivered are now moms, dads and grandparents whose offspring come to him to deliver their babies as well.
“It gives you a special bond that they trust you – that you took care of their moms and they trust you to take care of them too,” Murdock said.
He said he reminds young mothers that giving birth deals with the abdomen and not their brain.
“I believe education is the ounce of prevention,” Murdock said, stating that education prevents under-achievement, may prevent poverty and helps people make clear, informed choices in lifestyles to prevent obesity and diabetes.
In addition, 10 health professionals who work in medicine, dentistry, research and allied support services earned 2008 Salute to Health Care Awardee honors.
Awardees include:
• Melvin S. Blanchard, M.D., chief of the division of medical education at Washington University School of Medicine,
• Yolanda Bledsoe, M.D., who practices internal medicine at Christian Hospital in North County,
• Melody Green-Soward, a rehab technician with the SSM Rehab Brain Injury Unit,
• Lannis Hall-Daniels, M.D., medical director of radiation oncology at Washington University School of Medicine,
• Jan Hess, vice president of St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield,
• Lloyd Logan, R.Ph., a retired pharmacist, pharmacy owner and hospital management consultant for the Daughters of Charity National Health System,
• Patricia Polk, a breast health outreach coordinator at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine,
• Cherilynn Shadding, Ph.D., director of outreach at the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University School of Medicine;
• Dierdre Washington, R.N., lead care team coordinator of surgical services at SSM St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood, and
• Kirk Washington, D.D.S., a dentist at Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Center.
The Maternal Child and Family Health Care Coalition earned Advocacy Group of the Year Award honors for its work to foster health families and to reduce the incidence of infant mortality in St. Louis.
Executive Director Kendra Copanas said every year in St. Louis more than 300 babies die before their first birthday. As she accepted the award, she called on others to join the fight to keep babies from dying.
“The best way to tackle it is together as a joint, uniform voice,” Copanas said.
The awardees’ nominations came from peers and colleagues who respect their professional expertise and admire their commitment to improving health care in St. Louis.
Donald M. Suggs, president of the St. Louis American Foundation and publisher of the American, collectively praised all of the honorees, saying, “Many of these individuals believe in the importance of giving back to the community.”