The Obama Plan,Racism&Healthcare:Med Students & Advocates Gather in Philly for Equality

Nov. 4, 2009 - PRLog -- URU, The Right To Be, Inc.

Presents

THE DEADLIEST DISEASE IN AMERICA
A documentary film and workshop series by Crystal Emery
 
Thursday, November 12, 2009

Philadelphia, PA (November 4, 2009) – Producer/ Director Crystal Emery’s film, The Deadliest Disease In America will be screened on Thursday, November 12, 2009, at 5:00pm at the Temple University School of Medicine, 3500 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia.

The Deadliest Disease in America is produced by URU, The Right to Be, Inc., a nonprofit, community-based organization that focuses its work on the critical need to reduce racial disparities and achieve greater health equity in the United States.  Hosting this event will be Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Mu and Omega Omega Chapters, Black Women’s Health Alliance, Nicetown Community Development Corporation, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia’s, PhillyHealthInfo.org, and the Temple School of Medicine, Center for Minority Health & Health Disparities.

The 55-minute film will be followed by three participatory workshops: “What Racism Looks Like in Health Care Delivery and Why You Should Report It,” “Doctor/Patient Communication and “Demystifying President Obama’s Health Care Reform.” In addition, returning Temple School of Medicine alumni Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, who was recently appointed as an Assistant Commissioner in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, will be facilitating the event.

The Deadliest Disease In America is a powerful vehicle for educating and galvanizing stakeholders across the nation. “[This] film synthesizes centuries worth of discrimination that you can’t argue with,” contends Yance Ford, Series Producer for PBS’s POV/American Documentary.

The documentary follows four individuals, including the filmmaker, whose personal stories add to the national debate on our country’s healthcare crisis. Emery shares her own experience as an African-American encountering racism while navigating the healthcare system. Emery, whose arms and legs are paralyzed as a result of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a form of Muscular Dystrophy, hopes that sharing these stories will stimulate conversations that move individuals to action.


The film also focuses on three organizations, from New England to Texas, whose innovative strategies help mitigate the crisis. “The ultimate goal of this film is to illuminate disparate treatment based on racial, economic and ethnic differences in order to help achieve a healthcare system that serves all Americans equally,” explains Crystal Emery. Filmmaker Bill Duke asserts, “...a daring and insightful film . . . challenges all of us to demand equal treatment of everyone in the American healthcare system.”


According to Yale University’s Dr. Forrester Lee, “(Emery’s) film forces medical practitioners to consider how racism has infected the body of medical practice.  We are invited to heal ourselves through contemplation, dialogue and action.  This film is a brave and matchless work that will find a receptive audience everywhere.”  

Gerald H. Sterling, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at Temple University School of Medicine, expresses that the “school looks forward enthusiastically to this program to stimulate discussion among medical students, faculty and community leaders, and is hopeful that such discussion will help identify ways we can work together to make a positive impact in resolving these issues”.

The evening will end with a Q&A session and dinner.  For more information about The Deadliest Disease In America and to view a trailer of the film, please visit URU’s website at www.urutherighttobe.org.

To RSVP for the event, please send an email to healthincluded@aol.com or call 215-707-4484.

This project is funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

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The Deadliest Disease in America is produced by URU The Right to Be, Inc., a nonprofit, community-based organization that focuses its work on the critical need to reduce disparities and achieve greater health equity in the United States. The film has been endorsed by the Office of Minority Health and has received the Congressional Black Caucus Health BrainTrust Leadership in Journalism award. Hosts of this event includes Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Mu and Omega Omega Chapters, Black Women’s Health Alliance, Nicetown Community Development Corporation, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia’s, PhillyHealthInfo.org, and the Temple School of Medicine, Center for Minority Health & Health Disparities.