The Congressional Black Caucus Spouses, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) unveiled a health education and outreach program designed to advance healthy living among African Americans. GlaxoSmithKline Healthy Communities is an innovative program that includes scholarships, community health education events, and free health screenings for consumers.
"Our research and work with physicians involves diseases such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and prostate disease," said Stan Hull, senior vice president, GlaxoSmithKline. "We know the impact these diseases are having on African Americans, and it is important we take action. GSK Healthy Communities is one way we are making this happen."
GSK Healthy Communities is an extension of the company's support for PBS's American Experience documentary, "Partners of the Heart," which tells the courageous story of Vivien Thomas and is scheduled to air on February 10, 2003. "Partners of the Heart" tells the story of the extraordinary relationship between the Johns Hopkins
Hospital Surgeon-In-Chief Alfred Blalock and his gifted African American lab technician, Vivien Thomas, who overcame the obstacles of a segregated society to invent a number of cardiac surgical tools that remain in use today. With little money and only a high school diploma, Thomas in 1944 helped Blalock pioneer the groundbreaking "blue baby" operation that saved thousands of lives and ushered in the modern era of cardiac surgery. During and after Blalock's death, Thomas trained and mentored hundreds of surgeons at Hopkins, many of whom are recognized leaders in their fields today.
"Vivien Thomas is an inspiration to all Americans," said Hull. "His ability to triumph over adversity is the cornerstone around which we developed the GSK Healthy Communities initiative. His life story and achievements should be understood, recognized, and celebrated by all Americans," Hull noted.
As part of GSK Healthy Communities and in recognition of Vivien Thomas, GSK, the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. have created a scholarship program. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation/GlaxoSmithKline Medical Science and Research scholarship program, which totals $500,000 over a four-year period, will be awarded to students interested in pursuing degrees in science or medicine.
Congressman Elijah Cummings, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said, "Vivien Thomas is an unknown hero in America's history. I believe this program will bring his courageous story to light and inspire our talented youth to follow in his footsteps and become leaders in the health care profession."
GSK also is working with physicians from Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New York City to serve as "ambassadors" for GSK Healthy Communities. These ambassadors will be leading the design and implementation of local health programs and other efforts in the community to promote science education. For example, they will oversee health screenings, mentor middle and high school students, and promote the scholarship program. Most important, the GSK Healthy Communities ambassadors will reach out to their colleagues to help shape the dialogue, commitment, and actions to improve the health of their own local communities. The goal is to facilitate the creation of sustainable health education programs by community leaders for their constituencies; these programs will then serve as models for other regions of the country as GSK Healthy Communities moves forward.
The scholarships are part of a broader initiative, GlaxoSmithKline Healthy Communities, which provides community health education events and free health screenings for consumers as part of the effort to help advance healthy living in African American communities.
"We are pleased to be working with leading physicians, health organizations, and community leaders," said GSK's Hull. "We hope that by combining our knowledge with their expertise, together we will connect with people and make a difference." "This program demonstrates GSK's commitment to being responsive to the needs of diverse communities. As an ambassador for the program, I look forward to working with GSK to make a difference in my community," said A. Scott McNeal, D.O., vice president and chief medical officer for Delaware Valley Community Health, Inc., and a program ambassador from Philadelphia. "Among the greatest contributions of Johns Hopkins to world medicine was the development of the 'blue baby' operation," said Levi Watkins, Jr., M.D., a cardiovascular surgeon at Hopkins who trained with Thomas and who appears in the PBS documentary. "Remarkably, that contribution resulted from the collaboration of a relatively uneducated southern black man and a highly educated white surgeon, during a time in America when racial segregation was the rule. Fortunately, talents created by God transcended restrictions created by man; both medicine and humanity advanced," Watkins said.
GlaxoSmithKline, with U.S. operations in Philadelphia and Research Triangle Park, N.C., is one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and health care companies.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation serves as a nonpartisan, policy-oriented catalyst to educate future leaders and promote collaboration among community and business leaders, minority-focused organizational leaders, and organized labor to effect positive and substantive change in the African American community.