In celebration of Black History Month, the Rutgers School of Nursing—Camden and Dean Donna Nickitas proudly present ‘The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution' on February 14 in the Nursing and Science Building, Auditorium 101, at 12:45 p.m.
This event is FREE and open to the public!
The Power to Heal is an hour-long documentary about a dramatic chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate health care for all Americans. Central to the story is how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a momentous, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country practically overnight. The film tells how civil rights activists, the federal government, and medical professionals achieved this life-changing success, leveraging Medicare funding to bring down segregation opening the door to hospitals, doctors and medical schools for Black Americans in both the North and South.
Nurses have a long and storied history of advocacy and social action – from the founding of the profession, nurses have mobilized to remove barriers that threaten healthcare delivery; today, these barriers include efforts to reduce health insurance coverage and practices that impede access. The School of Nursing–Camden upholds the promise to serve all society by building effective cross-sector partnerships and advocating for policies that protect all populations –especially the most vulnerable– against discrimination, health inequity, and social injustice.
We proudly welcome Dr. Barbara Berney, the film's producer, and Dr. David Barton Smith, the film's historian, who will join the screening. Dr. Berney is a distinguished scholar in public health, environmental justice, and the U.S. health care system and serves as an Associate Professor at the City University of New York School of Public Health. Dr. Barton Smith is a health policy expert at Drexel University and author of The Power to Heal: Civil Rights, Medicare, and the Struggle to Transform America's Health Care System (Vanderbilt University Press, 2016).
About the Film:
https://www.blbfilmproductions.com