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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Announces its 2007 Community Health Leaders Award Recipients
Thursday, October 4, 2007

There are Native Americans working on reservations in Minnesota and Nebraska integrating native culture and new resources to improve health. In New Haven, Connecticut, there is leadership to distribute diapers and other paper products for personal hygiene to low income families as a way of bringing attention to a flawed system that doesn’t allow for these basic needs. In Puerto Rico, serving meals in neighborhoods is a way of reaching out to bring health services to drug addicts and HIV sufferers. There are Leaders who are working to improve the fitness of elderly residents, to aid grandparents raising their grandchildren, to help individuals whose lives are altered by cancer, to help immigrants advocate for health and social services, and with residents whose health and neighborhoods are devastated by the pollution of toxic chemicals.

The leaders selected for 2007 utilize their skills to collaborate, to build coalitions and to organize. Guided by their vision, they are tenacious yet empathetic. Then they step back to support others to assure a succession of leadership.

These outstanding people join the 143 individuals recognized as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leaders since 1993. The award is given to honor unique and effective community leadership that improves health and health care, especially for the most vulnerable in society. Each leader receives $105,000 to support their work and a $20,000 personal award. Read more about each of these remarkable people.

“We are honored to recognize and to be associated with such committed, courageous, and creative people,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The Community Health Leaders combine personal action and the ability to inspire others to draw upon and mobilize untapped strengths and assets in our communities. We value their ability to help us and others to think outside the box and to engage all possible resources to meet the challenges and the opportunities for improving health and health care in the 21st century.”


Introducing the 2007 Community Health Leaders 

ALICE AYALA, Executive Director, Casa Joven del Caribe, Dorado, Puerto Rico [back to top]
When Reverend Alice Ayala decided to help people often dismissed by society - homeless drug addicts and people with HIV/AIDS in the rural areas of the northwest region of Puerto Rico, she was relentless. After spending almost 20 years as Vice Mayor of Dorado, Puerto Rico, she knew all too well the rural and poor areas of the region where accessibility to health care was limited or non-existent. Early on Ayala’s work sparked a backlash because of the social stigma attached to those she was helping. She persisted in building Casa Joven del Caribe (CJC), an organization which today plays a significant role in providing treatment, prevention, and primary health care for those most at risk for developing or living with HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. 

ALFRED DAVIS, Program Director, Resident Services, Boston Housing Authority, Boston, Massachusetts [back to top]
Alfred Davis’ commitment to bringing healthy life style programs to the vulnerable elderly goes beyond the community room and into the community. Davis has successfully built partnerships to create programs such as aerobics classes and nutrition classes, bowling and golf outings, to meet the needs of the elderly and disabled Bostonians who live in public housing. The staff speaks several languages and dialects and has a sensitivity and understanding of the diverse needs of the residents. Al inspires admiration and support from academic institutions and other organizations that regularly come for tours and presentations of this landmark program. 

MONTE FOX, Diabetes Project Manager, White Earth Tribal Health, White Earth, Minnesota  [back to top]
As a Hidatsa member of the Three Affiliated Tribes growing up on a reservation in western North Dakota Monte Fox personally witnessed the toll diabetes can take. Fox developed great respect for his Native culture and the healing power of Native American beliefs and practices. These experiences fuel his passion and mission to help the White Earth people improve their health through diet and exercise. Fox has developed culturally sensitive programs to promote healthier lifestyles, including a diabetes camp for adults and a summer survivor program for kids, as well as Diabetes Bingo and Honor the Beat, games focused on education and prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Fox successfully negotiated for a podiatry clinic that in the last four years has saved more than 20 limbs from amputation. 

ANDREW FRIEDMAN, Co-Director, Make the Road by Walking, Brooklyn, New York [back to top]
Andrew Friedman witnessed the struggles of immigrants through the eyes of his grandparents and understood early on that easing the plight of immigrants required both education and advocacy. Helping residents of Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood understand how to utilize free speech rights and the democratic process has reaped tangible success. In 2006 the NY State Department of Health adopted regulations requiring private and public hospitals to provide free interpretation and communication services and his work with coalitions of diverse groups helped to pass the Equal Access to Health and Human Services Act in NYC in 2003, assuring New Yorkers that multi-lingual applications and forms are available for Food Stamps, Medicaid and other public assistance. 

JOANNE GOLDBLUM, President, The New Haven Diaper Bank, New Haven, Connecticut  [back to top]
Joanne Goldblum saw a need among poor families that was vital to the health and well-being of their infants and toddlers – diapers. As a former social worker, she was frustrated and outraged to discover that it was not permissible to use food stamps or funds from other social programs for basic items like diapers, toilet paper or sanitary napkins. Recognizing that no one was “connecting the dots” for low-income families, she created the New Haven Diaper Bank that distributes free diapers to families through a network of social service agencies, churches and educational institutions. With her influence and reputation, she has successfully raised awareness of the issue and how it affects the quality of life in low income families. The Diaper Bank operates as an all volunteer effort and recently gained support from State Senator Toni Harp to expand the project to an additional site in Connecticut. 

SARA O’DONNELL, Executive Director, Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County, Mendocino, California [back to top]
Sara O’Donnell founded the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County (CRCMC) in 1995 to provide a support network for cancer patients living in the rural county and to help them navigate the daunting maze of cancer care. O’Donnell grew up in California’s central valley, working in the fields and exposed to crop dusters and pesticides. She watched her mother and father, a brother and two aunts, die of cancer before she was diagnosed with cancer herself. Living on a shoestring with three children and no insurance, she was determined that if she survived she would devote her life to helping others in the same situation. Today CRCMC helps cancer patients, their families and caregivers with a full range of support services, including assistance with formulating care plans, advocacy for benefits, support groups, counseling, and transportation, so the time patients spend with their doctors can be focused on their treatment decisions. 

LAURA PEREZ, Executive Director, Street Level Program, Oakland, California  [back to top]
Laura Perez leads the Street Level Health Project which conducts aggressive outreach to connect uninsured and low-wage day laborers to a variety of health and social services. The multi-lingual staff members speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mongolian, and other languages to communicate with clients in one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the nation. Perez experienced firsthand the isolation and discrimination of low-wage immigrants. After emigrating from Peru in 1994, Perez, then 18 mastered English and gained an education in spite of being actively discouraged, and often isolated by her employers. Today, under Perez’ leadership Street Level has expanded to include a twice-weekly free health clinic run by physician and nurse volunteers; weekly food distribution and hot lunches; community mental health focused around open conversations; ESL classes and an immigrant film and discussion series; as well as a dynamic women’s knitting and crochet project. 

ANNE ROLFES, Founder & Program Director, Louisiana Bucket Brigade , New Orleans, Louisiana [back to top]
Anne Rolfes works with New Orleans area residents to mitigate the impact of polluted air and contaminated soil. Members of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade have learned to collect and test soil and air samples and amass data that clearly illustrate the link between the foul substances and myriad health problems suffered by residents in the surrounding areas. Under Rolfes’ direction the LABB developed the largest collection of community gathered air samples in the U.S. and documented hundreds of violations of state and federal air quality standards. Now Rolfes and the residents advocate for pollution control, health protections and fair compensation for contaminated properties so that residents can relocate from the affected neighborhoods and communities, most of which pre-date the existence of the plants and offending facilities. Rolfes’ environmental health advocacy began in Nigeria, where, as a Peace Corps, she documented the environmental and health destruction of the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta. 

WEHNONA ST. CYR, CEO, Carl T. Curtis Health Education Center, Macy, Nebraska  [back to top]
Wehnona St. Cyr is Chief Executive Officer of the Carl T. Curtis Health Education Center (CTCHEC), a federally qualified health center, where she has earned the respect of her tribe. A member of the Omaha Nation, she returned to the reservation in rural northeastern Nebraska in 1999 following the death of her mother, determined to work for her community and change the health care paradigm from treatment of avoidable illnesses to prevention. St. Cyr has developed collaborative relationships with other tribes and organizations, the Veterans Affairs, and Creighton University in Omaha, to provide a full array of health services for the underserved community. The Health Center includes primary care clinics, telemedicine, a dialysis unit, outpatient alcohol treatment, and environmental health programs as well as dentistry, podiatry, pharmacy, optometry and mental health services. There is also a 25-bed nursing home, and 24/7 ambulance service. Her strong family experiences and passion for tribal history and traditions have guided her in providing health care that is sensitive and culturally appropriate for the community. 

PAMELA TALLEY, Owner & Clinical Nurse Specialist, Therapeutic Solutions, St. Louis, Missouri  [back to top]
Talley is the organizer of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren a program to address the unique needs of senior citizens rearing young children in inner city St. Louis. As a nurse, working in hospitals in St. Louis, Pamela Talley saw young patients suffering prematurely from a variety of illnesses. She embedded herself in the community to search for the reasons why. She witnessed the full spectrum of mental health issues, substance abuse, crime and incarceration that swallow up youth and destroy families in inner city St. Louis. She saw the negative impact of gentrification that destroys neighborhoods, and slashed budgets for public services, especially affecting older residents the most, many of whom are raising grandchildren. The program includes a support group offering parenting education, counseling, information and referrals for seniors who find themselves once again in parenting roles. Crisis intervention and case management are focused on supporting families so they can stay together. And the members develop their own program of restorative activities, including going out to lunch, to the movies, and gardening, to minimize their isolation and help them to maintain the energy required for parenting at an advanced age.