THE INSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES AT THE NASSAU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER PRESENTS 1ST ANNUAL NATIONAL BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE, APRIL 16-18, 2009
March 13, 2009
CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
(516) 572-6055
shelley@numc.edu
Tyrha M. Lindsey
(908) 572-6055
tyrha.Lindsey@laicommunications.com
THE INSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES AT THE NASSAU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER PRESENTS 1ST ANNUAL NATIONAL BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE, APRIL 16-18, 2009
Long Island, New York Institution Works to Lead Health Care Equity Dialogue.
East Meadow, NY, March 13, 2009. With healthcare reform as a primary agenda item for the Obama administration, the Institute for Healthcare Disparities at Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) in Long Island, New York, in partnership with the National Association of Public Hospitals, is holding its 1st Annual Best-Practices Conference: “Creating Sustainable Change in Our Communities,” at the Garden City Hotel {45 Seventh Street, Long Island, New York 11530}, April 16-18, 2009. The goal of the conference is to bring key stakeholders together from across the country to share, discuss, and learn about programs that are working to achieve health care equity for all Americans.
“‘Creating Sustainable Change in Our Communities’ in the context of the current economic environment and awaiting the enactment of healthcare reform legislation, becomes even more challenging in 2009,” explains Dr. Aloysius Cuyjet, NUMC Chairman of the Institute for Healthcare Disparities. “We hope our conference will influence physicians, political and community leaders, and policy makers to make better decisions regarding healthcare to the underserved.”
The 1st Annual Best-Practices Conference: “Creating Sustainable Change in Our Communities,” will feature national keynote speakers such as Harriett Washington, best-selling author of the book, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to Present, John W. Bluford, III, President and CEO, Truman Medical Centers, Henrie M. Treadwell, PhD., Director and Senior Social Scientist for Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved, and Michael Sparer, JD, MPH, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. The conference will also present workshop sessions with nationally renowned experts in the field of healthcare disparities who will be part of roundtable and panel discussions on a range of topics from reducing health disparities through effective leadership and collaboration to creating new models of healthcare for underserved populations to minimizing the culture and language barriers and innovative hospital collaborations that are working to reduce healthcare disparities.
“We welcomed this unique opportunity for our organizations to work together on the critical issue of healthcare disparities. At this first best practices conference, we plan to present strategies and current well-care models that hospitals across the country are implementing and seeing positive results in reaching underserved populations.”, explains Bernice A. Bennett, Assistant Vice President for Quality and Performance Improvement for NAPH. “Moreover, we expect that NAPH’s ‘Assuring Healthcare Equity: A Healthcare Equity Blueprint,’ upon which the conference is based, will become a valuable tool and resource for hospitals and providers to address healthcare disparities.”
The conference will honor three key leaders for their career commitments to achieving health care equity: Dr. Carolyn Britton, Dr. Gerald Thompson and Representative Carolyn McCarthy. A poster session, screenings of the documentary, “Unnatural Causes,” tours of Nassau University Medical Center’s new Diabetes Center as well as live entertainment and culture from around New York City, all set at the regal and historic Garden City Hotel, will complement the conference.
In the spirit of the healthcare equity movement, the 1st Annual Best-Practices Conference: “Creating Sustainable Change in Our Communities,” will work to create an environment that fosters rich discussion, peer-to-peer networking, community involvement and unifying connections in efforts to create a solid foundation for all attendees to advance the field in Nassau County, New York, and across the country.
“As the host of this national conference, the Nassau Health Care Corporation is pleased to be a key player in leading the health care equity dialogue by highlighting our Institute for Healthcare Disparities and our Nucare medical home for the uninsured program, by sharing best practices and learning from each other,” states Arthur A. Gianelli, NUMC President/CEO. “As Nassau’s safety net health care system, we are committed to create sustainable change and health care equity in the vulnerable communities that we serve.”
Registration is required. For more information and to register for the 1st Annual Best Practices Conference: “Creating Sustainable Change in Our Communities, visit www.numc.edu and click on “News & Events” on the homepage or call Karen Banks at (516) 572-0170 or e-mail at kbanks@numc.edu.
The Nassau Health Care Corporation is a public benefit corporation under the state of New York, comprised of Nassau University Medical Center, a 530 bed level I trauma center and teaching hospital, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility, a 589 bed skilled nursing home and five community health centers located throughout Nassau County, providing ambulatory care. Serving a large uninsured and underinsured population, Nassau University Medical Center is the only hospital in Nassau County with a burn center and a multi-place hyperbaric chamber, providing essential services such as trauma, burn care, neonatal and behavioral health care to an at-risk population, including the elderly, Medicaid families, some of the region’s newest arrivals and patients with chronic illnesses.