5:00 – 6:00 pm (Doors open at 4:30)
Pacific Conference Room – Health Sciences Library, lower level, Room T229 (on the bottom floor of the Health Sciences Library)
Watch Trailer bit.ly/2JA5ejv
This hour-long documentary reflects on the historic struggle of civil rights activists who fought to make the American healthcare system equal and accessible to everyone regardless of skin color. Using the incentive of Medicare dollars, the federal government virtually ended the decades-long practice of racially segregating patients, doctors, medical staff, blood supplies and linens in a matter of months. And although these events took place more than a half-century ago, many of the issues surrounding health equity and the role of the government in healthcare continue to be relevant today.
Here’s what audiences had to say about the film:
“Having spent most of my career studying the civil rights movement, I assumed that I was well informed about its many dimensions. But watching Power to Heal was a revelation to me. The film is a fascinating and instructive story about the long American struggle for social justice.”
Clayborne Carson, Professor of History, Founding Director, The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, Stanford University
“It is essential that students and young physicians from all backgrounds know their history and how our profession both supported and worked to dismantle segregated healthcare in our country. This is a critical film that not only speaks to a time that has passed in our American history; it foreshadows to the present. Segregated healthcare still persists and is highly invisible in this country – except to the people who experience the ills of it. And so this film challenges us all as physicians and soon-to-be physicians to recognize that our collective work to ensure justice in health must always move beyond our typical work within hospital walls.”
Aletha Maybank, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Director, Center for Health Equity
