www.thewestsidegazette.com
APRIL 19 - APRIL 25, 2018 • PAGE 5
A Proud Paper For A Proud People
Broward Health Imperial Point family is growing
REYES
Broward Health Imperial Point (BHIP) family is growing! This week we welcomed our new Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Officer as well as our new Associate Chief Financial Officer. They are both joining us with a wealth of knowledge and experience and we are looking forward to the continued success they will bring. On April 16, Netonua Reyes, she goes by Toni, joined BHIP in a dual role as chief operating
officer and chief nursing officer. She has 22 years of nursing experience in the acute care setting with specialties in both adult and pediatric medicine. Prior to joining Broward Health, she served as director of nursing at Jackson Health North in Miami, where she oversaw a staff of 120 in the hospital’s Emergency Department and managed daily operations to ensure patient safety and quality according to regulatory standards. Toni has
MAY IS NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH By Dawn Seay COCONUT CREEK, FL SOS Children’s Villages Florida, a foster care community in Broward County. SOS, the largest foster care provider in Broward County serving an average of 70 children on any given day, is celebrating their 25th anniversary. The children ages two to 18 years, all have a history of abuse, neglect, or abandonment. SOS has served over 600 children over the past 25 years since opening in 1993, and provides the unique
feature of keeping siblings together once they are placed in foster care. The 13 family-style homes around a cul-de-sac in Coconut Creek are each staffed by a full time live-in house parent and SOS offers an array of support services and enrichment opportunities, allowing the children to have a special childhood where they can heal and grow into productive adults. May is National Foster Care Month and SOS Children’s Villages Florida is at the forefront of this movement. It is a time to recognize how we can each play a part in enhancing the lives and focus on increasing the visibility of the needs of children and youth in foster care. There is a critical need for proactive involvement by individuals, agencies, and organizations to ensure continued support for children and families throughout the year. With over 440,000 children nationally in the foster care system at any given time, and a new child placed into care every 2 minutes, the need for support services, essential items, and foster parents is high. Foster children have an uphill battle with startling statistics to overcome and need the support of
our communities. National Foster Care Month calls attention to these children as we work towards solutions to improve their lives. * 250,000 children enter foster care each year. This number is approximately the same as the combined populations of the cities of Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale. * Only 50% of youth in foster care graduate high school * 47% of children who grew up in foster care are unemployed at age 26
* Foster children suffer PTSD at more than twice the rate of US war veterans * One in five foster children experiences homelessness within one year of aging out of care * At ages 17 & 18, one-third of young women in foster care are pregnant or parenting * More than 70% of inmates incarcerated were at one point in the foster care system. The Florida Department of Corrections notes the annual cost to house an inmate is $19,506. * Stipends don’t cover the essentials of a growing child SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES FLORIDA DEFIES THE ODDS The annual operating budget for the Village is $3.8 million, of which approximately one half comes from the State of Florida. The remainder is raised through foundation grants, major gifts, individual giving, and special events. SOS Executive Director Jillian Smath notes, “the money we raise is critical towards providing for the needs of our children. When a child or group of siblings comes to us, they have basically the clothes on their backs and maybe a few
Kelvin Watson elected as a PLA (Cont’d from FP) which provides free portable Internet service to veterans, active-duty military, and their dependents as well as events and outreach targeted specifically to veterans; the “Your ID Is Your Key” service that makes digital library cards available to all Broward County public school students; and the launch of the GoChip, a device preloaded with a season of a premiere TV show that customers can check out. He’s also overseen the launch of the Library’s new “Reach Out, Reach Up!’ program to assist formerly incarcerated individuals in reintegrating into society by offering participants services that provide job readiness training, technology skills, literacy, and educational programs. Additionally, Watson spearheaded partnerships that offer access to Broward County Library’s collection of free downloadable and streaming music to Broward County Transit bus riders and visitors to Broward County parks and forged a collaborative partnership with TMobile that provides underserved members of the community with technological access and training that increase educational and vocational opportunities. Under his leadership, the library’s collection management system has been decen-
tralized and staff at all 38 locations are now empowered to select materials that best serve their communities. Throughout his career he has remained active and involved in professional associations and, in addition to recent election to the PLA Board of Directors, is currently the immediate past President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Watson is a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences and the recipient of numerous awards; including the 2017 DEMCO/ALA Black Caucus Award for Excellence in Librarianship. He has worked tirelessly to evolve the library’s role in the community as “the inviter of the uninvited.” Watson is one of six PLA directors-at-large serving on the PLA Board of Directors, and the first director-at-large from Broward County. The PLA, which is headquartered in Chicago, is the largest association dedicated to supporting the unique and evolving needs of public library professionals. Founded in 1944, PLA serves nearly 9,000 members in public libraries large and small in communities across the United States and Canada, with a growing presence around the world. PLA strives to help its members shape the essential institution of public libraries by serving as an indispensable ally for public library leaders.
personal items. When a child arrives at SOS, this is when the healing begins. We provide tutoring, therapy, and essential life skills…we give children the life every child deserves. We rely on the support and generosity of our community.” *100% of SOS high school students have graduated for the past ten years in a row. * 95% of SOS alumni are employed and/or enrolled in college. * SOS Children receive biweekly tutoring in reading and math. * The annual cost of raising a child at SOS is * SOS Children’s Village Florida addresses the issues of homelessness and other negative post foster care experiences through support of the “Next Steps” program which is available to young adults who have aged out of foster care at 18 * Several SOS alumni have received bachelors, master’s degrees, and law degrees; or skilled trade certifications. Many have assumed leadership roles in the South Florida community where they serve as advocates for children in foster care. A notable program at SOS which addresses the critical needs of young adults exiting foster care is “Next Steps”. This is designed to provide critical support to children once they turn 18 and age out of foster care. The primary goal is to support young adults as they make the transition to independence. Through the Next Steps program, on-going support is provided in areas including counseling, financial management, education, employment, affordable housing, emergency assistance, and advocacy. The program was expanded in January 2017, through a grant from the Jim Moran Foundation to include Non-SOS Clients.
both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Nova Southeastern University. On Wednesday, April 18, Romaine Layne will be joining BHIP as associate chief financial officer, where she will manage financial operations, contracting and expense management. Prior to joining Broward Health, Romaine served as controller at North Shore Medical Center, where she was responsible for the hospital’s financial
April is National Minority Health Month
From Bernadette Morris Did you know that the month of April is officially recognized as National Minority Health Month? Numerous health providers work tirelessly each day to raise awareness about the health disparities that continue to affect racial and ethnic minorities. They also work to increase awareness about the health care law’s groundbreaking policies to reduce these disparities and achieve health equity.
ESSA transparency on K-12 educational (Cont'd from FP) reason behind the school-byschool, per pupil spending report. This kind of public transparency is a good thing and can help provide more meaningful parental and community engagement, which is also essential to accountability and achieving educational equity.” According to the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization, based in Washington, D.C., that conducts research on solving societal problems locally, nationwide and globally, to date minority students are still far more less likely than White students to have adequate school resources. In addition, the Brookings Institution reported that schools with predominantly Black and Hispanic children, on average, are nearly twice as large as White schools—reaching an estimated 3,000 students or more in most cities, with lower-quality curriculum offerings and less qualified teachers (in terms of levels of education, certification, and training in the fields they teach), all of which George H. Lambert, Jr., president and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League, believes can be rectified through adequate funding. “Through the availability of [ESSA] data, Black and [Hispanic] educators can begin to prove that Black and [Hispanic] students suffer from funding disparities and the lack of teachers in the classroom who look like them or represent their perspective,” Lambert said. “We need better, more transparent data on school funding. The availability of such data and our ability to access it forces greater urgency on what is, arguably the most important issue of our time.” Lambert said that any discussion on educational equity should acknowledge the enor-
LAYNE
operations, production of financial reports, budgeting, forecasting, and other financial oversight. Romaine has a master’s degree in accounting from Nova Southeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from Florida International University. The mission of Broward Health is to provide quality health care to the people we serve and support the needs of all physicians and employees.
mous achievement gaps that still plague Black and Hispanic students. “If these gaps aren’t closed, our community doesn’t have much of a future,” Lambert said.” Even though high school graduation rates are better now than 30 years ago, we still face a situation where more than a quarter of Black students, for example, are dropping out. Most Black students in the largest U.S. cities are attending schools with high concentrations of poverty. Over half of our young, Black men are either dropping out or finishing K-12 late, hence 1 in 3 end up trapped in some fashion in the criminal justice system.” Despite high approval from many civil rights organizations, school district administrators, like Robert Lowry, the deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents still believe that the new law might shine light on imbalanced revenue and create the perception that some students are being shortchanged, even when this may not be the case. “We question whether the state officials would even have the expertise and the capacity to evaluate spending levels between schools,” Lowry told Education Week. Though Lowry’s concerns may be valid, Lambert believes that full transparency is a plus. “This is a good way to learn about flaws in the system and how those flaws are aggravated by a lack of Black and [Hispanic] expertise and perspective in the curriculum, the classroom and the leadership office,” Lambert said. “We can also find out if school districts with a larger number of Black and [Hispanic] educators are experiencing high levels of funding disparities and uneven attention from policymakers.”
This year’s theme, Partnering for Health Equity, emphasizes the critical role of prevention in reducing health disparities. It is a call to action; a charge for all of us to unite towards a common goal of improving the health of our communities. “For five decades the Jessie Trice Community Health System (JTCHS) has been com-
mitted to ensuring that residents of our community have access to quality, yet affordable healthcare,” says Annie Neasman, President and CEO of JTCHS. “We join the many partners who recognize and celebrate National Minority Health Month each year.” Partnerships at the national, state, tribal, and local levels are vital to the work of reducing health disparities and advancing health equity. This month, the Office of Minority Health, will join with partners, health advocates, and organizations to highlight the role of partnerships in improving the health of people and communities across the country. The Jessie Trice Community Health System, Inc. is a Florida 501(c)3, not-for-profit, Federally Qualified Health Center, which has been serving MiamiDade County since 1967. A community mainstay, JTCHS owns and/or operates 54 facilities: 11 Comprehensive Primary Care centers, including a women’s substance use residential program, 40 school-based locations and two university centers. JTCHS’s multicultural, multi-lingual,and multidisciplinary staff serves a diverse population of over 47,000 patients who make more than 187,000 visits annually. WE KNOW how to satisfy our patients and have been doing so for decades. For more information on the Jessie Trice Community Health System, contact (305) 805-1700 or visit jtchc.org.
Where do we go from here? (Cont’d from FP) that acronym is BUS (Belief that won’t be Usurped by Suspicion). As I try to understand and really focus on what it is that we need as a people to bring us out of the slums of degradation, it has already been stated: the same message different words and different ways. There are several points of entrance that intrigue me. It may sound myopic or some might even look at it as living in a time warped or as one may say, “dated”. No matter what you call it or what time frame you want to use, if it has been proven to work, what would make you want try something differentother than the selfish inclination to not to, because, it wasn’t your idea. It’s often been said that if you don’t know where you’ve been, how will you ever know where you’re going. This idiom is so relevant today. The best strategies used in gaining the attention of those in power in this country was to put a chokehold on their pockets and the responsibility of cleaning their own houses. It’s something about a rich man cleaning up his own mess that he doesn’t like and what’s more compelling is in his eyes -someone of supposed inferiority controlling his income. It is obvious that there is nothing new under the sun to most of us and yet there are those who insist on trying to reinvent the wheel or by any means necessary to avoid the obvious-they are not God. This day and age, if we were to answer the question, “Where do we go from here?” it would serve us best to establish and agree on, where we are. As the record indicates and statistics show, people of color in general and Black people in par-
ticular are at or the near bottom of living here in America. Our rate of unemployment rate is two to three times that of whites and our income is less than half of the income of whites. Consequently, many of us live in deficient housing. The mortality rate of Black babies is double that of white babies. It been said that, “When white people catch a cold, Black people get pneumonia.” In the arena of education, it is correspondingly disturbing. Black students in elementary schools are one to three years in arrears of whites, and when it comes to Black college graduates, the rate is 38% while the white graduation rate is 62%. So, you see that we are at a lower point on the scale for decent living as a whole. This less-than-average point is where we are. Where do we go from here? “First, we must massively assert our dignity and worth. We must stand up amidst a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values. We must no longer be ashamed of being Black. The job of arousing manhood within a people that have been taught for so many centuries that they are nobody is not easy.”—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As we begin to move upward from the bottom rungs on the ladder of survival to living, we have to form an allegiance with others who will refuse to ride the BUS (Belief that won’t be Usurped by Suspicion) and put on the uniform of a servant, a servant who will serve all based upon their needs just the same. “Dear God in the name of Jesus. Please give me the heart, mind and Spirit to serve others as their needs call for, equally. In Jesus name. Amen” EQUALLY IS THE SAME WITH GOD.