2008 Woodie Awards
Former U.S. surgeon general advocates health care improvements
Rose Bittner
Issue date: 2/27/06 Section: News
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Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. surgeon general and the first African American woman to hold the post, spoke to a packed audience last Friday at UMKC's School of Medicine.
With all seats filled, medical students piled into two more theaters and were seated out into the foyer to get a glimpse of Elders and hear what she had to say about the disparity in American health care.
Elders was nominated surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service by former President Bill Clinton in July 1993. She was confirmed and sworn in Sept. 8, 2003.
"I liked Bill Clinton. I thought he was a great president," said Elders. "WIC programs [a supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children] and early childhood education are being cut now [under the Bush administration]. Fifty-three million children show up to school hungry. If we won't give them a good start they get behind, stay behind and never catch up. Then we wonder why we don't have minorities in medicine."
When you get to the top doctors make sure you are healthy, said Elders. While she was surgeon general of the United States doctors took an entire day to complete her physical.
"I didn't have an orifice that wasn't looked at," said Elders.
She never dreamed of being a doctor and never thought about being surgeon general while growing up in a community of 99 people. She grew up in the 1930s, and her family didn't have television, radio or electricity. Until her first year in college she had never seen a physician.
While in college as an undergraduate, Elders heard Dr. Edith Irby Jones speak, and it inspired her. Jones was the first black student to attend racially mixed classes in the South. She was the first African American student to attend the University of Arkansas School of Medicine.
Although Jones was admitted into the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, she was not allowed to use the same dining, lodging or bathroom facilities as the other students. African Americans in Little Rock and throughout Arkansas contributed to her medical school fund with dimes and quarters.
With all seats filled, medical students piled into two more theaters and were seated out into the foyer to get a glimpse of Elders and hear what she had to say about the disparity in American health care.
Elders was nominated surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service by former President Bill Clinton in July 1993. She was confirmed and sworn in Sept. 8, 2003.
"I liked Bill Clinton. I thought he was a great president," said Elders. "WIC programs [a supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children] and early childhood education are being cut now [under the Bush administration]. Fifty-three million children show up to school hungry. If we won't give them a good start they get behind, stay behind and never catch up. Then we wonder why we don't have minorities in medicine."
When you get to the top doctors make sure you are healthy, said Elders. While she was surgeon general of the United States doctors took an entire day to complete her physical.
"I didn't have an orifice that wasn't looked at," said Elders.
She never dreamed of being a doctor and never thought about being surgeon general while growing up in a community of 99 people. She grew up in the 1930s, and her family didn't have television, radio or electricity. Until her first year in college she had never seen a physician.
While in college as an undergraduate, Elders heard Dr. Edith Irby Jones speak, and it inspired her. Jones was the first black student to attend racially mixed classes in the South. She was the first African American student to attend the University of Arkansas School of Medicine.
Although Jones was admitted into the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, she was not allowed to use the same dining, lodging or bathroom facilities as the other students. African Americans in Little Rock and throughout Arkansas contributed to her medical school fund with dimes and quarters.
