We are pleased to announce the 2011 DGH Hal and Cherry Clements Award goes to Laura Turiano, MS, PA-C for her work promoting Health for All, NOW!
The Award Memorializes Hal and Cherry Clements
Among the Co-Founders of Doctors for Global Health in 1995 were Hal and Cherry Clements, both 82 at the time. She an Algebra teacher, he a high school principal, they were known for their "think global act local" work, which included working with Atlanta's homeless, being on the Atlanta Board of Habitat for Humanity, and being part of many other organizations dedicated to environmental health and social justice, including Atlanta WAND (Women's Action for New Directions). Hal started an aluminum can recycling collection to support DGH that continues. Both were awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Senior Citizens Active in Community Service in 1992. Hal died in 1999, the year in which Cherry received the "Unsung Heroines" Award from the Metropolitan Atlanta Coalition of 100 Black Women. Cherry died in 2006. (See her obituary.) Their visits made representatives of local and national government pay attention, due to their reputation for relentless promotion of health and social justice. Their memory is of making a positive difference in myriad ways, among them Cherry's using her prowess as a cook (she published several recipe books) to get paid for weekly catering, the earnings of which she used to provide meals for homeless shelters.
The 2011 Award Recipient: Laura Turiano
The 2011 Hal and Cherry Clements Community Service and Social Justice Promotion Award goes to Laura Turiano, MA, PA-C, of Oakland, California. Laura has been a tireless advocate for community health and social justice no matter where she lived. Trained as an anthropologist and a Physician's Assistant, Laura has used her skills to work with women in underserved populations (in Philadelphia, PA; Blackwood, NJ; Brockport, NY and Pittsburg, CA) and with persons in addiction treatment and with chronic disease (Berkeley, Ca). She accompanied the People of El Salvador as a trainer and health provider before the disarmament and immediately after the war (1992-4). She has through scholarship including publication and national as well as international teaching been an advocate of the Right to Health and a teacher of Activism toward the Right to Health, particularly through the International People's Health University program and the Global Right to Health Campaign of the global People's Health Movement (PHM) (www.phmovement.org), and also through contributions to Global Health Watch (www.ghwatch.org). She has been a major builder of the PHM-USA community, inviting new members, making the communications vibrant and being present for meetings physically or virtually (by skype, etc.) and cross-pollinating different struggles (a natural for her as a beekeeper) such that her contribution is palpable and profound. Her work has energy, inquiry, creativity and substance, in the vein of the Clement's own inspiration, for which DGH would like to recognize and thank Laura as we continue In The Struggle toward Health for All, NOW!
