Dr. Regina Benjamin to be named Surgeon General

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama expected to tap Dr. Regina Benjamin, a well-known family physician, in 11:40 am ET Rose Garden remarks.

Benjamin was the first black woman to head a state medical society, received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights and just last fall received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." But she made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with her determination to rebuild her rural health clinic Bayou La Batre, Ala., which serves 4,400 patients who would be hard-pressed to find care elsewhere.

...The Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic treats all sick patients including the poor and uninsured. About 4,500 patients rely on the clinic that has a sliding scale of fees for people with low or no income.

As a health care provider in the rural fishing town, she has been committed to serving patients even in times of crisis.

After Hurricane Georges struck the coast in 1998, she made house calls to patients in her pickup truck until her facility was repaired.

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, she treated patients on the stage of a local community center.

"When Katrina happened, I went out to look for patients, but the patients didn't have any homes anymore, because all of Bayou La Batre was affected one way or the other," Benjamin said.


http://blog.al.com/live/2008/09/bayou_la_batres_dr_regina_benj.html

:evilgrin:

People went bonkers when it was reported they were looking at him

chance:bounce:

Now, should we start taking bets on what kind of asinine argument(s) that the RW is going to drag out against her? I'm sure the OPPO research has already begun.

freeperville would love to go apeshit over this..do they dare?:scared::scared:

:crazy:

Again what appears to be a good choice. Now we wait for the OUTRAGERS!

I can hear the Freeps already! They need to know nothing more than her picture.....Not ONLY is she a WOMAN, but she is a BLACK WOMAN!

I'm scared to go anywhere NEAR that site for awhile yet. :scared:

As for DU, though, I think she may well pass muster here. She looks like an excellent choice!

was intensely involved with helping Katrina Victims..Perfect!

helped that little shrimping town in LA.

David Satcher. Just heard her mention that

Isn't that Forrest Gump's hometown?

and the place Forrest made his fortune!

<snip from your link>>

"She said she would combat preventable diseases. Her father died with diabetes and high blood pressure, her only brother of HIV. Her mother died of lung cancer because as a girl "she wanted to smoke just like her twin brother," an uncle now on oxygen.

"I cannot change my family's past. I can be a voice in the movement to improve our nation's health care and our nation's health," Benjamin said. "I want to be sure that no one falls through the cracks as we improve our health care system."

definitely blows the Gupta pick out of the water

Hopefully Conservative disrupters.

:puke:

Kicked and happily rec'd. :bounce:

As someone who has worked at Morehouse School of Medicine, under the direction of former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, this makes me so, TERRIBLY proud and happy.

I have had the opportunity to work alongside Dr. Benjamin, and I can't imagine a better pick.

She's smart, thoughtful, humorous, gracious and has no agenda other than improving the health of the people she treats and all those that live in this country.

My toast to Regina Benjamin!

:toast: