Posted on 05/08/2010 5:02:14 AM PDT by maggief
What’s “an urban health care pioneer”? Is that a medicaid doc who fraudulently bills using fake SS#’s so he can up his income? Maybe it is some sort of variation on “community organizer”? Golf & basketball seems to be the thing of these “types”.
The mission of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Health Program is to recruit, retain, and graduate underrepresented racial/ethnic minority
Recently, partnering community health centers have received nearly $1 million from the Urban Health Initiative
The Urban Health Initiative is a long-term commitment to strategically improving health and access to quality care on the South Side of Chicago
Through the Urban Health Initiative, the University of Chicago Medical Center funds a program called Repayment for Education to Alumni in Community Health, or REACH
through REACH, alumni can receive $40,000 a year for four years toward education loan repayment, a maximum benefit of $160,000
Urban Health Initiative = the hospital patient dumping and ignoring poor patients for wealthier ones.
Urban Health Initiative was crafted in part by former UCMC executive Michelle Obama.
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Michelle Obama — currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital — helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.
Obama’s top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program — called the Urban Health Initiative — to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama’s wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center’s board, backed the Axelrod firm’s hiring, hospital officials said.
Another Obama adviser and close friend, Dr. Eric Whitaker, took over the Urban Health Initiative when he was hired at U. of C. in October 2007. Whitaker previously had been director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for the state job, giving his name to Tony Rezko, who helped Gov. Blagojevich assemble his Cabinet. Rezko, a former fund-raiser for Obama and Blagojevich, was convicted in June on federal corruption charges tied to state deals.
Whitaker, who has traveled with Obama on the presidential campaign trail, chalked up the criticism to people opposed to change.
the Urban Health Initiative is improving the university’s finances. Fewer poor patients are showing up at the U. of C. emergency room for basic medical treatment and are no longer admitted to the hospital.
Axelrod’s firm also suggested the program’s name be changed. “Some participants view the word ‘urban’ as code for ‘black,’ “ according to a poll the firm commissioned.
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The Obama Administration announced $508.5 million awarded in Facility Investment Program grants to community health centers nationwide to address the pressing needs of health center facilities and expanded their capacities to serve an additional 500,000 patients. The funds were made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act). The Facility Investment Program (FIP) grants support major construction and renovation at our nation’s health centers. These funds will help health centers build new facilities, modernize current sites and create employment opportunities in underserved communities.
Eric Whitaker
Table of contents
1. 1. Why He Matters
2. 2. At a Glance
3. 3. Path to Power
1. 3.1. Illinois Public Health Department Director
2. 3.2. University of Chicago Medical Center
4. 4. The Issues
1. 4.1. Project Brotherhood
2. 4.2. Urban Health Initiative
3. 4.3. Stem Cell Research
5. 5. The Network
6. 6. Campaign Contributions
Current Position: Associate Dean and Executive Vice President, University of Chicago Medical Center (since 2007)
Why He Matters
A member of Barack Obama12’s tight-knit circle of friends from Hyde Park in Chicago, Whitaker was a fixture on the 2008 presidential campaign trail, often sitting with Obama13 on the campaign plane, serving as a sounding board for the candidate and helping to keep him grounded with frequent basketball games.
Whitaker, who has been friends with Obama14 since both were in graduate school, works at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Michelle Obama15 also worked.
Whitaker is a medical doctor and served as Illinois Department of Public Health director from 2003 to 2007 and now serves as executive vice president of the University of Chicago’s Medical Center. Obama has said he put in a good word for his friend to political fundraiser Tony Rezko, a conversation which Obama was asked about after Rezko was convicted of bribery and fraud.Sweet, Lynn, “Obama’s pal Eric Whitaker, his Tony Rezko tie,” The Chicago Sun-Times, October 28, 2008(1)Sweet, Lynn, “Obama’s pal Eric Whitaker, his Tony Rezko tie,” The Chicago Sun-Times, October 28, 2008
“People scarcely know I went to medical school,” Dr. Whitaker told the New York Times. “Now I’m some creation of Barack Obama16.”Kantor, Jodi, “Obama’s Friends Form Strategy to Stay Close,” The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2008(2)Kantor, Jodi, “Obama’s Friends Form Strategy to Stay Close,” The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2008
In the Times profile of Obama17’s First Friends, Whitaker figured prominently, along with new White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett18; campaign treasurer Martin Nesbitt19; John W. Rogers20, president of Ariel Capital Management; Rogers’ ex-wife, the new White House social secretary Desiree Rogers21; and Craig Robinson22, Michelle Obama’s23 brother. The group has vacationed together, enjoys football games at each other’s homes and plays Scrabble. The group is making plans to frequently visit their close friend in the White House, but Dr. Whitaker, for one, says he doesn’t plan to stay in Washington.
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Eric_Whitaker
From the article
"Somebody who I do remember talking directly to Tony about was Dr. Eric Whitaker," Obama told the Sun-Times in March 2008. "He and I played basketball together when he was getting his master's in public health at Harvard, while I was in law school there.He had expressed an interest in that job. I did contact Tony, or Tony contacted me, and I gave him a glowing recommendation because I thought he was outstanding."
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She [Valerie Jarrett] is closely tied into Obama’s Chicago network. Her father mentored Eric Whitaker and Anita Blanchard at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Both are good friends with the Obamas, and Blanchard is married to Martin Nesbitt, another close Obama friend, who served as the 2008 campaign treasurer.
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Valerie_Jarrett
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