House Resolution 146

A RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE MERITORIOUS CAREER OF DR. LOVETTA A. BROWN AND ACKNOWLEDGING HER MANY YEARS OF DEDICATED AND LAUDABLE PUBLIC SERVICE TO THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI THROUGH HER EMPLOYMENT WITH THE MISSISSIPPI STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

WHEREAS, Dr. Lovetta A. Brown, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a true scholar, saint and servant, has been a great asset to the State of Mississippi for nearly three decades; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Brown, who received her doctor of medicine degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in May 1981, her masters in public health from the Johns Hopkins University in 1984, and completed her residency in internal medicine at Meharry Medical College in 1985, was certified by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure in October 1985, and thus her tenure as a Mississippi physician began; and

WHEREAS, ardently committed to the tenets of public health care and its affordability and accessibility for patients of all walks of life, Dr. Brown has devoted 28 years of her time and talent to the care of a healthy society, a career marked by a commitment to the medically underserved population of our state; and

WHEREAS, selfless in her resolve to provide knowledgeable and competent services to all Mississippians, her work has touched, in some aspect, every community of our great state, evidenced by her 18-year tenure in North Mississippi where she provided primary care medical services, the last nine years of which she served as the District Health Officer of Northwest Public Health District 1, covering nine counties; and

WHEREAS, a forerunner for both minority and women physicians, Dr. Brown was the first African American to serve in the capacity of District Health Officer of Northwest Public Health District 1, and she remains the only African American to rise to that position in the Mississippi State Department of Health, signifying the sheer necessity for her precocious skill, acute knowledge and tenacious work ethic as an indispensable component of Mississippi's formidable network of health care professionals; and

WHEREAS, steadfast in her passion to ensure the public is well informed of health benefits and risks, Dr. Brown established the Mississippi Health Awareness Project (MHAP) to help everyday Mississippians understand and manage their chronic health needs, in addition to facilitating the development of the first Boys and Girls Club in Northwest Mississippi and spawning the creation of the old Safe at Home Project, a maternity case management program funded by Healthy Start Initiative; and

WHEREAS, in September 2003, Dr. Brown was named Medical Director of the Office of Health Disparity Elimination established in the Mississippi State Department of Health, and was tasked with the responsibility of achieving two overarching goals: to address any disparities in health care provision within the department, including a review of all agency grant implementation; and to assist the department in serving as a role model of equitability to other health providers in the state who serve its affected populations; and

WHEREAS, under Dr. Brown's exceptional leadership, the Office of Health Disparity received two grants in September 2005, the first of which was funded by the Office of Public Health Services, as a five-year initiative entitled "The Magnolia Model: Mississippi State Partnership Grant Program to Improve Minority Health," and the second of which was a one-year Katrina relief grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health to coordinate Mississippi efforts to address identified health disparities to Hurricane Katrina evacuees, assess the cultural competency needs of Katrina evacuees with limited English proficiency, support and evaluate the then current service provision to affected individuals, and to develop mechanisms that increased the dissemination of information, prevention and service delivery to Katrina evacuees; and

WHEREAS, over the course of the five-year granting cycle under Dr. Brown's capable guidance, the Office of Health Disparity Elimination successfully has: completed and published an Impact Study documenting the effects of Hurricane Katrina on physician practices and health care provision in Gulf Coast Mississippi; hosted a Katrina Relief Symposium, coordinating efforts to identify health disparities, building partnerships, networks and infrastructure to provide culturally competent services to Katrina evacuees; created a Multi-Cultural Consortium of health providers, policy makers and health advocates to establish and promote a Health Equity Plan for disparity elimination in Mississippi; contracted with the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine to conduct agency-wide Cultural Competency Training for all department employees and staff; partnered with WIC to hire a Coordinator of Latino Outreach Services to complete an initial health needs assessment of the Latino populations in Mississippi, identify and leverage resources, building networks and creating partnerships to address health needs, and establish a certification process of translation and interpretation to ensure culturally and linguistically appropriate services to non-English speaking clients; organized and facilitated a Mississippi Legislative Select Committee Hearing on Health Disparities in November 2008; and presented seven abstracts at the American Public Health Association based on research from our Communities in Action project; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to acknowledge the great works of such a remarkable public servant as Dr. Brown, whose matchless service has garnered much pride and esteem to the State of Mississippi and its many citizens:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby commend the meritorious career of Dr. Lovetta A. Brown, acknowledge her many years of dedicated and laudable public service to the State of Mississippi through her employment with the Mississippi State Department of Health, and express deepest appreciation for her zealous commitment to the citizenry of Mississippi.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Dr. Brown, the Mississippi State Department of Health and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.