Screening and Moderated Discussion

Wednesday, September 14, 2022
4:00-6:00 PM
Kaiser Permanente, Piedmont Center,
Building 14, Auditorium (Level C)
3535 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305

About the Program
Join us at Kaiser Permanente’s Piedmont Center offices in Atlanta for a screening and moderated discussion of the documentary, “POWER TO HEAL: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution.” This is a joint program presented by ACHE of Georgia and NAHSE’s Atlanta chapter.

Directed by Charles Burnett & Daniel Loewenthal, “POWER TO HEAL” tells a poignant chapter in the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate access to health care for all Americans. Central to the story is the tale of how a new national program, Medicare, was used to mount a dramatic, coordinated effort that desegregated thousands of hospitals across the country practically overnight.

Before Medicare, disparities in access to hospital care were dramatic. Less than half the nation’s hospitals served black and white patients equally, and in the South, 1/3 of hospitals would not admit African-Americans even for emergencies. Using the carrot of Medicare dollars, the federal government virtually ended the practice of racially segregating patients, doctors, medical staff, blood supplies, and linens. POWER TO HEAL illustrates how Movement leaders and grassroots volunteers pressed and worked with the federal government to achieve justice and fairness for African-Americans.