Honoring Juneteenth
June 15, 2023
Dear Penn Medicine Colleagues,
On Monday, June 19, we celebrate freedom’s promise and reflect on its extension to all.
The roots of the Juneteenth holiday began 158 years ago when Union Army troops reached Galveston, Texas, to order the freedom of more than 250,000 enslaved Black people. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, but it wasn’t enforced in many places until after the end of the Civil War two years later.
This agonizing passage of time from edict to action reminds us that change, even when just and virtuous, is often not a singular, swift moment, but rather a result of many steps in one direction. In the same vein, our country must consider the distance it’s come as well as the distance it has yet to travel.
As an institution dedicated to advancing science and medicine, we know that communities of color are more likely to bear the burden of flaws in the nation’s health care system. We also know the Black community faces more inequities and disparities in access to treatment, supportive care and resources, and outcomes.
When considering the journey toward true health equity, Penn Medicine has a responsibility to champion programs aimed at closing gaps in health and well-being among communities of color.
Programs such as mobile screenings for breast cancer and distribution events for take-home colon cancer screening kits are breaking down barriers and shifting treatment from the hospital setting directly to neighborhoods. During a mobile mammography drive and health fair this month, Penn Medicine staff performed about 400 health screens for residents in West Philadelphia and Upper Darby.
June 19 also marks World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. This inherited blood disorder is highly prevalent among the Black community and causes crippling pain episodes, multiple organ damage, and even a shorter life expectancy. Despite being one of the first genetic diseases identified, treatments and curative options have lagged due to several factors, including inequity.
That is why Penn Medicine is launching the Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-Occlusive Episode Blueprint, which outlines strategies to provide compassionate, timely and effective pain control for all patients with sickle cell disease. Penn Medicine is illuminating the Pavilion in red beginning tomorrow as part of a nationwide call to spotlight the disease and the dire need for progress.
For centuries, our institution has helped people live healthier, longer lives. We continue to honor this mission today, uniting more than 49,000 employees in a shared purpose, moving medicine forward and offering new hope to the communities we serve.
Sincerely,
J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
Executive Vice President
University of Pennsylvania for the Heath System
Dean, Perelman School of Medicine
Kevin B. Mahoney
Chief Executive Officer
University of Pennsylvania Health System