Accepting the 2020 Center For Medicare Advocacy Chiplin Award
Thank you to the Center For Medicare Advocacy for honoring me with this year’s Alfred J. Chiplin, Jr. Social Justice & Advocacy Award
I am deeply humbled to receive this recognition from an organization that fights to make healthcare a human right, not a luxury reserved for the privileged.
As a community organizer with almost two decades of experience working in the public, private and non-profit sectors, I have been fighting to remove structural inequities — at the local, state and federal levels — that pose barriers to how people access jobs, transportation, housing, education and — yes — healthcare.
Because as a survivor of childhood cancer, I know what it feels like to be discounted, discredited and disenfranchised- to feel like the system is against you; and to have people talk AT you instead of WITH you.
But public service became my therapy and saved my life. It gave me an opportunity to connect with others who have similar struggles, feel a sense of community and purpose, and channel my pain into something positive.
So while having cancer at the age of 13 showed me that anything is possible, beating cancer taught me that nothing is impossible.
I’ve been blessed with a second chance at life and have used every minute of it fighting to expand opportunities for others.
I’m honored to accept this on behalf of all those who are fighting with me.
