Dr. Bruno Lewin awarded prestigious community service award
National Volunteer Recognition and Awards, David Lawrence Community Service Awards, 2012
The David Lawrence Community Service Awards are presented each year to recognize individuals and groups across the Kaiser Permanente regions who champion outstanding community benefit activities and initiatives demonstrating extraordinary efforts to improve the health of our communities.
2012 David Lawrence Community Service Award Winners
“Every year it is truly an honor for me to announce and celebrate the David Lawrence Community Service Award winners,” said Raymond J. Baxter, senior vice president, Community Benefit, Research and Health Policy. “Our winners - and the 140 who were nominated - all illustrate and prove that the greatest asset of KP is truly its people who bring so much talent, passion and innovation improving the health and wellness of Kaiser Permanente communities here and abroad.”
The 2012 winners were selected because they have shown a significant history of sustained contributions to the overall health of a community or population, but their commitment has been to important health and social issues, such as increasing access to health care for the underserved, eliminating disparities in health outcomes of racial and ethnic minorities, addressing the social determinants of health, and being strong stewards of our natural resources.
“The work the David Lawrence Community Service Award nominees and winners do defines total health,” Baxter said. “What they do doesn’t just mirror our community benefit priorities, but embodies an idea of total health by addressing mind, body and spirit. It addresses these forces and factors that shape people’s health, and it knows no borders.”
Bruno Lewin, MD, DTMH
Co-director, Integrative Clinics International
Director, Travel Advisory Service
Department of Family Medicine
Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Lewin has been committed to providing care to a underserved population in Jamaica for the past 12 years. One to two times a year, he has been taking teams of physicians, medical students, nurses, dentists, acupuncturists and other health professionals down to a clinic in Falmouth, Jamaica which is staffed by rotating medical teams to provide ongoing care . Due to the level of poverty, cost of local health services and limited access to health care, the local population has struggled to receive care for many chronic conditions. Additionally, Dr. Lewin organizes semiannual health fairs at two additional rural locations in Jamaica to provide health screening for hypertension and diabetes as well as treatment of acute conditions. By partnering with local organizations such as the Bob Marley Group of Companies, the Jamaican Ministry of Health, the Jamaican Cancer Society and the Colgate Van they have been able to provide mobile mammogram screening, HIV testing, public health education and dental cleanings as well as additional services to the local rural communities.