PAOH President’s Letter: 2025 – A New Beginning
“We encourage and invite you to reach out to help us to identify the issues and the battles we need to fight, the injustices we need to be aware of and overcome, and use HELEN Journal as a forum, a voice, a bully pulpit platform for what we need to do.
By Steven Perlman, DDS, MScD, DHL (hon), PAOH President
I hope HELEN Journal’s readers had a joyous holiday season. Our very best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year.
This month, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.
In every presentation I give, I always show a photo of Dr. King with one of his most famous quotes. “Of all the forms of inequality, the injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”
Those who provide health care for people with disabilities, or are members of the village it takes to support their lives, know these words resonate to our cores each and every day.
Since 1966, when Dr. King delivered those remarks (as eloquently referenced by our editor Rick Rader in this issue) have we, as a society, had any success in moving the needle for people with disabilities to improve their access and ability to receive clinically competent and comprehensive healthcare?
Has the workforce been able to meet the demands of the increasing numbers of people living with disabilities in our communities?
Have we succeeded in better educating and training our current and future healthcare professionals?
How can we break down the silos and galvanize our troops, unite our coalitions, organizations, programs, societies, clubs, and educational institutions to make a difference?
“Since 1966, when Dr. King delivered those remarks (as referenced by Rick Rader in this issue) have we, as a society, had any success in moving the needle for people with disabilities to improve their access and ability to receive clinically competent and comprehensive healthcare?”
After more than 20 years of advocacy and the fact that personal stories and data prove that people with disabilities are medically underserved (“Medically Underserved Population” or MUP) and yet, inexplicably are deemed underserving of the official designation, is unconscionable. No designation is discrimination.
This is especially puzzling, given that the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has already classified them as a “Health Disparity Population.” HRSA’s refusal to designate them as an MUP is not just inexplicable—it’s deeply unfair. The term “unconscionable” describes something so unfair and unjust it “shocks the conscience,” and in this case, it fits perfectly. #NoDesignationIsDiscrimination
Let us start 2025 with hope, energy, commitment, fortitude, and resilience necessary to make a change.
We all have our own ideas, and no readership of any journal can compete with HELEN’s in having the passion, education, knowledge, and training.
We encourage and invite you to reach out to help us to identify the issues and the battles we need to fight, the injustices we need to be aware of and overcome, and use HELEN Journal as a forum, a voice, a bully pulpit platform for what we need to do.
Let People Advocating for Optimal Health (PAOH), our Parent Organization, be the collective catalyst to bring us together.
Thank you for your unwavering support and we look forward to this new year as the “new beginning.”
Warmest regards,
Steven Perlman, DDS, MScD, DHL (hon), PAOH President