Vision

Provident Clinical Society of Brooklyn (PCS) is the collective voice of Brooklyn's Black health care professionals and the leading force for parity and justice in medicine and the elimination of disparities in health within the borough of Brooklyn. 

Mission

To promote the collective interest of underrepresented minority health care providers who live or work in Brooklyn as well as that of the communities they serve.

Description

Provident Clinical Society of Brooklyn, Inc (affiliate of the National Medical Association ) is a 501(c) (3) professional and scientific organization.  PCS is committed to improving the quality of health among minorities and disadvantaged people through its membership, professional development, community health education, advocacy, research and partnerships with public and private agencies. Throughout its history PCS has focused primarily on health issues related to underrepresented minorities  and medically underserved populations; however, its principles, goals, initiatives and philosophy encompass all ethnic groups. 

GOALS

Professional Education

The PCS is dedicated to keeping its members abreast of the many rapidly occurring advances across the various medical specialties and the changes affecting medical practice. Provident arranges for continuing medical education for physicians and associate members. 

Scientific and Scholarly Exchange

PCS strives to advance scientific and clinical knowledge to promote new directions in medicine. Standard scientific journals as well as the PCS community news letter "THE CURE" are the main vehicles by which PCS gets such information into the public arena.

Public Health

PCS is steadfast in its commitment to the elimination of health disparities and the promotion of healthy lifestyles among underrepresented minority populations in Brooklyn. PCS conducts targeted consumer education programs on cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, HIV/AIDS, women’s health, asthma, smoking cessation, immunization, traffic safety, breastfeeding, clinical trails, as well as other issues that impact the lives of Brooklyn's underrepresented minorities.

Health Policy

As Brooklyn's unique organization devoted to the needs of underrepresented minority physicians, health professionals and their patients, PCS serves as the conscience of the medical profession in the ongoing fight to eliminate health disparities in the Borough's health care delivery system. PCS has historically been an unwavering advocate for health policies that improve the quality and availability of health care of Black and other underserved populations. PCS continues to provide leadership in shaping health policy agenda through continued involvement in a variety of critical policy matters.

Medical Education

PCS is committed to increasing the number of black and other underrepresented groups participating in the health care fields. Annually, the PCS provides thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving students based on academic merit and financial need. These scholarships are supported by the generous contributions of PCS members, corporations, private philanthropic organizations, and proceeds from scholarship benefit efforts.

Recognition

PCS honors outstanding members and other professionals who have made major contributions in health care and health care delivery and toward the work Provident and the NMA.

Historical Highlights

During the nineteenth century blacks seeking medical education were not permitted to enroll at most institutions.   The opening of the twentieth century presented new challenges to that era’s black health care specialists. They saw Brooklyn’s neighborhoods expanded by new migrations from the south and the West Indies. Serious health problems closely tied to economic and social conditions accompanied the new growth.  Black death-rates exceeded that of whites by more than eighty percent. Black physicians were confronted with a racial policy that compelled them to engage almost exclusively in home-office practice.   As late as the 1920’s there were accounts of black physicians performing major surgeries on kitchen table tops. Indeed, even at this time the first black physician had not yet gained staff privileges at any of Brooklyn’s hospitals.

Late in 1905—on the heels of a banquet honoring Dr. Daniel H. Williams, who in 1893 had been the first doctor in the world to perform open heart surgery—eleven black physicians, dentists and pharmacists formed the Provident Clinical Society to address personal and professional goals.  Besides sharing scientific papers, observations and treatment methods, Provident also developed close ties to community institutions and sought to increase public awareness about health care. For most of the early Provident physicians social and community concerns far outweighed economic gain as a motivation.

Dr. Walter Beekman, D.D.S, along with W.E.B. Dubois and others, was a co-organizer of the Brooklyn NAACP. Dr Beekman was also co-founder of the Comus Club in 1911. Dr. Vernia Morton Jones was an organizer and first president of the Women’s League.  The Lincoln Settlement founded by her in 1908, provided social services to the black community for the first time.  The Lincoln Settlement merged with the Urban League in 1927.  Dr. Peter William Ray was a founder and treasurer of the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy.  Contemporaries of the founding members continued to excel but despite their advances during the 1920’s as a group Brooklyn’s black practitioners were the victims of a pervasive policy of exclusion in hospital staffs.

Commencing In 1925, a committee of Provident, through continued pressure, succeeded in obtaining a staff position for dermatologist Dr. St. Elmo Taylor at Cumberland Hospital in 1929—the first black physician to gain staff privilege at a Brooklyn hospital.  The struggle for equality continued unabated and is emphasized by a 1947 survey of Brooklyn hospitals by Dr. Gerald Spencer that found no black physicians on the staff of Kings County Hospital at that time.

Notwithstanding the challenges Provident nurtured the development of practitioners such as Dr. Vernal Cave who went on to hold several leadership positions in medicine on the national and city levels. Partially stated, he is past president of the National Medial
Association, past Director of the Bureau of Venereal Disease Control and member of the Board of Directors of the New York City Health and Hospital Corp…to name a few.  The contribution of Provident member, Dr. Samuel Koutnz, M.D., (National expert on the artificial kidney) to medical knowledge is recognized world-wide.

Provident’ clear commitment to community wellbeing resulted in a successful community scholarship program which served young people at risk, a quarter of whom came from families on public assistance. Through enrichment, mentoring and financial support eighty-nine percent of recipients successfully graduated with the majority going on to college. 

The Provident Comprehensive Health Center is believed to have been one of the first federally funded black controlled neighborhood health centers in the country.  This project was initiated by a study conducted by Provident which uncovered a desperate need for more health facilities in Bedford Stuyvesant. This eventually became the Lyndon Baines Johnson Health Center. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s Provident sponsored numerous continuing medical education seminars as well as community based education and awareness activities, not least among them bringing to the fore the adverse effects of rising malpractice premiums on minority physician attrition presented to members of the New York State Assembly.

Provident Now

Continuing the tradition of professional development Provident continues to sponsor education seminars for health professionals.  The commitment to community education and awareness is an integral feature in the struggle against minority health disparities. Provident physicians were key contributors to the “Bedstuy Stay Alive” symposium held at restoration plaza covering a range of topics including HIV/AIDS, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Provident, working with the New York City Department of Health, developed a multi-level program to increase vaccination rates and reduce the death rate from influenza among citizens of Central Brooklyn.

Through collaboration with the Office of Minority Affairs at S.U.N.Y Downstate, Provident is intimately involved with the development of qualified candidates for health-related education and training as early as the middle school level.  The first program involving sixth through eighth graders was completed successfully during the summer of 2006 involving students at the St. Marks Day School in Brooklyn.

Provident, through partnership with NAACP, Pfizer Inc, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Social Security Department and Medgar Evers College conducted the largest and most successful Medicare Part D education and enrollment event in the entire United States (April of 2006). Through this collaborative effort over four hundred Medicare recipients were educated and assisted with enrollment into an appropriate prescription drug plan thus averting financial penalties connected with an impending deadline,

During the hurricane disasters of 2004 and 2005 Provident organized relief efforts to assist the Caribbean region most affected.  Members traveled to hurricane-ravaged areas to provide medical care and supplies to areas that suffered significant damage to the health care infrastructure.  Recognizing that Brooklyn is home to the largest concentration of Caribbeans living outside the Caribbean, Provident has developed and maintains linkages with Caribbean health care sectors to better understand the health needs of first generation immigrants…many of whom are cared for by Provident members in Brooklyn.

Through symposiums held in collaboration with the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Provident, SUNY Downstate and Major Faith Based Institutions and civic organizations, Provident has remained in the forefront of knowledge acquisition for better understanding of the underpinnings of minority health disparities.

Future Plans

Planned Projects 2007

• Establish and expand the PCS Web Site
• Increase the number of physician practices utilizing electronic medical records
• Assist members with growth of medical practice via online community directory
• Assist members with career development
• Establish four major continuing education activities annually
• Augment fundraising activities
• Develop an inter-society patient referral system
• Foster alliances with faith-based organizations to abet community education and behavioral change

o        Role of the church in HIV awareness and Prevention planned for February 2007

·                                 Strengthen existing relationship with National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS

• Partnership with Brooklyn Borough President on “Take Your Man To The Doctor Campaign”
• Strengthen existing relationship with New York City Department  Health Flu Vaccine Initiative
• Expansion of the Provident Clinical Society Scholarship and Mentoring Program
• Establish Provident Community Health Education Radio Segment for community education
• Publish Quarterly Health Information News Letter for community-wide circulation
• Expansion of middle school enrichment program in conjunction with SUNY Downstate Office of Minority Affairs
• Assist Health Care work force development institutions with internship and job placement activities
• Through Brooklyn Research Foundation for Minority Health carry out original research:
  • Source and integrity of minority adolescent HIV education (already started)
  • Obesity: Weight-loss Strategies That Work
  • Sleep Apnea: Prevalence in Black Brooklyn (National Conference scheduled for September 2007)
  • Diabetes: Determinant Of Reaching A1c Goals
  • Understanding Barriers to Prostate Cancer Screening in Brooklyn Black Male Population
• Enhance relationships with Caribbean ministries of health to better understand health needs of first generation Caribbean immigrants
• Study the feasibility of a “Health Insurance Co-op” as a vehicle for reducing the ranks of the uninsured in Brooklyn
• Lobby for professional liability insurance reform in New York State
• Work with public and private sector to create incentives for the establishment and expansion of health care services in areas of high health disparities.