[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     ACTIVIST PHYSICIAN NAMED ``OUTSTANDING LEADER'' BY LEADERSHIP 
                               MONTGOMERY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 24, 1999

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, it is my great pleasure to congratulate 
Dr. Horace W. (Bud) Bernton for receiving the Bell Atlantic Outstanding 
Leader Award at Leadership Montgomery's graduation ceremonies. Dr. 
Bernton graduated from Leadership Montgomery in 1994, and quickly 
thereafter began to recruit other community-mined individuals and 
organizations to join him in his life-long effort to make medicine more 
accessible to persons of limited income.
  Leadership Montgomery selected Dr. Bernton for its annual award after 
he was nominated by fellow graduate and county health officer, Dr. 
Carol Garvey. Dr. Garvey noted that Dr. Bernton's active nature took 
over when he retired from practicing medicine seven years ago, leading 
him to join Community Clinic, which offers care to low-income county 
residents. As a board member he helped launch the Primary Care 
Coalition, a consortium of local hospitals, the medical society, the 
health department, and various providers and supporters of indigent 
care. The coalition is dedicated to enhancing access to primary medical 
care for the growing numbers of low income county residents, who often 
face language and cultural differences.
  Once Dr. Bernton joined Leadership Montgomery, he tapped its 
considerable community connections, some of which helped him develop 
the Primary Care Coalition. He nurtured the coalition through its 
founding, became its first chair, solicited pro bono legal services to 
make it a non-profit corporation, and worked aggressively with several 
coalition members to attract grants to fund Project Access. The 
initiative now connects low income patents with private physicians who 
agree to provide care at minimal cost.
  Dr. Bernton's advocacy has now come full circle: Project Access has 
also absorbed PARS, the Patient Advocacy Referral Service for low 
income patients. Dr. Bernton started PARS back in 1972 to refer 
patients to physicians building their practices, as long as they agreed 
to accept uninsured, low income patients. His policy demanded that no 
one be turned away due to an inability to pay for care, and it is this 
demonstrated compassion that makes him such a deserving recipient of 
this year's `outstanding leader' award.

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