The National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (NAFC) has presented the Third Annual Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Award for Health Equity to Angela Settle, Family Nurse Practitioner and Chief Executive Officer of the West Virginia Health Right, Inc.
“Free and Charitable Clinics, their staff and their volunteers have been providing access to care and have been building a culture of health care equity for all individuals throughout the country for decades,” NAFC President and Chief Executive Officer Nicole Lamoureux said. “The NAFC is thrilled that Angela Settle has received this award which highlights the successes of health practitioners in changing systems that impact health outcomes among the medically underserved population.”
Angela Settle’s dedication to the underserved is evidenced by her 21 years with the West Virginia clinic. She was initially hired as a Registered Nurse and has filled roles as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Coordinator before entering her current role as CEO. Under Angela’s direction, the clinic has developed two innovative programs that help promote health care equity and improve health outcomes among West Virginia’s medically underserved – a mobile dental program and a mobile harm reduction program.
The mobile dental program has allowed access to over 3,000 people in its first year to obtain free preventative and curative dental care. The groundbreaking mobile harm reduction program that was created and implemented in the past year has connected thousands of people to substance abuse screenings, testing for infectious diseases, supplied them with education, gave them access to drug treatment and finally, the drug Nalaxone (Narcan), that has most assuredly saved lives throughout West Virginia.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — the nation’s leading philanthropy on health and health care — developed this award program to find and honor individuals who are using systems changes to advance health equity within their communities. The RWJF Awards for Health Equity is a seven-year grant program that began in 2016. It has been awarded to the NAFC and other organizations in several sectors including public health, health care, social justice, civic leadership, education, community development, and philanthropy.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
For more than 40 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working with others to build a national Culture of Health enabling everyone in America to live longer, healthier lives. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
About the National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (NAFC)
The National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) is the only nonprofit 501c(3) organization whose mission is solely focused on the issues and needs of the medically underserved throughout the nation and the more than 1,200 Free and Charitable Clinics that serve them. Founded in 2001 and headquartered near Washington, D.C., the NAFC is working to ensure that the medically underserved have access to affordable quality health care and strives to be a national voice promoting quality health care for all. The NAFC has earned the Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar and a Four Star Ranking with Charity Navigator. For more information about the NAFC, please visit www.nafcclinics.org. Follow the NAFC on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NAFClinics and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NAFCClinics.