Health Action 2009 Consumer Health
Advocates of the Year

Rev. Henry Blaze
Press Release, January 30

Reverend Henry Blaze is the Pastor of Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee’s Edgehill community. His 26 years in the ministry have been dedicated to the pursuit of what’s known as a “Genuine Community” that recognizes the humanity and equality of all people

Toward that end, Reverend Blaze has been engaged in grassroots community organizing for the last two decades. He has been one of Tennessee’s leading voices in opposition to Governor Phil Bredesen’s unprecedented dismantling of TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program, which provides health care services for the working-poor, elderly, disabled, and chronically ill. In 2005 and 2006, he co-chaired the TennCare Saves Lives Coalition, a statewide coalition that mobilized Tennesseans against Bredesen’s downsizing measures. From his position on the Tennessee Health Care Safety Net Committee—a committee established by the state legislature to assess policy solutions for the state’s uninsured population and TennCare disenrollees—Reverend Blaze continued his opposition to the cruel TennCare cuts. Reverend Blaze also served as the Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee for Equity, a grassroots organization he founded in 2001. Under his leadership, the Ad Hoc Committee became one of the few African American groups in the state to authoritatively speak out against the governor’s disenrollment plan.

Reverend Blaze has consistently worked to ensure that access to health care is a reality for all Tennesseans, regardless of income or social strata. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Justice Center, a nonprofit, public interest law and advocacy firm that gives priority to policy issues and civil cases affecting the poor and marginalized communities.

In addition to his outspoken support for health care justice, Reverend Blaze is widely recognized as a leader committed to social justice, the social gospel, and to the philosophy of non-violence. 

Reverend Blaze holds a B.A. in Sociology from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas and a Masters in Divinity from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is married to Cynthia Ann Wilson and they are the proud parents of four children and three grandchildren.

Robert Kraig

Robert received his award from the "Got Healthcare" Cow.

Robert Kraig is Program Director at Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a group that organizes people to make Wisconsin a better place to live and work. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Kraig has played a significant role in the Wisconsin public policy arena. He is especially known for developing and leading innovative strategies to make health care reform a top issue in Wisconsin. (One of these strategies—the “Got Healthcare?” campaign—involved appearing at events with a colleague in a cow costume!) He is also a policy expert, authoring seven reports on various aspects of the health care crisis, and speaking throughout the country on reform legislation.

Kraig earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.A. from the University of Georgia. He is the author of a well-regarded book, Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman (Texas A&M Press). The book topped a Wall Street Journal list of the five best books on presidential rhetoric to read in preparation for the Obama administration. Kraig has also published four articles in peer-reviewed academic journals.

Before coming to Citizen Action, Kraig was Policy Director for One Wisconsin Now. From 1999-2005 he was the Political Director for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Wisconsin State Council, where he helped lead SEIU’s emergence as a major play in Wisconsin politics, and helped develop and win the passage of several policy innovations that enabled thousands of low- wage workers to form unions. He grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, and has lived in Wisconsin since 1989.

Josephine Mercado
Press Release, January 30

In 2000, Josephine Mercado founded Hispanic Health Initiatives, Inc. (HHI), a private nonprofit health education, prevention, and referral organization focused on the health needs of medically underserved communities.

In recent years she has been developing multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and multi-county language-specific and culturally competent health care campaigns that have reached out to diverse and underserved populations throughout Florida. These programs have received local, statewide, and national acclaim, and Ms. Mercado has crisscrossed the U.S speaking about them.

In 2007 and 2008, HHI’s programs on Breast, Cervical, and Prostate Cancer and on Diabetes/Obesity educated more than 13,000 people. Each year, she also organizes two annual “Hispanic Health Lifestyles Fairs” in which HHI volunteers perform more than 750 cholesterol checks and more than 500 diabetes screenings.

As a staple of her work, Ms. Mercado attempts to create programs dedicated to chronic disease that are designed to operate informal, accessible, and entertaining settings. As a result, HHI’s “Breast Health Bingo & Breast Self-Exam Demonstrations” have served thousands of Latinas throughout Florida since 2001.

Ms. Mercado is a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, born and raised in Spanish Harlem. In 1977, she returned to school after spending 18 years as a homemaker. Six years later, she earned her J.D. from New York Law School. Ms. Mercado dedicated much of the next 17 year laws to working with underprivileged populations, handling numerous pro bono cases.

Even with all of her health care work, Josephine Mercado is most proud of the fact that she is a grandmother of 22!

Mary Caferro, Executive Director of WEEL (Working for Equality and Economic Liberation) (MT)
Maribeth Healey, Executive Director for Oregonians for Health Security (OR)
Camille Watson, Health Disparities Policy Coordinator for Health Care for All (MA)

Vincent DeMarco, Executive Director of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative (MD)
Anne Dunkelberg, Associate Director for the Center for Public Policy Priorities (TX)
Anton Gunn, Executive Director, South Carolina Fair Share (SC) 

Tony Garr, Executive Director, Tennessee Health Care Campaign (TN)
Anthony Wright, Executive Director, California Health Access (CA)
Kim Perry, Food Research Action Center (Washington D.C.) 

Aranthan S. Jones, Senior Health Policy Advisor, Office of Rep. Donna Christensen (D-VI)
Ellen Leitzer, Codirector, Senior Citizens’ Law Office, Inc. (NM)
Mary G. Troupe, Executive Director, The Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities (MS)

Families USA Lifetime Advocacy Award Recipient

Rep. Henry A. Waxman, U.S. House of Representatives - D