Fran Bakstran, Edna Smith Given Deborah Blumer Community Health Leadership Award

The announced Fran Bakstran and Edna Smith are the recipients of the 2012 Deborah Blumer Community Health Leadership Award.

Fran Bakstran and Edna Smith both exemplify former State Rep. Blumer’s passion for health care, her tireless advocacy for the underprivileged and deep concern for the community where she lived and worked.

“Our awards committee had a difficult time choosing among the many outstanding individuals nominated for this award by members of the community,” said Martin Cohen, president of the Foundation in a press release. “In the end, our two honorees were chosen for their efforts to bring health care to so many needy individuals and families in the MetroWest area.”

Smith is the Chair of the Community Health Network Area 7, which works to increase collaboration between agencies to improve the health of disadvantaged residents in a 22-town area. She is a devoted member of the where she worked to expand the church’s health ministry. She has been a relentless advocate for reducing health disparities among minorities and improving equal access to
care. Smith is a former Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and current chair of the MetroWest Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Workgroup. She is a registered nurse, who lives in Ashland.

Bakstran is the Health Access Coordinator at , where she’s been for 10 years. She has worked as a legal advocate for thousands
of MetroWest residents and has assisted more than 5,000 individuals and families obtain and maintain insurance coverage through MassHealth and Commonwealth Care Health Insurance. She is a resident of Northborough.

Each year since 2001 the Foundation has recognized an individual or organization that has demonstrated leadership in improving health and/or health care in the region by either mobilizing individuals, resources and organizations to confront an important community health issue, developing new services and supports to improve the health of vulnerable populations or raising the level of awareness of an important health issue in the MetroWest area.

Past recipients include: Diane Gould, executive vice president of ; the late Dr. Stanley Sabin medical director of the MetroWest Free
Medical Clinic in Framingham and the Natick Visiting Nurse Association in Natick and the late Nancy King of .

Blumer, who died in 2006 after five years in the state Legislature, was instrumental in forming the foundation in its early years and served as the founding Chair of the Board of Trustees. Each year we honor a community member who emulates Blumer's passion for ensuring that all residents have equal access to medical care.

The MetroWest Health Foundation is a catalyst for a healthy MetroWest, providing more than $4 million in annual financial support for preventative and responsive health programs. Through its work on issues such as youth substance abuse, racial and ethnic disparities in health and childhood obesity, the Foundation seeks to develop and support programs that have a positive impact on the health of the 25 communities in the MetroWest area
of Massachusetts.