PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — This year, COVID-19 vaccinations and testing are a large part of the 27th Annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service at Girard College, taking place on Monday. It is the nation's oldest and largest day of service event in King's honor, and this year, one of five areas of focus is health justice.
Todd Bernstein, a longtime Day of Service organizer, says the pandemic has shown how important health justice really is.
“[King’s] focus on health is our focus on health today. We've seen the inequalities in health access. And the way to get out of the pandemic is through vaccinations,” Bernstein said. “Our interest is reaching out to underserved communities and making sure that everyone has equal access to health care.”
He used King’s words as a call to action.
“In 1966, Dr. King said, 'Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.'
The Armory on campus in years past is typically a meeting point for thousands of volunteers. This year, with some service events going virtual because of the COVID-19 surge, the entire space was transformed into a vaccination clinic.
At the Welcome Center on campus, COVID-19 testing will be available, and volunteers will distribute PPE. The testing and vaccination services are provided by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium.
The consortium's Dr. Ala Stanford, who has been at the forefront of getting Black and brown communities in the city access to vaccinations, spoke about the challenges and the work that needs to be done.
“As long as I have breath in my body, I’m fighting towards health justice, for equitable care for everyone, especially for the voiceless and for those who are underserved,” Stanford said.
She says the fight must continue, especially during the pandemic.
“We still have people dying, largely people of color, and our children are impacted. And so, until we get the unvaccinated vaccinated and protect our most vulnerable, there’s work to do.”
One of the people doing that work, giving her time, is Temple student Alexandria McMullen. She says representation is critical in public health outreach.
“I think that’s why a lot of us do these clinics, especially a lot of my colleagues who are Black women or Latino women. We want other people in our community to see our faces when they come here and feel comfortable.”
The other areas of focus for service events at the college are voting rights, gun violence, living wage jobs and early childhood literacy.
Voter registration is taking place on site, but because of the pandemic, many of the events and services that would normally be attended in person will be virtual this year, including a job fair.
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Full list of on-site service events
• Free COVID-19 testing
• Free COVID-19 and flu vaccinations for adults and children
• PPE distribution
• Childhood literacy activities, including story reading, coloring books, book giveaways
• Health care information about vaccinations, mental health and more
• Voter registration
More details about Martin Luther King Day of Service events at Girard College are available online.
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