MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT:

A renaming ceremony for the Sayre Health Center, a full-service, primary care health facility at the rear of Sayre High School, 59th and Walnut streets, in honor of the late Bernett L. Johnson, who was a physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the founding co-chair of the center’s board of directors.

A scholarship presentation in his honor to a Sayre High School graduate and a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be followed by refreshments.

WHO:

Dr. Johnson rallied community, the Philadelphia School District and Penn partners to make the health center a reality. Before his death in 2009, he was a professor of dermatology and pathology at Penn’s School of Medicine and former chief medical officer at HUP His vision gave the health center a unique mission: providing both education and high quality clinical care.

Among those speaking at the ceremony will be Albert P. Black Jr., chief operating officer for HUP; Afaf Meleis, dean of Penn’s School of Nursing; and Ira Harkavy, director of Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, which staffs the community school programs at Sayre High School.

WHEN:

10 a.m. Tuesday, March 30

WHERE:

Sayre High School gymnasium, 58th and Walnut Sts.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Sayre Health Center opened in 2007 to serve the health needs of West Philadelphia residents. Now with two full-time physicians on staff, it has grown to care for more than 300 patients a month.