Mike Program’s Teen Health Advocacy Push Pulls in Donors
Portland, September 27th, 2013. Changing the direction of teen health is the goal that energized more than 180 guests and volunteers at MIKE Program’s An Autumn Evening 2013. The annual event at the Multnomah Athletic Club raised $60,000 from a host of community organizations, health practitioners, advocates, and business leaders. (photo credit, Anna M. Campbell) The MIKE Program (named for a revered local physician) empowers youth to be health leaders—ambassadors for healthy kidneys—through education, mentorship and community outreach.
DaVita Healthcare Partners, Inc., continues its long-standing partnership with MIKE Program as a premier sponsor.
Emcee for the evening, Keith Lyons of KBNP AM 1410, joins MIKE Program President Cheryl Neal and Deanna Martinson.
(Center, standing) Lori Sobelson, Director of Community Outreach for Bob’s Red Mill, leads a team of supporters.
Portland business and civic leader Roy Jay listens as Wesley Ward, a 10th grader from De La Salle North Catholic High School, tells the audience about his experience with MIKE Program.
“Kidney Anatomy” is one aspect of the educational program.
According to the Mike Program, “We exist because chronic disease conditions including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are increasingly impacting our children, especially low income and minority children.”
Leading the support were new and ongoing sponsors included: DaVita Healthcare Partners, Inc., Northwest Renal Clinic, Inc., Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Geffen Mesher & Company, SIGMA Investment Management, Bob’s Red Mill, Legacy Health, OHSU, Department of Nephrology, First Republic Bank, OHSU, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Lilly, USA, Roy Jay Enterprises, KBNP AM 1410, The Skanner News, One Up Solutions, Northwest, PrintSync, Inc., Think AV, ,Anna M Campbell Photography, and Vo Minh McBurney Videography.
About MIKE Program:
MIKE Program (Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education Program) is a public benefit nonprofit that is a solution to the crisis of the chronic diseases obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure which lead to kidney failure. By guiding teens toward healthier lifestyles at a time in their lives when they are most receptive to change, MIKE Program provides a foundation of knowledge and skills to make healthier choices.
A Living Memorial
MIKE Program serves as a living memorial to Michael (Mike) N. Hartnett, MD, who embodied the best of the wisdom, kindness, and caring of the medical colleagues he left behind at Northwest Renal Clinic (NWRC) in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Hartnett was the first nephrology fellow at what is now Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU.) He received training to become a board certified nephrologist in the newly established Division of Nephrology under the direction of William Bennett, MD, FACP. Dr. Bennett, professor emeritus OHSU, is Director of Legacy Good Samaritan, Solid Organ and Cellular Transplantation, in Portland, Oregon, and founding member of the Advisory Board of MIKE Program.
Mike Hartnett took care of patients for many years in his offices at NWRC in Portland, The Dalles, and La Grande, Oregon. He volunteered at what was first the Kidney Association of Oregon (KAO) and then the National Kidney Foundation of Oregon and Washington (NKF-ORWA). With Charles Martinson, MD, a member of the Founding Board of Directors of MIKE Program, he was co-medical director of dialysis at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. He treated patients at dialysis centers and hospitals throughout the tri-county metropolitan area. Dr. Hartnett served as a nephrologist in the offices of NWRC from 1975 until his retirement in 1998. He died of lymphoma in 2000. He was 58.
History
MIKE Program is the outcome of the legacy of work of Mike Harnett, MD, his colleagues, and hundreds of volunteers. MIKE Program stands for Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education Program. Shortly after his service, members of Dr. Hartnett’s medical community expressed an interest in establishing a living memorial which would embrace and carry forward his life’s work and vision. A small group of Dr. Hartnett’s colleagues met with Cheryl Neal, MD, his widow, in 2000 to develop a program that would embody Dr. Hartnett’s interests and concerns. MIKE Program was founded on his vision of education and prevention for populations at high risk of kidney insufficiency, incorporating collaborative problem solving. Dr. Hartnett’s belief in the power of education for youth, reinforced with personal experience with diverse learning styles, provided the foundation for MIKE Program.
MIKE Program received its 501(c)3 status in August, 2003. Now in its 10th year, MIKE Program has reached the lives of more than 750 youth, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to empower them to be health leaders for themselves, their families and friends, and their communities.
