Sheila Thorne, the President of Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, will receive the 2018 Community Service Award at the New Jersey State Association of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World (IBPOEW) Civil Liberties Luncheon, honoring her advocacy, service and commitment to public responsibility. The IBPOEW Civil Service Liberties Award recognizes public service, innovation, and leadership. The theme for this year’s program is “Community Responsibility and Partnership” and will take place on Friday, June 8, 2018, at 12:30 pm at the ML Hotel, 915 Route 73 (Exit 4 off NJ Turnpike), Mt Laurel, N.J.
As President and CEO, Sheila L. Thorne has built the Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group, LLC (MHMG) into a thriving and growing full-service market research, cross-cultural educational, marketing communications company. Thorne is committed to reducing racial and ethnic health disparities and promoting health. She has spent almost three decades designing health education programs, Diversity and Inclusion, cultural competency training programs, and marketing campaigns for racially and linguistically diverse populations throughout the United States, Western Europe and Latin America.
Her deep understanding of the challenges and roots of injustice and the connections between individual health outcomes and social determinants has led to collaborative partnerships with National Medical Association, Interamerican College of Physicians & Surgeons, and Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum among many other professional health advocacy organizations and numerous community-based organizations throughout the country. Among her many affiliations, from 2011 through 2014, she served as a member of Region II Health Equity Council and co-chair of the Cultural and Linguistic Competency Committee, part of the Federal Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health National Partnership to End Health Disparities representing New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As a volunteer, Thorne gave 110 presentations about the Affordable Care Act to faith and community-based organizations in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. and worked with 125 African American and Hispanic families to enroll them in health insurance plans for the first time in their lives.
“I am humbled to receive the Civil Liberties Community Service Award and would like to thank the New Jersey State IBPOEW. I have committed my life to promoting health equity and to closing the gaps in health and healthcare disparities,” Thorne said. “It has been a privilege to work with individuals and families in communities of color to promote health and well-being of mind, body and spirit so that all can live a quality life and work to their full potential to build healthy communities.”
