Reflecting on the role of prison healthcare providers, this webinar featured experts who have provided care and managed the administration of medical services across prison systems.
Speakers discussed the unique challenges of providing quality care in carceral settings, the importance of infrastructure supports like functional data systems, training for providers new to this setting, establishing standards of care, and changes that could be made to improve outcomes.
This event took place virtually.
Speaker Bios
Jennifer Grossman, BSN, RN, LNC, Founder and Executive Director at Nurses for Social Justice
Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) from Hunter Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City. For the last ten years she has worked as a neurology-neurosurgery Staff Nurse, an outpatient Clinical Nurse Manager, and as a Legal Nurse Consultant in New York City. She has experience reviewing medical records from all over the country, giving her vast knowledge of electronic medical records (EMR), medical terminology and chart organization.
She has spent the past ten years working with public defenders nation-wide reviewing medical records, assisting with interpretation of medical records, medical research, creation of medical reports and affidavits, as well as assisting attorneys with cross prep and testimony.
Jennifer is the founder and Executive Director of Nurses for Social Justice, a nonprofit that mentors nurses who are interested in criminal justice and teaches them how to work with attorneys in the public defender system. Nurses for Social Justice connects nurses, legal nurse consultants, and other health care providers who are willing to work within the financial constraints of the public defender system. The nonprofit also offers free CLE presentations on medical record review, typical assault injuries, and sexual assault to public defenders across the country.
Nurses for Social Justice encourages nurses to get involved in social justice issues such as assisting previously incarcerated people navigate the health care system. Throughout the pandemic she has been researching SARS-CoV-2 and working with public defenders to get at-risk incarcerated people released, assist with parole cases, as well as compassionate release. She is a member of the Medical Reserve Corps of New York and is dedicated to standing up for the exploited and powerless.
Dr. Bruce Herdman, PhD, MBA, Chief of Medical Operations at Philadelphia Department of Prisons
Dr. Herdman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Pennsylvania State University (1969), served as an officer in the United States Coast Guard (1969 – 1973) and earned an MBA in Health Care Administration (1975), Masters in Management (1980) and PhD in Economics (1981) from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Herdman’s career in health care administration in Philadelphia includes service as Executive Director of the Mayor’s Commission on Health, Senior Vice President for Psychiatric Services at Pennsylvania Hospital, Vice President for Risk Arrangements and Ancillary Services at Independence Blue Cross and Senior Vice President of Provider Network Management at Keystone Mercy Health Plan. Dr. Herdman served on the boards federally qualified health centers, health care foundations and hospitals.
In 2006 Dr. Herdman joined the Philadelphia Department of Prisons (“PDP”) in the newly created position of Chief of Medical Operations. He is responsible for the delivery and quality of the medical, behavioral health and dental services provided to over 30,000 inmates annually at the Prison and in the community.
Dr. Dana Rice, DrPH, Associate Professor at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Dana Rice, DrPH, assistant professor, is a public health practitioner and researcher who examines best practices in public health leadership and community engagement with a health equity, social justice and human rights lens. Her primary focus is on the integration of public health and correctional health systems and the impact of mass criminalization and mass incarceration on public health. She was a recipient of the student-nominated Award for Excellence in Teaching and Innovation, the peer-nominated Delta Omega Faculty Award and a UNC Equity in Teaching fellow.
Prior to joining the faculty at Gillings, Dr. Rice spent 20 years working in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Her most recent work was dedicated to designing, implementing and evaluating an HIV/STD screening program in a large urban jail and training graduate public health and medical students in translating applied public health practice skills to a variety of community settings.
On-demand panel recording
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