Buffalo community health advocate to address health inequity at campus talk

Myron Glick, M.D., whose Jericho Road Community Health Care Center has served low-income populations and refugees in Buffalo for more than 20 years, will share his unique insight in a talk, “Confronting Health Inequity: One Doctor’s Experience in Buffalo and Around the World,” on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Dr. Glick’s perspectives on access to health care, which reflect the university’s 2018-2019 Convocation theme “Search for Justice,” will be shared in an address in Rosch Recital Hall at 6 p.m. Justice is one of the core values of the health care center that provides primary care and comprehensive services to nearly 1,000 patients a week.

Co-founded as Jericho Road Family Practice in 1997 by Glick and his wife, Joyce, the health center has expanded its services and now operates three clinics in Buffalo – its newest is a 110,000 square-foot facility on the city’s east side. Clinics have also opened overseas, in Sierra Leone and the Congo. Glick stepped down as the organization’s chief medical director in April and became CEO.

The mission of the practice grew to include large numbers of refugees, many who had never seen a doctor or received proper medical care before coming to the United States. Wellness and self-sufficiency are pursued by addressing health, education, economic and spiritual barriers in order to demonstrate Jesus’ unconditional love for the whole person.

Glick felt the call to become a physician while growing up as a child of a missionary in Belize. He planned to become a medical missionary after earning his medical degree, but found great need for medical care among under-served residents in Buffalo.

Biology professor Ted Lee sought out Glick to speak at Fredonia. “Dr. Glick’s clinic addresses a critical area of need and it will be very beneficial for our students to learn of his work and its impact. Hopefully some will follow in his path when they are physicians,” added Lee, who chairs the Health Professions Advising Committee at Fredonia.

A key point conveyed to Fredonia students during a tour of the University at Buffalo medical school, Lee noted, was that medical professionals do not need to have to go abroad to provide health care to people in need.

A board certified family physician, Glick is affiliated with Erie County Medical Center. He received his medical degree from the University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and completed a residency at Lancaster General Hospital. Glick earned his undergraduate degree at Houghton College.

Glick is also chair of Christian Community Health Fellowship, whose mission is to encourage, engage and equip Christians to live out the gospel through health care among the poor and those in marginalized communities.

The talk, which will conclude with a question-and-answer session, is free and open to the public.