About Us

Accomplishments

Advocacy
  • JHC’s advocacy leads to policies which improve upon inspection systems and landlord/tenant education to increase quality affordable rental housing. JHC was an active member and Chair of the Health Sub-Commitee for City of Portland’s Quality Rental Housing Workgroup which reviewed housing code and provided recommendations to the City Council. Recommendations Passed City Council November 2008.
Programs
  • JHC programs identify ways to improve home air quality conditions and reduce the effects of childhood asthma. For example, air monitors (provided by AirAdvice) were placed in families homes to gather data on particulate matter, temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds. After providing feedback to the families and reviewing the initial results, each of the families received training on green cleaning and chemical reduction suggestions for in the home. After two weeks of using the materials and information from the training, monitors were placed back in the home. Sixty percent of families showed a decrease in particulate matter. Seventy percent of families showed a decrease in chemical pollutants.
Prevention Services
  • JHC prevention services are reducing future medical, academic and economic costs associated with lead poisoning and asthma. A blood lead test costs JHC approximately $40 to administer. One family that did not receive timely testing incurred $16,000 in medical costs in chelating their lead-poisoned child.

Staff

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
  • William Lambert, PhD
    • Board Member, Chairman
    • Oregon Health & Science University
    • Researcher and Associate Professor
  • Mark Lewis
    • Board Member, Treasurer
    • Multnomah County Health Department
    • Medical Billing Manager
  • Martha Carter-Balske
    • Board Member & Founding Member
    • Federal Public Defenders Office
    • Interpreter
  • Bruce Watts
    • Board Chair, Fundraising Committee
    • Consultant
  • Dean Richardson, J.D.
    • Board Member
    • Willamette University
    • Professor
  • Don Francis
    • EcoTech LLC
    • General Manager
  • Joice Taylor
    • Chair, N/NE Business Association
    • Board Member
  • Hector R. Roche
    • Board Member
    • Consultant

History

josiahhillJosiah Hill III

Community Activist. Physician Assistant. Leader. Advocate. Mentor. Husband and Father. Josiah Hill, III was all of these and so much more.  He envisioned a Portland community where there would be no need for blood-lead level testing for its children.

In 1997 the Urban League of Portland issued a report demonstrating the magnitude and complexity of childhood lead poisoning among minority populations in our community. Later that year in December, The Oregon Health Division released data stating that approximately 4% of Oregon children tested showed elevated blood lead levels, echoing nationally-based studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

100_0077As a board member of the Oregon chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), Josiah Hill met Dr. Richard Bayer in 1997. They joined forces on the lead issue. With the primary goal of decreasing the risk of childhood lead poisoning, Josiah created an alliance between PSR and the Coalition of Black Men (COBM).

By 1998 Josiah and Dr. Bayer hit their stride when the volunteer testing program began working with SKIP (Screen Kids, Inform Parents). Children in high-risk populations were screened for early diagnosis and treatment for a range of health issues. Josiah Hill’s conviction and gentle manner broadened the coalition further to include PSR, COBM, Common Bond, Volunteers of America, Multnomah County Health Department and the Oregon Health Division. He orchestrated the opening of a volunteer-staffed free lead-testing clinic.

His effective activism, wisdom and nurturing approach benefited Portland’s communities in untold ways. His manner was disarming and collaborative, whether the issue was health care or social equality. He understood that mutual respect fostered open and effective communication.

Born in Washington, D.C. on February 20, 1939, he grew up in Seattle and graduated from the University of Iowa. He worked for a year in Albany then joined the medical team for the Minnesota Vikings. Returning to Oregon in 1973, he spent 23 years as a physician assistant with Kaiser Permanente, specializing in orthopedics, sports and dance medicine. He retired in 1995.

After Josiah passed away in October 2000, the partners and volunteers carried forth his efforts and spirit and began a non-profit named in his honor, the Josiah Hill III Clinic. Through the extraordinary commitment of the late Josiah Hill III, our organization was born out of the community it serves.

In 2001, the Oregon Senate passed a resolution proclaiming February 20th to be Josiah Hill Day. View proclamation

Honors and awards received by Josiah

  • Physicians for Social Responsibility honored Josiah Hill III with the “Broad Street Pump Award” in 1998 in recognition of his outstanding activism, steadfast commitment, and passion for a better world.
  • The Skanner News Group honored Josiah Hill III with the “Dr Martin Luther King Jr. A Drum Major for Justice” award January 2001 in recognition of his contributions and dedicated service in carrying out the work of Dr King is his community.
  • The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1985. Josiah Hill, PA was recognized as a member of Physicians for Social responsibility who contributed significantly to the global physicians campaign to prevent nuclear war for which International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War was honored the Nobel Peace Prize.

Click here to hear storyteller Rick Huddle speak about Josiah at the 2009 Leaving a Legacy Fundraiser.