The Board of Directors of Gateway to Care (GTC), a Houston, Texas-based non-profit health care collaborative, is pleased to announce Idonia L. Trotter, JD, MPS as its new Executive Director beginning October 1, 2014. Trotter will follow in the footsteps of founder and long-time Executive Director Dr. Ron Cookston.
Trotter brings to GTC a distinguished career in health care advocacy, policy analysis, programmatic development and executive management. In May 2009, Trotter became the first to complete a concurrent Master’s of Public Service and Juris Doctorate of Law degree program when she graduated from both the UA Clinton School of Public Service and the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. She has served as Executive Director of the Arkansas Minority Health Commission since June 2009. Her last day at AMHC will be September 19. Trotter also served as district field representative to former U.S. Congressman Jay W. Dickey (4th District of Arkansas) from 1993-2001.
Under her leadership, there has been an increased awareness of sickle cell disease, diabetes, health care workforce diversity, disproportionate life expectancy among minority Arkansans and the need for increased access to health insurance for underserved and underrepresented citizens of Arkansas.
Trotter has served for the past five years as the facilitator of the Arkansas Minority Health Consortium (Consortium). The Consortium is an alliance of public health advocates, state agencies, non-profit and faith-based organizations united to increase awareness of minority health, community issues that impact health and to provide needed services to underserved/underrepresented citizens through the strength of collaboration.
Trotter is lauded for her leadership in bringing partners together to pass legislation in 2011 which provided statewide, systemic support services for sickle cell consumers in Arkansas. Act 909 of 2011, laid the foundation in creating what is now the Adult Sickle Cell Clinical Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Trotter was at the forefront of the efforts in providing a voice for Arkansas’ grassroots communities into the Affordable Care Act debate in Arkansas. In 2013, Trotter was named as one of “Seven Women Who Shaped the Health Care Debate in Arkansas” by Talk Business Arkansas Magazine – September/ October edition. She was named one of “20 Play Makers – Influential African Americans in Arkansas” by Power Play Magazine – First Quarter 2014.
She has served as an appointed member by Governor Mike Beebe to the Arkansas Legislative Taskforce on Sickle Cell Disease and the Arkansas HIV/AIDS Legislative Taskforce. In addition, she has servedon the Health Benefits Exchange Consumer Assistance Advisory Committee, Health Information Technology Consumer Advisory Committee, Arkansas Diabetes Advisory Committee, and the Arkansas Heart Association Minority Action Committee. She has also served as a Board member of the Greater Ozarks – Arkansas American Red Cross.
ABOUT GATEWAY TO CARE
Gateway to Care (GTC) is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that each resident of the Harris County / Greater Houston area has access to affordable and accessible healthcare. Operating as a “Collaborative” of over 165 member and affiliated organizations who work together to coordinate resources and streamline healthcare services in the local community, the GTC Collaborative is responsible for bringing in over $100 million in health care resources and improving the health lives of over 110,000 individuals and families since 2000. The mission of GTC is to facilitate access to adequate health care for uninsured and underinsured residents in the Gulf Coast Region of Texas by establishing a mechanism for health care agencies, health service related coalitions, and advocacy groups to coordinate common administrative and service delivery requirements to provide a seamless service delivery system and cultivate a Culture of Health.
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