We announced yesterday that managing attorney Michele Johnson will succeed Gordon Bonnyman as executive director at the end of 2013.  Bonnyman and Johnson co-founded TJC 17 years ago to advocate for Tennessee’s vulnerable populations, particularly those struggling to find access to healthcare.

“I am excited that Michele will assume full leadership of the organization that she has already helped make an effective voice for Tennesseans in need,” said Bonnyman, who will continue  to serve clients as a TJC staff attorney.  “For the past 17 years, Michele has demonstrated time and again a relentless passion for justice and unyielding support for those in need.  Her creative leadership will ensure that TJC continues to have an outsized influence in making this state we both love more just, humane and inclusive for all Tennesseans.

Johnson, a Nashville native, is nationally known for her legal work with children who have special health care needs. As managing attorney, Johnson represents uninsured children in working families and TennCare patients who are denied care by their HMO. She is president of the board of Tennessee Voices for Children (TVC), and serves on the Board of Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Nashville Bar Association Board of Directors.  She was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for advocacy by Tennessee Voices for Children.

Bonnyman has represented disadvantaged clients for 40 years, earning a national reputation for his expertise in health policy and civil rights.  In 2003, Bonnyman was named Tennessean of the Year by The Tennessean for his work on behalf of low-income Tennessee residents. He has received awards from numerous state and national organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.

“I am honored and excited to lead TJC as we respond to the rapid changes affecting Tennessee families, and I am glad that Gordon will remain at TJC to continue advocating for our clients,” said Johnson. “Even in the face of extraordinary pressure and power, Gordon has never swayed from his pursuit of justice for the underprivileged, and TJC will continue to make sure their voices are heard.”

For state-wide press on the change, please see below:

The Tennessean

Nashville Business Journal

Nashville Post

Knox News

Read about the incredible coverage our client, Beverly Loyd, a long-time nurse, received after she could not get a life-saving liver transplant. Watch this short, incredibly inspiring video about her story here.

To follow the miraculous story, please read below.

• http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130530/NEWS07/305300037/Longtime-TN-nurse-has-insurance-not-enough-new-liver

• http://news.msn.com/us/longtime-nurse-has-no-coverage-for-liver-transplant

• http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130601/NEWS01/306010070/Retired-nurse-s-story-garners-offer-free-liver-transplant?nclick_check=1

• http://news.msn.com/us/ailing-nurse-one-step-closer-to-new-liver

Thank you to the Tennessean and MSN for telling our extraordinary client’s story. Thank you to all the folks inside the state government who fast tracked her application. Thank you to Methodist University Hospital for agreeing to provide her a transplant. And, thank you to Health Assist TN for their work and for connecting Ms. Loyd to us!

Tomorrow is a very special day in the TJC office. Jane Beasley celebrates her 70th birthday! Help us celebrate Jane by donating in her honor!

Jane Beasley embodies TJC’s mission to advocate for Tennesseans in need. Jane  is TJC’s supervising Client Advocate, and in her 15 years at TJC, she has served almost 2,000  families in need. Jane’s advocacy has literally saved lives.

Jane has spent thousands of hours helping families navigate the health care system to get their needs met. She is an expert on TennCare, with an incredible ability to recall and employ complex policies to benefit our clients. Jane’s knowledge is a resource for everyone who works at TJC (and many who do not).

The only thing more impressive than Jane’s knowledge and skill as an advocate is her compassion, which guides her every interaction with individuals who have often been worn down by a system which is confusing and unforgiving.

Jane has devoted over two decades of her professional career in direct service to families, at Legal Aid and TJC. In 1991, Jane began working at Legal Aid, where she encountered people whose lives had been rocked by unforeseen events like illness or job loss. They faced extreme difficulties accessing life’s basic necessities—even those benefits to which they were legally entitled. She was inspired by the families who showed so much grace and compassion in spite of extreme difficulties. Shortly after TJC was formed, Jane joined the team and continued her career of service.

Understanding the importance of living a life marked by love and compassion, Jane—outside of her work with TJC clients—fulfills her own need for caring relationships by committing a great deal of time to herself and her family. She loves spending time with her husband, two children, and four grandchildren.

As Jane celebrates her 70^th birthday, she remains an invaluable resource for TJC clients, TJC staff, and social service providers across the state.  We are so grateful for her unflinching devotion and extraordinary compassion.

Working at TJC is transformative for so many reasons.  The amazing clients you have the privilege to assist in accessing needed medical care.  The brilliant and hilarious lawyers and paralegals who you work side by side with to crack seemingly intractable legal problems and social ills.  The intense camaraderie and sense of purpose.  The satisfaction in knowing that every single day your work contributes to making our community a little bit more fair and just.  TJC was the best work experience of my life.

- Jennifer Tlumak, Client Advocate

I like working at TJC because I get the chance every day to make life better for Tennesseans. I enjoy connecting with and learning from mothers and fathers who want their children to have the chance to reach their greatest potential and lead a happy life but who have to fight for their child’s health care rights in order to make that happen.

- Susanne Bennett, Client Advocate/ Community Educator

Ever wonder where Mother’s Day came from or how it began?

The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic twelve years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on mothers to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their sons killing the sons of other mothers. She called for an international Mother’s Day celebrating peace and motherhood through a Mother’s Proclamation.

In 1907, Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948), a Philadelphia schoolteacher, began a movement to set up a national Mother’s Day in honor of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. She solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create a special day to honor mothers. The first Mother’s Day observance was a church service honoring Anna’s mother. Anna handed out her mother’s favorite flowers, the white carnations, on the occasion as they represent sweetness, purity, and patience. Anna’s hard work finally paid off in the year 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms, soon-to-be-moms, and moms-at-heart! Let this also remind us that one or a few courageous people, intent on changing the system and doing good, make all the difference in the world. As Margaret Mead says, “Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Thank you to Sharon Ely Pearson for the information. M0re here:  http://rowsofsharon.com/2011/05/05/a-prayer-for-mothers/.