State Conference of NAACP Honors 2013 Distinguished Healthcare Professionals

ATLANTIC CITY — Oct. 12, 2013, at its annual state convention, the New Jersey State Conference of NAACP branches honored their 2013 Distinguished Healthcare Professionals. This award was presented to Healthcare Professionals who have distinguished themselves by their commitment to their professions, their communities and to social and civic consciousness. Honorees were selected from a list of close to 100 nominees.
“We were excited to honor these Healthcare Professionals, whose actions and works have shown them to be significant leaders in their professions and their communities,” said Richard Smith, President-elect of the NJ State Conference of NAACP Branches. “The NAACP, through its commitment to civil rights, social justice and equal opportunity for all Americans is committed to identifying and honoring those that are doing the right thing, as much as it is our obligation to stand against those who would infringe upon the rights of others. In this case, we are delighted to highlight these distinguished honorees and their life works!”
Dr. Eric Thomas was among this year’s honorees and has been a member of our community since 1995 and is heavily involved in community service. Dr. Thomas has participated with the Cape May County Technical School’s Dental Assistant program for the past 17 years and received the 2013 Business Partner Award for Outstanding Community Service. Dr. Thomas and his staff at Sunshine Dentistry take time every year to attend the local Health Fairs and local elementary schools to educate the children in our community about good oral health. One of Dr. Thomas’ biggest community events is a Day Of Free Dentistry, which is run thru a Non-Profit organization called Dentistry from the Heart.org. This event provides a day of free dentistry to people in our community who do not have insurance or who otherwise cannot afford the treatment they need. This is a great way to Pay-It-Forward to our community. The event will be held again this year on Feb. 7, 2014.
About The NAACP:
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. Our vision is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination. Our objectives are to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens; to achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States; to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes; to seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights; to inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination; to educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.