LIVE Magazine Issue #253 February 24, 2017

A musical evening benefiting
Coachella Valley healthcare activist Rosa Lucas will be honored with
the 3rd Annual Bloom in the Desert Ministries Community Justice
Award at the 8th Annual Spring Fling Cabaret and Silent Auction
fundraiser, Friday, March 3, 2017, at the Doubletree by Hilton Palm
Springs Golf Resort in Cathedral City. Ms. Lucas has worked for
justice her whole life: making peace, serving farm workers, and filling the
medical needs of poor and homeless persons.
“I get joy, fulfillment and satisfaction working in
the homeless population, more than words can
say. The work is both political and spiritual.”
Ms. Lucas grew up in Beverly Hills. She began agitating for justice as a
teen, going door to door in Watts getting signatures for a fair housing initiative.
In college, she supported draft resistance and anti-Vietnam War
movements. After graduating, she organized L.A. contingents of anti-war
marchers in D.C and San Francisco.
As a registered nurse, Ms. Lucas worked at the UCLA neurosurgery
intensive care unit. She continued seeking justice by promoting farm
worker justice during the Cesar Chavez grape strike. She attended
Watts’ MLK Community Hospital for post-graduate medical school,
becoming a nurse practitioner. In 1975, with two children, she moved
to the Coachella Valley. She worked with the eastern Coachella Valley
federally qualified health center with Latino farm workers. She stayed
active in the east valley while in private practice. In 1996, Ms. Lucas
brought Flying Medical Volunteers to the Coachella Valley. In 2003,
she was a founding board member of a free clinic in the east valley. In
2010, the Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine (CVVIM) opened in
a rental building, as the only free clinic in the Coachella Valley, caring for
the underserved. Helped by the late County Supervisor, Roy Wilson,
funding was secured for a new building and, in 2012, VIM opened in
Indio, serving thousands of patients. In 2015, supported by CVVIM, she
launched the “street medicine team,” which goes out with backpacks of
supplies and medicine to serve the homeless, in the east valley. Rosa
says “I get joy, fulfillment and satisfaction working in the homeless population,
more than words can say. The work is both political and spiritual.”
She still works full-time at Eisenhower urgent care clinics.
The Bloom in the Desert Ministries Community Justice Award celebrates
persons engaged for many years in varied social justice, peace, and human
rights advocacy work in the Coachella Valley who have not received
significant public recognition. The award is inspired by Bloom’s mission
statement, which says in part, “We agitate for God’s peace and justice in
our communities and around the world.” The fundraiser’s theme is Bloom
Activist
ROSA
LUCAS
Please join us for the
8 TH ANNUAL SPRING FLING
CABARET & SILENT AUCTION
MARCH 3, 2017
6 pm to 9 pm
Tastes & Sounds | Tickets $75
to be Honored at the 8th Annual Spring Fling
Doubletree by Hilton Golf Resort
Tickets: bloominthedesert.org
Info: 760.327.3802
Around the World, a joyous evening of music, dancing, Featuring and cabaret a journey performances of by
tastes from around the globe. Keisha D, Fleet Easton, and Kevin Miller
will provide cabaret-style entertainment.
Keisha D Fleet Easton Kevin Miller
Paid ticket reservations for the Spring Fling Cabaret and Silent And dancing Auction to the
are available at www.bloominthedesert.org.
sounds of DJ Galaxy!