Senator John Hickenlooper Receives Inaugural Peace and Health Award

U.S. Senator John W. Hickenlooper received the inaugural Peace and Health Award at the 50th anniversary celebration of Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC), held on the campus of Wesleyan University on May 27. The award is given to an individual who, through public or private service, has fostered the proposition that health care access is a fundamental human right and who has been a force promoting community and civic engagement to solve pressing social problems. CHC Founder and CEO Mark Masselli and CHC Senior Vice President and Clinical Director Margaret Flinter presented the award.

Hickenlooper ventured to Connecticut in 1970 to study geology at Wesleyan University. There he met Masselli and became an early supporter of the efforts that would lead to the founding of CHC. After graduating and working as a petroleum geologist, he co-founded the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver, Colorado. His understanding of working together for the common good contributed to the success of his brewpub and later to his elections as Mayor of Denver, Governor of Colorado, and most recently as U.S. Senator from Colorado.

His appreciation of CHC’s founding premise that health care is a right, not a privilege, has served him well in his elected positions. He has worked diligently to ensure quality health care is available to all.

On receiving the award, Sen. Hickenlooper noted, “Health care is a vehicle to bring people together, to bring unity and to find ways to make this world a better place. Community Health Center has helped transform our health care system to meet these goals.”

Mark Masselli commented, “John Hickenlooper is a public servant, always seeking the common ground of what is in the best interest of all of us. It is what he did in the early days of CHC and what he continues to do as an elected official.”