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Vol. 113 No. 42 Two Sections
OCTOBER 19-25, 2022
Altercation leads to fight; fight leads to shooting; two mothers among the dead Mayor Gainey is fed up with the gun violence plaguing Pittsburgh by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey stood before the entire City of Pittsburgh on Monday, Oct. 17, and proclaimed that he could never fathom losing his mother to gun violence. But two nights earlier, two Pittsburgh mothers did lose their lives to gun violence, an apparent senseless shooting that took place on the North Side, the mothers just innocent bystanders waiting at the bus stop near the Giant Eagle and Sunoco. Betty Averytt, 59, and Jacquelyn Mehalic, 33, were the two mothers killed as the 20 gunshots were fired from across the street near a park towards the gas station, and vice versa. Pittsburgh police said the shooting was due to an altercation at the Sunoco gas station just seconds earlier. “I couldn’t imagine what that feels like,” Mayor Gainey said at the Oct.
17 news conference. “Four kids that don’t have a mom.” The mayor was speaking specifically of Mehalic, who had four children. Averytt was a mother and a grandmother. “And there’s no reason that anybody should want those type of killers on the street. We don’t. We want to get them off the street as soon as possible, because anybody who would not take any value in a life is not someone that needs to be on our streets. We know that somebody knows something.” Mayor Gainey pleaded with the community to call police with information on who was responsible for the shooting. A third person who died in the shooting was a 20-year-old man, John Hornezes. Police are unsure if he had a role in the actual shooting. A fourth person was shot in the leg and was treated at Allegheny General Hospital, a few blocks away. SEE ALTERCATION A5
INNOCENT BYSTANDERS JACQUELYN MEHALIC AND BETTY AVERYTT DIED AS A RESULT OF A SHOOTING ON THE NORTH SIDE, OCT. 15.
Dr. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew named Top Diversity Leader for second year in a row Dr. Pettigrew is SVP and Chief DEI officer for Highmark Health, AHN For the second year in a row, Pittsburgh’s Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, M.D., has been selected by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the industry’s Top Diversity Leaders, the New Pittsburgh Courier has learned. Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew is the Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network (AHN). A practicing obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew has spent her career engaging marginalized communities and building programs that promote access and outcomes equity for vulnerable patients and mitigate socio-economic barriers to care, particularly for women. She also is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Drexel University School of Medicine. Modern Healthcare’s annual “Top Diversity Leaders” recognition celebrates
a distinguished group of executives and organizations that are identified by an expert panel to be the nation’s trailblazers in the areas of health care diversity, equity, and inclusion. These industry leaders influence policy and care delivery models across the country, while also nurturing and enhancing health care’s diversity and equity standards. The 2022 individual awardees include leaders from health care institutions, education, and government. “Since the day she arrived at AHN, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew has been a remarkable advocate for diversity and health care equity, and she has had an extraordinary impact on the people and communities we serve in the Western Pennsylvania region,” said Cynthia Hundorfean, President and CEO, AHN, in a statement to the Courier, Oct. 17. “Her inclusion on this list, for a sec-
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ond straight year, speaks not only to her own professional accomplishments, and the achievements of her team, but also to AHN and Highmark Health’s organizational progress toward creating a more equitable health care environment.” “The honorees on Modern Healthcare’s 2022 lists of Top Diversity Leaders and Organizations demonstrate a willingness to devote the resources necessary to execute meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” said Mary Ellen Podmolik, Modern Healthcare’s editor, in a statement. “Their efforts to provide greater opportunities internally while advancing health equity initiatives in their communities set a great example for others to follow.” At Highmark Health, Dr. Larkins-Pettigrew and the AHN Equitable Health Institute—which she established—are advancing a comprehensive internal and external strategy designed to promote a culture of equity and inclusion across every component of the health SEE LARKINS-PETTIGREW A5
DR. MARGARET LARKINS-PETTIGREW