The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) honored Tonya Lewis Lee, "A Healthy Baby Begins with You" campaign spokesperson, with its 2009 CBC Health Braintrust Award Friday, Sept. 25, during its Fall conference in Washington, D.C., for her documentary "Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation's Babies."

Del. Donna M. Christensen (D-V.I.) presented the award to Lewis Lee, describing the documentary as "moving, heart-wrenching and eye-opening."

"This documentary sheds light on one of the most disturbing, one of the most unacceptable, and one of the most unaddressed - that needs to be addressed - health disparities in this nation and that is infant mortality and its disproportionate prevalence in the African-American community, as well as its devastating impact of course on the families affected by it," Christensen said.

In the United States, the infant mortality rate among African-American babies is 13.6 per 1,000 live births, or twice as high as the national average of 6.9 per 1,000 live births.

Lewis Lee's documentary chronicles her work as spokesperson for the Office of Minority Health Campaign, tackling the challenge of raising awareness of infant mortality, or the death of a child before one year of age, and the time she spent in Memphis with the Campaign's college-age Preconception Peer Educators.

"At the bottom line, infant mortality is an indicator of the health of our nation - and we are sick," Lewis Lee said, during her acceptance speech.

Lewis Lee was one of several award recipients at the 2009 Fall CBC Health Braintrust conference titled "Addressing the Forgotten Voices of Health Reform."

Throughout the day, speakers provided an overview of the health care reform bills currently being debated in Congress, the unique health care issues that foster children, the homeless and prison inmates face, and other health care issues related to overhauling the current health care system in the United States.

Awards were periodically given out to recognize the dedication of advocates working to improve the health of underserved populations.

"It hurt me to my core to understand what was going on in my own community and certainly what is going on in America," Lewis Lee said. "And what I realize is that while we talk about health disparities, this is not simply an issue for African-Americans, this is an American issue. We all in this country lose a great deal when we lose those precious souls, those opportunities that could have been resources for us all."