Candidate for
Board Member; Palm Drive Health Care District

I was president of the physicians group (Sonoma County Primary Care IPA) in l998 when Columbia announced that they were closing Palm Drive Hospital in 2 weeks. On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, Frank Mayhew drafted me to help save Palm Drive. I have been deeply involved in every effort to keep Palm Drive alive since then.

I am a family physician. I have been in West County since l975. I know how vital our Hospital is to the physician community. I was in the Hospital caring for my patients nearly every day. We organized the West County Physician Alliance when the Hospital was lost as a meeting place for physicians to organize care in West County.

I also know how vital the Hospital is to our community. I worked in the emergency room and we saved lives. We reversed paralysis in stoke patients quickly so that less permanent damage was done. We recognized sepsis and quickly gave fluids and antibiotics which are as life saving as defibrillation is in a heart attack. Of course, we saved many heart attacks patients as well. We made Palm Drive the 5th safest hospital in the nation and we provided a unique culture of caring, the kind of caring you get from your family.

This spring, I was drafted to bring the physician perspective to the Foundation plan to keep Palm Drive open. When that was rejected, I became committed to reopening our hospital. The effort to accomplish the reopening is incredibly more expensive and requires more creativity than would have been required to keep it open. On the other hand, intense research into the cause of the bankruptcy has lead to a clear understanding what must be done to prevent a future business failure. The effort to reopen has generated brilliant ideas that will make this Hospital a model for other threatened small hospitals. Searching for solutions to build a sustainable business that can support a full service emergency room has challenged many of us. We have looked at other successful hospitals to learn what works. The Foundation has brought in national experts to advise and to evaluate the plan. We combined ideas into a plan that is still growing as we meet new challenges.

I want to be on the District Board along with Denis Colthurst to assure that the Board will give this plan a chance to reopen our wonderful hospital.

CURRICULUM VITAE

BORN: July 8, l944 San Luis Obispo, California

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION:

Stanford University September l96l - June l965, Bachelors in English

GRADUATE EDUCATION:

-Stanford University September 1965 - June l968, Masters in Sociology (Medical)
-Stanford University September 1965 - June 1970, Doctor of Medicine

INTERNSHIP:

-Harborview (King County) Hospital, Seattle Washington
-Rotating Internship July 1970 through June 1971

RESIDENCY:

-Sonoma Community Hospital (now Sutter Medical Center Of Santa Rosa) Family Practice Residency affiliated with
-University of California San Francisco July 1971 through June 1973
-Chief Resident 1972-1973

MILITARY SERVICE:

-United States Air Force Active Duty July 1973 through August 1975
Incerlik Turkey and San Antonio Texas. Also January through
March 1991 Desert Storm.
-USAF Reserve 1975 through 1994, Flight Surgeon, Lt. Colonel, Retired.

PRIVATE PRACTICE:

-Sebastopol, California Senior Physician of Family Practice Associates
1975 to present...
-Emergency Room Physician Palm Drive Hospital
1975 to present...

HOSPITAL AFFILIATIONS:

-Active Staff, Palm Drive Hospital, Sebastopol
-Active Staff, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
-Active Staff, Healdsburg General Hospital

BOARD CERTIFICATION:

-American Board of Family Medicine 1973
-Recertified American Board of Family Medicine 1979, 1985, 1991, 1997, 2003, 2013
-Special Qualification in Geriatrics ABFP 1992, 2002 and 2012

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:

-Fellow of American Academy of Family Physicians
-Member AMA, CMA, CAFP, SCMA and Delegate from Sebastopol
to SCMA
-Palm Drive HealthCare Foundation Past President (2007-2008)
-Palm Drive HealthCare Foundation Board Member 2014
-Sonoma County Primary Care IPA, Founding Board Member (1993 to 2014) and Past President
-Current West County Emergency Medical Group, President 2000-2014
-Sonoma County Medical Association President 2009-2010
-Chief of Staff Palm Drive Hospital 2010-2011

AWARDS:

-Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce Humanitarian of the year 2004
-Rotary International Paul Harris Award 2005 for work in Uganda
-SCMA Community Service Award for work "Saving Palm Drive Hospital"
-Alumnus of the Year 2006 Family Practice Residency Program
-2008 Service Award Palm Drive Health Care Foundation
-2010 CAFP Physician of the Year, Sonoma County Chapter

SPECIAL INTERESTS:

Photography, Travel, Medical Care delivery system and making this a better place to live.