KPA Awards Wichita Business Journal entry Special Sections

A2 HEALTH CARE HEROES wichitabusinessjournal.com | OCTOBER 19, 2012

Thank God for heroesHeroes make a di!erence in the lives of others.

It’s what defines them.

The way they live their lives and go about their business makes us wish we could all be like them — and so we try a little harder.

Congratulations to all the 2012 Health Care Heroes award winners.

OCTOBER 19, 2012 | wichitabusinessjournal.com HEALTH CARE HEROES A3

I N S I D E

Editor’sNotebook

Bill Roy

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT� PageDr. Katherine Melhorn ...........KU School of Medicine-Wichita/ KU Pediatric Faculty Clinic .......................................A4

ADMINISTRATIVE EXCELLENCEDr. Edward Hett ....................... Via Christi Medical Associates....................................A5Hugh Tappan ................................... Wesley Medical Center ..........................................A5

COMMUNITY OUTREACHDelta Dental of Kansas ................................................................................................A6Dr. Krista Shackelford ............... The Dermatology Clinic PA ......................................A6JayDoc Clinic ............. University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita ....................A7�INTERNATIONAL OUTREACHDr. Kevin Hoppock ............................. Via Christi Clinic ...............................................A8Dr. Steve Lemons ........................... Via Christi Physicians ...........................................A8

HEALTH CARE INNOVATIONSCarolyn Gaughan ...............Kansas Academy of Family Physicians .......................... A10Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership ................................................................. A10

PHYSICIANDr. Sharon Breit ..........................Center for Women’s Health ................................... A11Dr. Michael Chang .............................. Via Christi Clinic ............................................ A12Dr. Joe Davison ....................... West Wichita Family Physicians ............................... A13Dr. Charles Green ............................... Via Christi Clinic ............................................ A14Dr. Paul Harrison ................... Kansas Surgical Consultants LLP .............................. A15Dr. George Lucas ................................ Via Christi Clinic ............................................ A17Dr. Dennis Ross ......................KU School of Medicine-Wichita/ Kansas Nephrology Physicians ................................ A17

NURSESCynthia Chapman ............................. Wesley Medical Center...........................................A18Paula Hopkins ................................ Wesley Medical Center ....................................... A18Jean Thomas ........................................ Via Christi Clinic ............................................ A19

HEALTH CARE EDUCATORSBernadette Fetterolf.........................Newman University ......................................... A19April Lawson ...................................... Via Christi Hospital ......................................... A21Andrew Massey ........................KU School of Medicine-Wichita ................................ A21Sharon Neimann ...............................Newman University ......................................... A22

HEALTH CARE VOLUNTEERSBen Broxterman ............................. Wesley Medical Center ....................................... A22Jim Brozovich .......................... Conway Springs Volunteer EMS ............................... A23Gary Wortz ........................................ Via Christi Hospitals ......................................... A23

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Ask a child to define a hero and you’ll likely get descriptions of super powers, strength, and triumph. Ask your parents

for an example of a hero and they’ll likely mention Mar-tin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, or John F. Kennedy. Regardless of your defini-tion, we’re confident you’ll be adding a few names to your list. We salute these Health Care Heroes for their caring and dedication to our community, our state and our world. Individually and collectively, they have made Wichita a better com-munity.

Our heroes include Supermen and Su-perwomen who have served our medical community as leaders. And while they may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, it takes incredible strength to be a leader among leaders, staying ahead in a constantly changing health care envi-ronment and maintaining the trust of an entire medical community. Their selfless service and dedication stand as beacons to all of us. The superhuman resolve that guides them guides us and inspires us.

Mother Teresa would be proud of our local heroes who volunteer their time, knowledge and resources to clinics in our community as well as internationally. They serve as an example to their fellow physi-cians, both encouraging and inspiring us to always be more and give more. Their actions affirm that it really is better to give than to receive.

Health care is full of innovators, some

are heroes for their discoveries, like Jonas Salk, and others are heroes because of their vision. In an age of information, it is these visionaries who can filter the valuable information from the trivial and transient, facilitating direction and focus to achieve community benefit. Being a vi-sionary is at times neither easy nor popu-lar, yet visionaries are willing to guide us into uncharted waters time and time again.

While there’s not been a blockbuster movie based on a teacher with super pow-ers, many of us think of our teachers as heroes. And Wichita has no shortage of heroes dedicated to educating and men-toring young clinicians. Our University programs and community hospitals pro-duce some of the best trained health care providers in the country. Many of these providers stay and serve, given our qual-ity hospitals, a collaborative medical so-ciety, and gracious community. Wichita’s medical community is one of inclusion and collaboration; heroes and heroines abound.

Our physician and nurse heroes are included for many different reasons, but each could be considered Superman, make Mother Teresa smile, work along-side Salk, and substitute teach for Clara Barton. They are communicators and leaders. Visionaries and missionaries. Educators and empathizers. We are privi-leged to be the beneficiaries of their care.

We say “Thank You” to each of our Health Care Heroes. For helping us, heal-ing us, caring for us, educating us, listen-ing to us and inspiring us. We salute you.

Dr. Tana Goering is chief medical officer with Pulse.

Cape or no cape, everyone loves a hero

Guest Column

Dr. Tana Goering

Experience shows us that this year’s Health Care Heroes deserve our thanks

I’ve spent more time than I wanted to in hospitals.

Sometimes the time I spent was joyous, like when my girls were born or when friends became par-ents.

Other times, not so much. I, like you, have visited family and friends in the hospital for minor, and sometimes major, health care events.

And sometimes at the end of life.

I’ve spent some time in hospitals and doctor’s offices for my own health issues as well.

The more time I spend watching the care and under the care of pro-fessionals, the more I appreciate those who do it well: Nurses who respond quickly and compassionately; doctors who listen and explain patiently; advocates and volunteers

who are quick with a smile or to ask if you need anything.

Those folks are the heroes we write about on these pages.

The stories about how these heroes be-came interested in providing health care, and the work they have done, are inspir-ing.

These people have great responsibility. Their work truly can and does change lives.

That’s why we at the Wichita Business Journal, and our sponsor, believe it’s impor-tant to recognize those in the health care professions who take care of us, sometimes when we are at our weakest.

We get to publicly show our appreciation once a year, during the Health Care Heroes dinner, but they obviously deserve our grati-tude the other 364 days of the year, too.

Congratulations to our 2012 Health Care Heroes. And thank you.

[email protected] | 266-6184


great physician, a community activist, a protector of children — those are some of the phras-

es Dr. Barry Bloom uses to describe Dr. Katherine Melhorn. The two went to the University of Kansas School of Medicine together, were in the same class of resi-dents and have worked together in many capacities ever since.

But Melhorn says she thinks her most important achievement is raising her kids. She and her husband, orthopedic surgeon Mark Melhorn, have a grown son in Flori-da and a daughter in high school.

“There’s no job more important,” she says.

The value she places on parenthood could be one reason she got involved in her current line of work. Melhorn is a pediatrician, and her specialty is working with children who have been the victims of abuse or neglect, or who are in situations that could lead to abuse.

She says she deals with clear-cut cases of abuse, and she works with law enforce-ment and the courts to get those children out of dangerous situations. But in some cases, a family is at risk and a parent just needs some help to do what’s right, she says.

“I hope we can wrap enough services around that family to help them be better parents,” she says. “The kids need to be protected.”

ADVOCATING FOR CHILDREN

Melhorn is a Washington, D.C., native who ended up in Kansas to attend McPher-son College because it was affi liated with her church.

She went on to medical school at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, where she says pediatrics “just clicked.” It’s an area of medicine where physicians have more ability to make a change, before adult habits set in, she says. And even then she saw a need to make sure someone was looking out for kids.

“Children are vulnerable,” she says. “They need advocates.”

After her residency ended in 1984, Mel-horn began practicing as a pediatrician in Wichita. That’s when she realized her medical knowledge had some limitations.

“I saw these children and had all these questions,” she says. “How do I know if this is an accident or abuse?”

In 1985, Melhorn attended a fellowship

at Los Angeles County Hospital, where she says she started learning how to answer those questions. Bloom, who’s chair of the pediatrics department at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita, says she shared that knowledge with fellow physicians, even helping the other doctors ask the right questions about abuse when necessary.

“She brought a structured approach to concerns that people had about children’s safety,” Bloom says. “She has the ability to teach us who were seeing patients how to

use the right words, raise the concern. ... It’s the hardest thing I know in medicine to teach.”

COORDINATING PROFESSIONALS

Melhorn is now partially retired, but she continues to deliver lectures to fellow phy-sicians and to KU medical students. In ad-dition, she and two other physicians share on-call duties for situations where suspect-ed abuse victims arrive in local hospitals.

Dr. Kerri Weeks has taken leadership of a child-abuse-focused clinic where Melhorn had worked.

Melhorn says she continues to feel needed in child-abuse work partly because she’s fi gured out something not everyone has — how to keep diffi cult cases from taking over her emotional life. Her family helps, along with her past clinical work with other strong, supportive families.

“I can close the door on a case and go home and have a normal life,” she says.

In abuse cases, Melhorn says she typi-cally fi les a report outlining her medical opinion of a child’s injuries.

“It is about the facts and what these kids have gone through,” says Cyndi Chapman, a nurse who has worked with Melhorn for about 30 years. “She’s so well respected throughout by attorneys, judges, even de-fense attorneys.”

Through the course of a case, Melhorn might have to communicate with a child who has been the victim of abuse, and with the child’s family, law enforcement offi cials, social workers, medical profes-sionals and attorneys. Colleagues say she’s able to talk clearly with all those stakeholders, conveying medical informa-tion to a variety of audiences without sac-rifi cing accuracy.

And the children she works with range widely in age and level of development. Melhorn says she’s had to learn the right way to interview a variety of children, mak-ing sure they’re not, for instance, just say-ing “yes” to a question because they think it will please her.

“She treats the child as a person, not as an abuse victim or a kid,” Chapman says. “They are a person; they have a voice; they need to tell her their story.”

Melhorn is on the board of the Child Ad-vocacy Center of Sedgwick County, which Executive Director Diana Schunn says Melhorn helped to create. One of its func-tions is to bring together all the needed parties — law enforcement offi cials, social workers, lawyers, educators, health care providers and others — to step in to sup-port families in situations where abuse might be a risk.

“She excels at really diffi cult cases, re-ally complex cases — making sure we’re all working together so that child goes into a safe environment,” Schunn says. “Her impact has been profound.”

— Emily Behlmann

DR. KATHERINE MELHORNKU School of Medicine-Wichita/Pediatrics

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

A

Dr. Ed Hett is an advocate for changing the way health care is delivered.

He says the system should be less fragmented and focused more on improving patient outcomes.

But the health care industry historically has used a fee-for-service model that focuses on treating people when they are sick, rather than on keeping them well.

“I think one of the more diffi cult things is in medicine we’ve been tooled up to do medi-cal care one way, and that’s piecework,” Hett says. “Now we’re being asked to do things that are based on outcomes. That’s a totally different mind-set and a totally dif-ferent way you do your operations. Part of the challenge is we’re living in both worlds right now.”

Hett is a graduate of the University of Kan-sas School of Medicine and received his resi-dency training at St. Joseph Medical Center, now Via Christi Hospital on Harry.

He operated a private practice, Twin Lakes Medical Offi ce, from 1984 to 1997 before join-ing Via Christi’s Preferred Medical Associ-ates.

In 2001, his peers elected him president of PMA, which is now a part of Via Christi Clinic.

In his current role as vice president for the integrated primary care network at Via Chris-ti Health, Hett is charged with leading all the health system’s primary care efforts.

Hett is also leading an effort implement electronic medical records that can be shared across Via Christi’s care network and ulti-mately on a statewide health information ex-change.

While that leadership is key to Via Christi’s operations, those who work with Hett say it’s his calm and caring demeanor and patient-centered approach that really stand out.

“I think he is a very principled person,” says Doug Hanson, vice president for physi-

cian strategies at Via Christi Clinic. “You can count on him doing the right thing and weighing all as-pects of a decision.”

Dr. Stephen Grin-del, Via Christi Clin-

ic’s director of operations, says Hett always takes the time to listen to employees and phy-sicians and address any concerns they may have.

“He always has time for you and always fol-lows up,” Grindel says.

Hett, a Marion native, is active at First Bap-tist Church in Wichita, serving as a member of its senior pastor search committee on two separate occasions and participating in the church’s choir and praise band. He plays trum-pet and is a member of a local vocal jazz group.

He and his wife, Jean, have three adult chil-dren, Ed, 29, Krissy, 29, and Forrest, 25, and eight grandchildren.

— Josh Heck


DR. ED HETTVia Christi Clinic

ADMINISTRATIVE EXCELLENCE

Hugh Tappan is a seasoned hospital executive who isn’t rattled by the nev-er-ending change in the health care

industry.Tappan, the 43-year-old CEO of Wesley Med-

ical Center, says changes in reimbursement methods, insurance regulations and now the federal health care reform law present chal-lenges that have to be met and overcome with careful planning and strategic thinking.

“Health care reform and the cost of health care are two major drivers of our industry,” Tappan says.

Those who know Tap-pan say problem-solving and strategic thinking are among his strong suits. He’s also committed to providing the highest level of quality, service and care for all patients, says Gaylee Dolloff, president of Health Partners of Kan-sas, a statewide provider network affi liated with Wesley Medical Center.

She says Tappan, who became Wesley’s CEO in 2006, has implemented several initia-tives designed to improve customer service, including having members of the executive team regularly make patient rounds to see how their needs are being met.

Tappan was also instrumental in Wesley’s ac-quisition of Galichia Heart hospital, a deal that was fi nalized in early 2012.

“He’s done a lot for Wesley since he has been here,” Dolloff says. “He’s just a great person and very approachable.”

Tappan is a Florida native and got his bach-elor’s degree in fi nance from Florida State Uni-versity. He has master’s degrees in business administration and health administration from the University of North Florida.

He has worked in hospital leadership posi-tions in HCA-owned facilities in Georgia and Colorado. HCA owns Wesley.

Tappan’s fi rst hospital leadership position came in 1993 when he became president and CEO of Hughston Sports Medicine Hospital in Columbus, Ga.

He is also active in the community and in-volved with the Kansas Hospital Association, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Wichita Cen-ter for Gradu-

ate Medical Education and United Way of the Plains.

Pat Hanrahan, United Way of the Plains’ chief executive, says Tappan is an asset to the organization because of the relationships he has in the community. Hanrahan says Tappan is a strategic thinker and a visionary.

“He’s very dedicated to the community,” Hanrahan says.

Tappan and his wife, Elizabeth, have three sons, twins Carter and Tanner, 13, and Rigdon, 10.

Tappan was a member of the 2008 class of 40 under 40.

— Josh Heck

HUGH TAPPANWichita Medical Center

ADMINISTRATIVE EXCELLENCE


Over the course of three hours on May 5, more than 400 people were screened for skin cancer at GraceMed Health Center

in Wichita.That’s an astounding average of two people

screened every minute.The person spearheading the event was Dr.

Krista Shackelford of the Dermatology Clinic PA.“We detected 148 potential instances of cancer,”

she says. “More importantly, we found nine le-sions that were suspi-cious for melanoma.”

Those who needed to be examined fur-ther were advised how to do so. For many of them, the free screen-ing was the only way the danger they were in would have been identifi ed.

The screening has taken place for several years. Shackelford, a grad-uate of the University of Kansas School of Medi-cine, has been the screening’s medical director for the past three years.

But she’s responsible for many of the steps taken recently to ensure the event reaches more of Wichita’s under-insured and uninsured people. She has formed community partnerships that have helped the event grow.

In addition to GraceMed, organizations as-sisting as volunteers or sponsors at this year’s screening included Project Access, the Union Rescue Mission, United Way of the Plains, Via Christi Health and The Coleman Co.

Dr. Jennifer Burgoyne-Dechant, an ophthal-mologist with Via Christi Health who nominated Shackelford, says Shackelford’s efforts have helped guarantee the program’s future. Commu-nity partners, particularly Coleman as sponsor, will help make it fi nancially self-sustaining.

Jennifer Kelley, spokesperson for the American Cancer Society in Wichita, says Shackelford de-serves credit both for bringing together the com-munity partners on the screening event and for

making sure it was communicated to the under-served popula-tion she was target-ing.

“She has really been able to make sure the word is out there,” Kelley says. “That’s really impor-tant. They may not have a medical home

otherwise. This puts them in touch with some type of medical provider and gives them an op-portunity to connect to a facility at GraceMed.”

But Shackelford is quick to pass any credit along, and says being honored as a Health Care Hero is really the result of the hard work of all those that helped make the screening event a suc-cess.

“This is not about me,” she says. “I’m receiv-ing this on behalf of all the volunteers. It would not have been possible without them. This is a team.”

— Daniel McCoy

DR. KRISTA SCHACKELFORD

The Dermatolog y Clinic

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Delta Dental of Kansas, as a non-profi t organization, doesn’t have to pay taxes. But CEO

Linda Brantner says the employees and board at Delta Dental have always felt a responsibility to give back.

In 2003, Delta Dental leaders started talking about doing that in a bigger, more focused fashion. The result was the Delta Dental of Kansas Founda-tion, focusing on oral health initiatives.

The foundation has provided grants totaling more than $5 million, touch-ing the lives of more than 1 million Kansans across all 105 counties.

“We have excellent oral health here in our state,” Brantner says. “We want to ensure our children and grandchil-dren all have that same opportunity.”

The foundation is funded entirely by Delta Dental of Kansas, where Brant-ner says employees are committed to working as effi ciently as possible to allow the foundation’s work to continue. The amount Delta Dental, a dental benefi ts admin-istrator, contributes each year is based on the amount it would pay in taxes if it were a for-profi t corporation.

The foundation distributes toothbrush kits in the state every year (122,684 in 2011) and awards mini-grants to groups that promote oral health (Wichita Children’s Home and Wichita State University Dental Hygiene Clinic were among last year’s winners).

A major foundation goal is to address areas of the state where access to dental care is limited. One of its most signifi cant projects was committing $3 million to help create the Advanced Education in General Dentistry facility at Wichita State. That $6.6 million facil-

ity, which opened last year, is home to Kansas’ only dental residency program. Supporters view that program as a way for Kansas, which doesn’t have a dental school, to attract new dentists.

In partnership with the Kansas Den-tal Association, the foundation launched the Kansas Initiative for New Dentists this year. The program provides two $50,000 grants to dental school gradu-ates who agree to start a practice in one of fi ve designated “dental deserts” — towns 20 miles from the nearest dentist.

Kevin Robertson, executive director of the Kansas Dental Association, says a program asking new dentists to work in rural areas wasn’t possible before.

“We don’t have the funds to put up that kind of grant money,” he says.

The Delta Dental foundation saw a similar program working in Iowa and approached the KDA about starting one in Kansas. Now the groups operate

the program together. The Delta Dental of

Kansas Foundation is a supporter of other Kan-sas Dental Association programs, too, including

Kansas Mission of Mercy. Through that program, launched by the dental association’s foun-dation, dental professionals donate their time to provide free dental care for Kansans in need.

The initiatives supported by the foundation are important to the state, Robertson says.“There certainly are populations of people and areas that we need to continue to provide

dental care for — populations of people who don’t have the fi nancial support,” he says.

— Emily Behlmann

DELTA DENTAL OF KANSAS FOUNDATIONCOMMUNITY OUTREACH


CongratulatesDr. Dennis Ross

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indsay Blick doesn’t mind getting up early for work on a Saturday. She is one of two student executive directors

at the JayDoc Community Clinic, operated as a joint venture between the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita and the Guadalupe Clinic. JayDoc is run by medical-student volunteers under the direction of a faculty adviser. It provides medical care regardless of patient income levels or insurance status.

JayDoc opened in 2005 to serve people who couldn’t get to a doctor’s offi ce during the week. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays at 940 S. St. Francis, funded by grants and donations.

JayDoc serves as a point of entry for medical care, keeping people without health insurance from having to seek routine care in an emergency room, says Blick, a fourth-year medical stu-dent. It’s also a training ground for aspiring physicians.

Med students provide an array of services including acute care for illnesses and in-juries, chronic disease management, patient education, and school and work physicals.

The number of patients the clinic serves continues to grow. In 2011 it served 353 pa-tients, conducted 256 lab tests and performed dozens of procedures.

“This is an important outreach to the community to make weekend hours available,” says Dr. Scott Moser, the clinic’s faculty adviser.

Some people can’t take off work to get med-ical care during the week, and Moser says. About 20 people a day are treated there. Care is free, but some patients leave a donation.

For the medical students involved, work-ing at JayDoc is a chance to learn in a clinical setting. Pre-med students from area colleges

help by managing patient check-ins, measuring height and weight and checking blood pres-sure.

“It gives students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be in more of an outpa-tient setting,” Blick says. “It’s a place where we don’t have residents above us, so we’re in a little more of a leadership role.”

Medical students at any level have the opportunity to work at the clinic. Sarah Corn, another fourth-year medical student and the other student executive direc-

tor this year, says the student volunteers are expected to make their own diagnoses and craft treatment plans for the patients. Those plans are double-checked by the faculty physi-cian overseeing the clinic.

“The clinic is an excellent opportunity for the students to practice the skills that we are learning,” Corn says.

— Josh Heck

L JAYDOC COMMUNITY CLINIC University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita

COMMUNITY OUTREACH


Medicine is truly a calling — a blessing even — to Dr. Kevin Hoppock.

“I have the amazing privilege of being part of about 1,000 families in the Wichita area, and the longer I serve them the more I see what a privi-lege it is. I’m there for the tears and there for the joys,” says Hoppock, a family practitioner with Via Christi Clinic.

“This is not an impersonal service provided. This is not a business. It is truly a ministry,” Hoppock says.

The combination of service and science fueled the Heights High School graduate’s desire to go to medical school. While going through Wichita State Uni-versity and the University of Kansas School of Medicine, he knew he wanted to pur-sue family practice, which he began in 1992.

Hoppock’s words and deeds — mission work over-seas and leadership roles in the Friends church — make clear the central role faith plays in his life.

“He’s a really spiritual guy that provides care on a whole different level,” says Dr. Jack Shellito, ex-ecutive medical offi cer of Via Christi Clinic. “He pro-vides that kind of extra care that you can really feel.”

“He was made to work around his patients,” says Jon Rosell, executive director of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County. “If you watch him, it’s clear he was put on the Earth to do that work.”

That work has taken him to Congo, Rwanda, Bu-rundi and Haiti. He was part of a partnership to build a conference center for Rwanda and Congo to train leaders in that war-torn area. In Haiti, his

family helped pay for an orphanage building — Grandma Wanda’s House of Hope — that also honors his mother’s role in his life.

The medical society’s legislative committee is another channel for Hoppock’s energy.

“The fi rst and fi nal lens by which Dr. Hoppock engages on health care policy is, ‘How will it im-pact my patients?’” Rosell says. “He says: ‘If it’s good for my patent, then I will support it. If not, then I will have questions.’ He has a true sense of patient advocacy.”

Shellito says Hoppock has played a valuable role in keeping doctors at Via Chris-ti and elsewhere informed. “Ultimately, he’s trying to make sure that physicians will be there for patients, be-cause a lot of policy is about access to care. He makes the effort to do it and goes out of his way to provide informa-

tion to physicians,” Shellito says.Hoppock was the Kansas Medical Society’s presi-

dent for 2011-2012. The role was an opportunity to call “the doctors of the state to a higher standard, to not settle for being health care providers or gate-keepers, to aspire to be physician-healers,” he says.

Whatever the setting, Hoppock brings enthusi-asm and humor.

“When he comes out of a room and he’s laugh-ing and the patient’s laughing and they have a close bond, that’s the kind of doctor you want to have to take care of you,” Shellito says.

— Brian Whepley

Dr. Stephen Lemons exemplifi es every-thing that is right with health care, says Wichita attorney Richard James.

“This award is written for him,” James says.Lemons is a family physician at Via Christi

Medical Associates in Andover.But he’s also the force behind Brian Lemons

Memorial Hospital at Nhowe Mission in Zimba-bwe. The hospital, which began construction in 1994 and was completed in 2002, is named after Lemons’ son, who died in a car accident in 1997.

Lemons visited Nhowe Mission in 1993 and dis-covered a tiny clinic there overwhelmed by demand.

“When we got there, we saw the big need that was there,” Lemons says.

Lemons dedicated a signifi cant portion of the construction cost, and his church, East Point Church of Christ in Wichita, also helped. Lemons and the church’s mission committee help a board of direc-tors oversee the hospital’s operation.

The church raises about $200,000 a year for the hospital, Lemons estimates. With the help of other charitable organizations, $20,000 can be lev-eraged into $1 million worth of medicines.

Lemons says the hospital sees 3,500 to 4,000 pa-tients a month. He volunteers there for about 2ôweeks at least once a year.

“I don’t look at myself as being a hero,” Lemons says. The true heroes, he says, are those who for-feit careers in the U.S. for the harsh conditions of the Third World.

Still, Lemons’ leadership in extending health care to Zimbabwe “is unbelievable,” says James, a partner at DeVaughn James LLC in Wichita.

James says Lemons’ contacts let him encour-age other physicians to visit and help, and to get needed supplies. That allows Lemons to extend his reach and better benefi t the people there.

“That ripple effect is the best way to describe it,” James says.

James also lauds the church’s Zimbabwe Or-phan Project, an offshoot of the hospital that rais-

es money to support the feeding, clothing and teach-ing of about 600 orphaned children at Nhowe Mission.

The church is trying to help further by building an orphanage for children in high-risk situations. Those include children who may have AIDS or other diseas-es, Lemons says.

A fundraiser Nov. 4, called “One Day’s Differ-ence” is asking people to fast for 24 hours and contribute the money saved, Lemons says.

Dr. Jared Johnson, a family physician at Via Christi Medical Associates on West Maple, knows fi rsthand the impact of the hospital in Zimbabwe — he spent a month of his residency there in 2010.

“It’s pretty incredible being that he took an in-terest in some place so far away and took such strong interest,” Johnson says. “It kind of goes above and beyond.”

— John Stearns

DR. KEVIN HOPPOCK

Via Christi ClinicINTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

DR. STEPHEN LEMONS

Via Christi PhysiciansINTERNATIONAL OUTREACH


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etting doctors in one practice to change how they do business isn’t easy, let alone doing it across many practices in differ-

ent specialities.Enter Carolyn Gaughan, executive director of

the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and the glue behind the Kansas Patient Centered Medical Home Initiative, or PCMH.

PCMH is a new model for health care aimed at improving patients’ health and lowering their costs. The idea is to reward doctors for patients’ outcomes, rather than for every procedure they perform.

The model has been gaining trac-tion in the U.S. since the mid-2000s. It was implemented at eight practices across Kan-sas in mid-2011 in a three-year pilot project.

“None of this would have come together were it not for Carolyn’s leadership,” says Dr. Rick Keller-man, chairman of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

He says it takes time to educate doctors about PCMH and persuade them to take a new direction in their practices.

“It’s like changing the tires on your car when you’re driving 60 miles per hour down the road,” he says.

The switch requires “a lot of practice system re-design,” Gaughan says.

“It’s not just episodic care,” she says. “Continu-

ity of care is really a big deal.”Traditional medicine tends to be built around a

“come-and-get-it” mentality, Kellerman says. But under PCMH, a doctor might be more likely to reach out to a patient who misses an appointment to fi nd out why and to ensure their care doesn’t lapse.

When doctors don’t focus on preventive care, patients come in sicker, emergency room visits in-crease and all that drives up costs, Kellerman says.

Patients still have to take personal responsibil-ity, he says, but the idea is for physicians to get

more involved.“There will be new

payment models that reward quality of care as much as the volume of care,” he says.

Dr. Melissa Gaines, as-sistant professor with the KU School of Medicine-Wichita and a physician

at KU Wichita Adult Medicine, one of the PCMH pilot practices, says the program’s going well.

“There have been some challenges, but nothing that’s been overwhelming,” she says. “This is really the new way to deliver health care. ... The hope would be that we would kind of pioneer this in Kansas.”

The program helps small practices make the changes necessary, she says.

“This process showed it’s attainable through small goals and small changes and just constant momentum,” she says.

And Gaughan deserves much of the credit, Gaines says. “She is a champion for health care reform.”

— John Stearns

CAROLYN GAUGHAN

Kansas Academy of Family PhysiciansHEALTH CARE INNOVATIONS

G

Wichita urologist Jay Gilbraugh saw a young football player take a hard hit and leave the fi eld only to come back

into the game soon after. He felt that something just wasn’t right.

Gilbraugh raised the issue at the next meeting of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, and that led to a complete change in the way head in-juries are handled for young Kansas athletes.

There’s a new law governing players’ return to games after head injuries, and an orga-nization dedicated to the issue, the Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership.

A 2011 law requires that any secondary-school athlete sus-pected of having a head injury cannot return to practice or a game without being cleared by a licensed physician.

Travis Francis, a manager of sports medicine and outpatient physical therapy at Via Christi Rehabilitation Hospital and former president of the Kansas Athletic Trainers Association, helped draft the law with Dr. Mark Stovak of the Univer-sity of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

Francis says the issue of concussions and young athletes had long been discussed, but there had never been “a gold standard” for their treatment.

The new law and the formation of the Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership changed that.

“What we have learned is that this injury takes

time,” Francis says. “The more time we can give, the better the outcome.”

The Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership brings together Kansas physicians to share in-formation on sports-related head injuries. The group also works to educate training staff, school offi cials and parents, says Dr. Jennifer Koontz, a partnership member and primary sports care physician at the Newton Medical Center.

“In the past, all of the education and policy de-velopment centered around preventing them from going back into sports before they were healed,” she says. “Now we’re working on guidelines for the appropriate return to the class-room.”

The partnership is proving to be a popular venture, says

Brent Unruh, operations manager of the Kansas State High School Activities Association. One only has to look at the partnership’s website to see that, he says.

“The group does a really good job of ensuring only the most current and relevant information is posted on this site,” Unruh says. “We know based on Web traffi c the site is getting a lot of hits. It’s defi -nitely been a real positive for our member schools to help them understand their role and responsibil-ity as it relates to concussion management.”

— Daniel McCoy

KANSAS SPORTSCONCUSSIONPARTNERSHIP

HEALTH CARE INNOVATIONS

Bart Grelinger, chairman of the Kansas Sports Concussion Partnership and member of Neurology Consultants of Kansas.


Dr. Sharon Breit wanted to start a different type of clinical practice, one that would include an all-female group of obstetri-

cians and gynecologists.She wanted a to open a clinic that felt less like a

clinic and more like a spa. And she wanted to operate a smaller practice to give physicians more autonomy.

So in 2001, Breit opened the Center for Wom-en’s Health, nine years after she started in OB/GYN practice.

She says the idea was that female physicians would relate better with patients, who would in turn feel more comfortable.

The clinic, located in the Wilson Estates Medical Park at 1355 N. Webb Road, was designed to provide a more welcoming atmosphere, Breit says, with a courtyard area and garden in front of the building and a stone fi re-place and a coffee bar in the lobby. Medical devices are stored in custom armoires in each room, privacy curtains are made with decorative fl oral prints and patients are given fl annel robes to wear.

“We’re trying to do something that is just a little bit different, more spa-like,” Breit says.

It’s a model that has worked for the three-phy-sician clinic.

“She had the tenacity to try it and get the job done,” says Pam Ammar, a longtime friend and attorney who is a partner at Woodard Hernandez Roth & Day LLC.

Ammar says Breit has a good bedside manner and puts the needs of her patients fi rst.

“She’s just a remarkable person and is very likeable,” Ammar says. “You couldn’t fi nd a more caring person.”

Breit, 54, got her bachelor’s degree in nurs-ing at Wichita State University and her medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. She did her residency at Barnes Hos-pital-Washington University in St. Louis.

After 20 years in practice, Breit is starting to de-liver a second generation of babies. She says some of the baby girls she delivered are now women be-coming moms themselves.

“She takes pride in the way she practices medicine, putting the quality of health care fi rst,” says Kyle Larson, the clinic’s business man-ager. “She truly takes time with her patients and listens to their needs.”

Breit says the biggest re-ward in her job is helping people experience the joys

of parenthood. Breit is board-certifi ed by the American Board of

Obstetrics and Gynecology and a fellow of the Amer-ican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

She is a clinical assistant professor in the OB/GYN department at the KU Medical School and also is involved with the residency program there. Breit is active with the American Heart Association as well and enjoys gardening and scrapbooking.

Breit and her husband, Dan, have two daugh-ters, Shelby, 19, and Caroline, 17.

— Josh Heck

DR. SHARON BREIT

Center for Women’s HealthPHYSICIANS


You’re the reason Wesley ranks in the top 2% in the nation for Overall Recommended Care.

*See for yourself at whynotthebest.org

CONRATULATIONS TO WESLEY’S 2012 HEALTHCARE HEROES

RANKED 39 OUT OF 2035*WESLEY

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he wisdom of Mayo Clinic’s founding brothers resonated with Via Christi spine surgeon Dr. Michael Chang during his

residency at the Mayo Graduate School of Medi-cine in Rochester, Minn.

What’s most important for the patient comes fi rst, they said.

“That’s really the main principle that I base my practice on,” Chang says.

That’s the foundation of his care and is evident in other ways, too, includ-ing his travels to offi ces in Pratt, Newton and east and west Wichita to see patients, doing what he can to reduce what can be painful travel for many patients.

Chang’s specialty is treat-ing degenerative conditions of the neck and lower back.

New patients often visit assuming surgery is the only option, but that’s not always the case, he says. Activity modifi cation, physical therapy and epidural injections are sometimes appropri-ate.

If a patient who is pushing for surgery doesn’t need it, Chang will say so, says physician assistant John Cannata.

“He’s going to tell them, ‘This is just not what you need,’” Cannata says.

Chang is fl uent in three languages, English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese — a product of being born in Taiwan, growing up in Costa Rica and getting an education in the U.S.

“I think that allows me to appreciate diversity and also be able to relate with people of various

backgrounds,” Chang says.Treating people with respect is one of Chang’s

hallmarks, says Mindy Jones, a surgical techni-cian and Chang’s private scrub.

“He’s just an all-around good guy — thoughtful and kind,” Jones says. “He treats everybody with respect.”

That resonates with Cannata, too, who says the respect Chang shows people “goes a long ways.”

Jones praises Chang’s bedside manner, calling him “very caring, under-standing, very patient.”

Chang was determined to become a doctor, but he says it’s almost impossible for a foreign student to get into medical school in the U.S. So he went for a Ph.D. instead and worked in the pharma-ceutical industry for about a

year and a half as a medicinal chemist. He holds 32 patents as a result of his graduate study and work in the pharmaceutical fi eld.

With his Ph.D., he was able to secure his per-manent residency, and the door to medical school opened up.

Besides being an advocate for his patients, Chang also is an advocate for Wichita and the quality of life here.

The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce selected him for a video, “Wichita: We Found It Here,” touting the city.

“I am a huge fan of the Wichita area and the people of Wichita,” Chang says.

— John Stearns

T

DR. MICHAEL CHANGVia Christi Clinic

PHYSICIANS


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Dr. Shackelford,

Congratulations for being named oneof the Health Care Heroes for 2012.

We are proud to work with you!

Dr. Housholder and the entire Derm Team

DermatologyClinic, P.A.The

East Wichita835 N. Hillside Street

West Wichita8404 W. 13th St. Ste. 220

Growing up, Dr. Joe Davison didn’t have his eyes set on medicine as his career. It was the NBA.

“It took only a couple of years of basketball in college for me to realize that I ought to get an-other career,” he jokes.

So Davison looked toward medical school in-stead. He did well in his science classes and noted that all of the students who excelled at science and worked the hardest were pre-med students.

“I guess I was a follower,” he says.Davison attended medi-

cal school at the University of Oklahoma and served his residency in Wichita at St. Joseph Medical Center, now Via Christi Hospital on Harry. He fi nished in 1984 and joined West Wichita Family Physicians PA.

“I really do like Wichita,” Davison says. “I like the way the citizens are. They are hard-working peo-ple. They are forthright in their comments. They do what they say they will do. They aren’t looking for an easy way or a handout.”

In family medicine, that’s valuable because so much of the work is in helping people make life-style choices that will improve their health. It isn’t an easy thing to do, but that’s where Davison ex-cels, says one of his patients.

“He’s a good listener, and he’s not critical of a person if you do something you shouldn’t do. He just points out that other choices would have been better,” says Rosemary Kirby, former presi-dent of Wichita Area Technical College, who has

been a patient of Davison’s for more than 20 years. “He’s complimentary when you do some-thing you should do. He does have a gentle way of talking with patients.”

Davison’s impact extends beyond a clinic visit.He’s been a member of the Wichita Business

Coalition on Health Care and a leader in the ef-fort to develop a statewide health information exchange — a means for health care providers across Kansas to easily convey patients’ electron-ic medical records to each other.

Karen Cox, chief oper-ating offi cer of ProviDRs Care and a member of the coalition, says Davison isn’t afraid to get involved.

“That’s what makes him unique,” she says. “It’s al-most like he’s tireless when it comes to the projects he’s involved in. He sees the big picture and realizes

someone needs to take the lead in these issues.”Davison says projects like the information ex-

change give him something to work on that pro-vides new perspectives on the industry and the everyday work of being a doctor.

He says it’s his duty to give back to the medical community.

“There are people who are far better doctors than I am,” he says. “There are those who have better communication skills, who have accom-plished more than I have. I have just taken a little piece of my world and just sort of worked on it.”

— Chris Moon

DR. JOE DAVISON

West Wichita Family PhysiciansPHYSICIANS

Dr. Charles Green could have followed a different path in medicine.

An interest in science at an early age led him into the fi eld. But rather than looking to some distant research lab after graduating from the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completing his residency with Via Christi Health, the Belle Plaine native chose to stay close to home.

“I always wanted to do something for my commu-nity,” he says. “The more I thought about medicine, the more appealing the oppor-tunity to help and make an im-pact in communities became.”

That decision was the Wichita area’s gain. Green, who has practiced family medicine at Via Christi Clin-ic in Andover since 2005, has more than made good on his goal of giving back.

Green, part of the Wichita Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 class in 2008, has served on the board of Via Christi Clinic — and the Wichita Clinic before that — since 2009. He has volunteered his time to the Good Samaritan Mobile Clinic and Living Hope Mobile Clinic. He’s also a volunteer faculty member at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita, where he works with young physicians on their family medicine rotations.

He’s an active member at Eastminster Presby-terian Church in Wichita. He and his wife, Shelly, have 9-year-old twin boys, Landon and Colin, and two daughters, Whitney, 6, and Haley, 5.

Staying involved with the community is a real passion of Green’s, says his partner at the clinic in

Andover, Dr. Scott Hane. And that’s all the more amazing given the time he also devotes to his family.

“He’s highly involved in his own kids’ activities,” Hane says. “Pretty much every second of his time out of the offi ce is accounted for.”

Of all his community involvement, Green says, the Young Life program is one of the most rewarding.

It’s a Christian-based organization that mentors and ministers to young people. He has served on the program’s local board and has been on its steering committee for the past three years.

He has also volunteered his time as the physician for Young Life summer camp sessions in three dif-ferent summers since 2008. Having a physician at the camp, which the organiza-tion couldn’t afford to pay, helps many parents feel bet-ter about sending their kids,

says Young Life Area Director Matt Sheperd.“Honestly, it’s the reason some parents say

‘yes,’” Sheperd says.Green says his favorite part of family medicine

is the variety of patients he gets to see and prob-lems he gets to diagnose.

“You never know what’s going to be in that next door,” he says.

His fellow colleague, Hane, says the people in that next door are lucky to have Green walk through it.

“I recommend him to all my friends,” Hane says. “I can’t imagine having a better partner.”

— Daniel McCoy


DR. CHARLES GREENVia Christi Clinic

PHYSICIANS

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Paul Harrison knew early on he wanted to be a doctor. His mother was a nurse, the family doctor was “like a second father” and

his dad’s job managing a chain of Wichita pharma-cies took him into many medical practices.

Harrison enjoyed being hands-on, so surgery seemed a natural choice when he attended the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

“The ultimate mechanic is being a surgeon. The privilege of working on this machine — it is the most amazing machine that we don’t have blueprints for,” says Harrison, mem-ber of Kansas Surgical Consultants since 1978 and director of Wesley Medical Center’s trauma depart-ment since 1989.

Still, “some injuries we just can’t fi x,” he says. “You can’t get used to that.”

Colleagues say his career is testament to fi xing something that could be fi xed: the system of car-ing for victims of accidents and sudden illnesses.

“He’s always been able to say, ‘We need to look at every one of our patients and improve things, so that things will be better for the next patient and the next,’” says Diana Lippoldt, Wesley’s di-rector of critical care and trauma services and a colleague of Harrison’s for decades.

In the years before Wesley became a trauma center in 1991, hospitals often lacked teams of doctors and nurses ready to go when patients reached the emergency room. Harrison helped create a system that has reduced arrival-to-sur-gery time from an hour to minutes.

“His vision was that Wesley would make a good trauma center,” Lippoldt says. “We had re-sources to do that but not the structure to get a patient in quickly and through the system.”

Harrison is active in state, regional and nation-al trauma and critical care organizations. He’s traveled Kansas educating others and helping build a trauma network. He credits his business partners at Kansas Surgical Consultants with al-

lowing him to do that, but they say it goes both ways.

“It allows me to be a little more aggressive in what I offer folks because I’ve got 30 years of expertise back-ing me up,” says Dr. Diane Hunt, a partner. “If you want to do something, he’s always willing to support

you in any way he can.”Harrison recently received the Frist Humanitar-

ian Award given by Wesley parent HCA Health-care, a “humbling” honor his mother, Billy, earned in 1987. It’s that legacy he and his nurse-educator wife, Carolyn, share that makes him proud, though: daughters Alicia, a shoulder and elbow surgeon, Megan, who works for ExxonMobil, and Bridget, who is working on a plastic surgery fellowship.

Lippoldt attributes Harrison’s success to his unassuming style. “It’s because of his vision and ability to share that vision that people are all will-ing to go along with him. He brings out the team in everybody. As a member of the team, you want to be there because you feel so much a part of it.”

— Brian Whepley


DR. PAUL HARRISON

Kansas Surgical ConsultantsPHYSICIANS

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congratulates alumnaKatherine Melhornon her great achievements.

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Dr. George Lucas believes that if you join an organization, you should actively par-ticipate. And that he’s done.

A specialist in hand surgery, Lucas served on the board of the Wichita Clinic, held leadership positions with the American Academy of Ortho-paedic Surgeons and was president of the Medical Society of Sedgwick County in 2010.

Lucas headed the orthopedic residency pro-gram at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita for 11 years and holds that role again on an interim basis. “The residents keep you on your toes,” he says. “I learn more from them than they learn from me.”

His activities extend to the arts, including service on the advisory board of Wichita State University’s Ulrich Mu-seum of Art and the boards of the Wichita Symphony Or-chestra and Chamber Music at the Barn.

“It’s been very gratifying, what I’ve done at Cham-ber Music at the Barn and the symphony and the Ulrich,” he says. “You see that some of your efforts bear fruit. You gain more than you give.”

That’s typical of Lucas’ approach, says Kim Shank, chief operating offi cer of Via Christi Clinic.

“He’s certainly a lead-by-example person and is defi nitely in medicine for the right reason,” she says. “He sees a duty and fi lls it.”

Lucas grew up in Ohio, the oldest of four chil-dren. His mother raised them alone after their fa-ther died. The experience shaped him.

“When my family fell on hard times, the local family doctor took care of us for free. I’ve never

forgotten that. I’ve tried to use that as a model. I have never turned down a patient,” Lucas says.

He studied medicine at George Washington University and the University of Wisconsin and was attracted to the intricacy of hand surgery. “I always liked the plastic surgery part of it, and hand surgery is a good combination of soft tissue and bone.”

He’s shared those skills on medical missions to Tanzania, Honduras, Cambodia and elsewhere, treating patients and training doctors. He made ex-panding physician participation in Project Access

— which delivers donated care to low-income, underin-sured patients — his mission as medical society president.

Both Shank and Dr. H. David Wilson, former dean of the KU School of Medi-cine-Wichita, say honesty and directness are among Lucas’ strengths.

“George will tell residents what they are doing right and wrong, helping improve their tech-niques and patient interactions,” Wilson says. “That has a great infl uence on their practice with patients. That’s the kind of person you want guid-ing their training.”

Wilson says he once was having some pain in his hip and chose to seek Lucas out for advice, even though he’s a hand surgeon.

“He’s the kind of person you can trust to do what is best for you, not the hospital or for him,” Wilson says. “That’s the kind of doctor we all want.”

— Brian Whepley


DR. GEORGE LUCAS

Via Christi ClinicPHYSICIANS

Brilliant, innovative, generous, interesting.They’re among words people use to de-

scribe Dr. Dennis Ross, a nephrologist at Kan-sas Nephrology Physicians and clinical professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

“He’s an innovator,” says Dr. H. David Wilson, former dean at the medical school.

Ross is always thinking of better ways to treat pa-tients with kidney problems, Wilson says.

In 2005, Ross helped start a nighttime dialysis program, allowing patients to sleep at one of the clinics three nights a week while being treated.

“It wasn’t being done in the city at the time,” he says.

The nighttime treatments take longer — eight hours, rather than three or four — but patients feel better afterward and they keep their days free, Ross says.

Ross and his partners are try-ing to improve on that, by encouraging nighttime dialysis at home.

That involves a smaller dialysis machine con-nected by Internet to a monitoring center.

About 15 percent of the patients at Ross’ clinic are on home dialysis, far above the national average, he says.

“In the long term, I think this is the way we’re going to be going for the future,” Ross says.

Ross also has started a separate company to re-

search new treatments for kidney patients and con-duct clinical trials.

Wilson calls Ross “a leader in his fi eld.”“He’s one of those people, among many, that

Wichita is fortunate to have practicing medicine here,” Wilson says.

Ross also is generous with his money and time for causes like the Wichita Grand Opera. He sits on the board and is chairman emeritus.

Parvan Bakardiev, president and CEO of Wich-ita Grand Opera, says Ross embodies the “three Gs.” Ross gives his wisdom, gives his wealth and gives his work. He volunteers countless hours for

the opera, drum-ming up fi nancial support and tout-ing its merits for the city’s culture and quality of life, Bakardiev says.

“What you see is what you get,” Bakardiev says. “He’s generous. He works hard.

He’s brilliant.”Ross also plays saxophone, sings, is interested

in science, history, travel — the list goes on, Ba-kardiev says.

“He is an extremely interesting person to know,” Bakardiev adds. “He is a man that doesn’t rest. He always challenges himself and challenges others to improve the community.”

— John Stearns

DR. DENNIS ROSS

Kansas Nephrolog y Associates andUniversity of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita

PHYSICIANS

aula Hopkins is the consummate nurse, says colleague Joann Paul.

Hopkins, an advanced practice regis-tered nurse at Wesley Medical Center, possesses the rare blend of being both analytical and com-passionate, Paul says.

“She is a stellar communicator as well as just having that caring touch,” says Paul, Wesley’s di-rector of quality and infection prevention.

Hopkins, 58, loves what she does, but she wish-es she could do more.

“I would really like to be three people,” Hopkins says.

One person would be doing what she already specializes in at Wesley, caring for joint-replacement patients.

Another would be a specialist in pain management, an area that was a focus of her gradu-ate work.

The third person would be a hospice care nurse.

“But life just isn’t long enough,” she says.Hopkins coordinates Wesley’s Rapid Recovery

Program for joint-replacement patients. That in-cludes teaching a 1!-hour pre-surgery class for hip- and knee-replacement patients and their fami-lies, to help them understand what to expect from the surgery and how to manage their recovery. She says it’s a great opportunity to help them get a little more comfortable.

“The goal for the class is no surprises,” Hopkins says.

Then, after surgery, she follows up and takes the opportunity to teach some more.

“It’s nice to have that one consistent person that can address any concerns or questions,” she says. “For me, it’s that whole relationship build-ing. It’s that care based upon that relationship you’ve already built with that patient and that family, and you can’t do that in a shift.”

Within three days of patients’ return home from the hospital, she calls them to address any-thing that might have arisen.

Hopkins says she got into nursing because of her interest in how the body works and because she likes people.

“And I like being that person that hopefully can make a dif-ference for them,” she says.

Colleague Laurie Regehr, a nurse educator and consultant, says Hopkins is committed to professional excellence.

“I really feel like any patient that’s cared for by Paula is really fortunate to have her involved in their hospitalization, or in their

care,” Regehr says.Hopkins is a hard worker, calm, focused and

balanced in her approach to patient care, she says.

“She doesn’t just get all shook up about things easily,” Regehr says.

Paul says Hopkins could walk into any medical situation because she’s so skilled.

“If I were creating a think tank, she would be ... front and center in that group,” Paul says. “She’s very valued, and we are so blessed to have her.”

— John Stearns

hatever task Cyndi Chapman is in-volved in — pushing for kid-focused anesthesia, advocating for organ dona-

tions, building bridges among providers — better care for children is at the center.

“I love kids and the way they think,” says Chap-man, manager of the pediatric intensive care unit at Wesley Medical Center. “It’s fun to see the in-nocence and their brains and how they work and how they simplify everything us adults compli-cate.”

Chapman, a pediatric and neo-natal nurse practitioner, started at Wesley in 1982 as a newborn intensive care nurse. Except for six years at Heartspring, Wesley has been her workplace. Today, in addition to the PICU, her respon-sibilities include pediatric ambula-tory services, outpatient services, infusion therapy and dialysis.

She has helped lead the Sedgwick County Early Childhood Coordinating Council, and she has served on the Child Abuse Task Force and as Wesley’s representative to the Midwest Trans-plant Network.

Informing her roles is the belief that children and their bodies are unique. “When I fi rst got there, there was a lack of recognizing that chil-dren are not small adults. People that work with adults sometimes don’t understand that fact,” Chapman says.

Chapman advocated the creation of an anesthe-sia team specifi cally for children. That eventually included sending an anesthesiologist for a year-long pediatric fellowship and having nurses dedi-

cated to children’s care. And parents can now be with their child as anesthesia is administered — “so they’re not scared about coming back to the hospital,” she says.

“The best pediatric clinicians are ones who treat the patient as a person,” Chapman says. “The kid has an idea of what’s going on with their bodies. They can answer their own questions and give you an idea if you learn their cues.”

Colleagues cite Chapman’s gift for building bridg-es. “She knows how to use resourc-es and how to enlist support across a broad base in the interests of chil-dren,” says Kathy Neely, Wesley’s chief nursing offi cer.

Deb Voth, president of Rain-bows United, met Chapman when she was in charge of the health offi ce and outpatient services at Heartspring. Chapman knew the health part, and educated herself

about services Rainbows and others provide.“She reached out to others. She really wants to

work together and really fosters that kind of envi-ronment,” Voth says.

Pediatrics’ sobering reality guides her focus.“The kids that come to mind for me are the kids

that we’ve lost,” Chapman says. “They’re the ones that we work diligently for. If we can save one more out of any of those because we did some-thing differently. ...”

That conscience and vigilance pays off for Wes-ley, Neely says. “We are better off, and the kids are better off because she’s here.”

— Brian Whepley


CYNDI CHAPMANWesley Medical Center

NURSES

PAULA HOPKINS

Wesley Medical CenterNURSES

W

P

If anything, Bernadette Fetterolf’s career has been well-rounded. For more than three decades, she has spent time as a registered

nurse, an educator and as an education adminis-trator, often assuming multiple roles at the same time.

When it comes right down to it, Fetterolf is a teacher. She enjoys the students.

“I like their eagerness to learn,” says Fetterolf, as-sociate dean of nursing and allied health at Newman University. “I like to bring real nursing scenarios to make it real for them — to make it come alive. When they see that, they really get engaged.”

Among other accomplish-ments, Fetterolf has kept Newman University well ahead of the national average for the percentage of its stu-dents who pass the national nursing licensure exam. New-man has had the highest pass rate in the state — be-tween 93 and 100 percent — and far exceeds the 88 percent national average.

“It’s been pretty darn good,” Fetterolf says. “We teach them to take the test. They come out well pre-pared for that.”

Fetterolf grew up in Hutchinson. Her mom was a nurse, and so were two sisters.

“It wasn’t a novel idea, let’s put it that way,” Fet-terolf says.

She wasn’t in practice very long before she felt the urge to teach. She says she had a couple of com-pelling instructors in nursing school, and the idea stuck with her that she, too, could teach.

“I started part time to see if I would like it,” she says. “I loved it.” That was 31 years ago.

A recent highlight of her career was her work in changing a law that allowed nursing students to begin practicing before they obtained their full li-censes. The law contributed to higher nursing turn-over and caused headaches for hospitals. Fetterolf led the effort to require nursing students to obtain their license before beginning to practice.

Newman University Provost Michael Austin says Fetterolf exudes energy.

“She gives 100 percent all of the time,” he says. “I’ve never met anybody with her level of dedication.”

Administratively, Fetterolf has helped shape the look of Newman’s nursing program. She helped put in place a pro-gram that helps nurses with two-year degrees to obtain four-year degrees. She also

created a new health care science major.“Bernadette is just an excellent administrator for

all those programs,” says Newman President Nor-een Carrocci. “She works well with colleagues out-side of the school. ... She is known throughout this health care community and is widely respected.

She notes Newman’s high pass rate on the nation-al nursing licensure exam.

“I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me that Newman nurses are the best in town,” Carrocci says. “I don’t ask for that. People volunteer it.”

— Chris Moon

Jean Thomas was working as a medical assis-tant when she came across an article about the conversations doctors have with termi-

nally ill patients. It raised a question: If a patient is terminally ill, what do you tell them to ensure they don’t die with regrets?

Thomas thought about what she would do if she were dealt a devastating diagnosis. Her big regret was that she didn’t fi nish her education. She en-rolled at Butler Community College, where she graduated in 1993 as a nurse.

She didn’t realize at the time that she would be dealt a devastating diagnosis years later, in May 2011. Thomas went to the hospital with extreme pain that she assumed would be manageable — possibly a gallbladder problem. That’s when her life changed completely.

“It was overnight,” she says.Thomas was diagnosed with a

terminal cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GIST. There’s no cure or operation to help, she says. She was in the hospital for a month, then spent time at home, caring for herself while hooked up to an IV. Now she treats herself with a chemotherapy pill each day, with the goal of “keeping it at bay.”

She doesn’t feel well most of the time, and yet she’s back at work. Thomas works full-time as a nurse at Via Christi Clinic’s Founder’s Circle sur-gery center. She returned in September 2011.

Thomas, who has also resumed some of her barrel-racing activities since her diagnosis, says she returned to work partly because she loves it. She grew up in the country caring for animals, and now she says she loves taking care of people.

But she also missed her friends. Her colleagues were the ones who visited her constantly at the hospital, helping her deal with the diagnosis.

“They were my family,” she says, along with her signifi cant other, Rick; son, Clint; and Rick’s sons, Brett and Brandon.

Kathy Sisk, Thomas’s supervisor and the nurse who oversees the clinic’s operating room, says she wasn’t surprised when Thomas came back to work.

“She is a people person, and I think working every day keeps her going because she knows I need her,” Sisk says. “She makes a difference.”

When patients are facing dif-fi cult health news, Thomas tells them about her cancer to demon-strate that it doesn’t have to bring everything in their lives to a halt.

“I felt like this is where I needed to be,” she says.

She calls her colleagues her heroes, but Thom-as’ colleagues say she’s the inspiration.

“When you look at Jean, you don’t think about someone who is dying but instead about some-one who is living,” Sisk says.

Fellow nurse Thea Kilpatric says Thomas is a reminder to colleagues why they’re doing what they’re doing.

“She is the epitome of what nursing is,” Kilpat-ric says. “I don’t know anybody else, faced with what she’s faced with, who would continue to do her job with such grace and dignity, knowing that she’s going to die.”

— Emily Behlmann


BERNADETTE FETTEROLF

Newman UniversityHEALTH CARE EDUCATORS

JEAN THOMAS

Via Christi ClinicNURSES


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ustin Hoskins has spent a lot of time talk-ing to doctors across the city as part of his studies at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

The fourth-year medical student says Dr. An-drew Massey stands out among them.

“He’s never in a rush,” Hoskins says.Whether it is with a patient or a student, he

says, Massey always seems to have the time to listen and talk.

While some people have ex-perienced doc-tors who cruise into hospital rooms, offer quick explana-tions and then disappear just as quickly, patients of Dr. Massey see something different, Hoskins says.

“He’s willing to stay as late as he needs to stay and see the patients,” he says. “He thoroughly an-swers all the questions that patients have, which I think is probably lacking in health care today.”

Massey takes that same approach to his teaching. Hoskins says Massey often spends all day with his students, allowing them to go with him to see patients and, as Hoskins says, “to live his life as a doctor.”

Massey grew up in Nickerson and was attract-ed to medicine by his desire to help people. He attended KU and the KU School of Medicine, became fascinated with the brain and settled on neurology as his specialty.

Massey fell into teaching almost immediately

— and hasn’t stopped.“I guess it was the power of inertia,” he says. “I

never got out of it. I was thrown into it, and you learn to enjoy it.”

H. David Wilson, the former dean of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita, calls Massey a “doc-tor’s doctor.” He fi rst met Massey when the doc-tor was a resident at the University of Kentucky, where Wilson was a member of the faculty.

He says Massey is “patient almost to a fault,” tak-ing as long as necessary to explain compli-cated medical procedures to patients and their families.

“He’s kind and compas-sionate, very un-derstanding for

patients,” Wilson says. And he has to be in dealing with patients who’ve

had head trauma or strokes.“These are tragic events,” Wilson says. “Andy

is the ultimate compassionate doctor. He serves as an outstanding role model. He’s the kind of doctor we want our students to grow up to be.”

Wilson says that Wichita students like Massey so much that the school has a higher-than-normal per-centage of students who enter the fi eld of neurology.

“Every year, Dr. Massey is highlighted by students for his devotion to teaching. Every year, Andy Massey is at the top of the list. It’s incredible,” Wilson says.

— Chris Moon


DR. ANDREW MASSEY

University of Kansas School of Medicine-WichitaHEALTH CARE EDUCATORS

Nursing is about all April Lawson has known. Her fi rst job as a 16-year-old in the small town of Kiowa was as a nurse

assistant in a nursing home.“I couldn’t be a waitress,” she jokes. “I didn’t

have enough coordination to be a waitress.”But she liked nursing so much that her choice

of a career was an easy one. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Fort Hays State University.

Starting in the fi eld at such a young age makes it little surprise that Law-son has excelled at her secondary career as an educator. She serves as a preceptor — a nurse mentor — for several Kansas nursing pro-grams. Last year, she won the preceptor-of-the-year award from Newman University.

“People just had so many positive things to say about her,” says Bernadette Fetterolf, associate dean of nursing and allied health at Newman. “She goes out of her way to work with students and to teach them.”

Lawson has spent 15 years as a nurse and more than half of that time helping educate students from Newman, Wichita State and Fort Hays State universities.

“I like teaching students because they are ener-getic,” Lawson says. “It reminds you why you got into the fi eld. They’re exciting.”

But it can be challenging, too. Lawson works on a general surgical fl oor at Via Christi Hospital

on St. Francis, helping patients recover following surgeries. It can be a busy fl oor, and even more so when students are around.

But Lawson says students often provide “fresh eyes” to the things that she sees every day.

“I like the education part of it. It forces me to learn new things, too,” she says.

Fetterolf says nurses sometimes fi nd them-selves in a position to work with nursing students but don’t particularly care to teach. Things aren’t

like that with Lawson.“She likes to teach,”

Fetterolf says. “It en-hances their learning and their confi dence so much more. It just grows exponentially then.”

Lawson’s supervisor at St. Francis, Lorinda Grinstead, says it takes a lot of time and focus

to mentor nursing students, especially for the in-tensive “capstone” projects nursing students do before graduation.

“It is extra energy and time, and she always volunteers,” Grinstead says of Lawson. “She’s not someone who you have to assign a job like that.”

Grinstead says students work right alongside Lawson.

“It can be a stressful situation. (The students) are new, and they’re learning — working with pa-tients. They will know how to do those things after they’ve worked with her. They will know, and they will know the right way. She won’t let them fail.”

— Chris Moon

APRIL LAWSON

Via Christi Hospital on St. FrancisHEALTH CARE EDUCATORS

J

haron Niemann is the nurse anesthesia pro-gram at Newman University. She offi cially became its director in 2004 and is the de-

partment’s sole full-time faculty member.Though Niemann has carried the director’s title

since 2004, she has been basically running the program since she came to Newman in 1999 after working as the clinical director at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth.

“She has passionately led the program for over 12 years,” says Anne Chan-dler, director of corporate and foundation relations at Newman. “She is a very dedicated faculty member who goes above and be-yond to make sure her stu-dents are prepared to enter the work force.”

During her tenure, Newman’s nurse anesthesia program has grown from nine students to 25, and four satellite locations have been added. Students are training at more clinical sites as well, many in underserved areas of the state.

The program is for nurses who want to get a graduate-level education and become a Certifi ed Registered Nurse Anesthetist to be able to admin-ister anesthesia to patients.

Bernadette Fetterolf, Newman’s associate dean of nursing and allied health, says Niemann is able to do what she does because she is well organized, is well versed in the subject matter and connected to the fi eld through her work in private practice.

“She is a one-woman program,” Fetterolf says.

“She is just a tremendous asset to Newman and to the community.”

Niemann has spent her career working in nurs-ing or related fi elds.

She says she got into nursing because she want-ed to help people — and because nursing was one of the highest-paid jobs in her hometown of Attica, in Harper County, southwest of Wichita.

She spent plenty of time on the road in col-lege — driving from At-tica to Wichita and later from Attica to Texas — as she worked on her various nursing degrees. She says she drove 130 miles a week when she was getting her undergraduate degree at Newman and 600 miles a week while she was getting

her master’s degree from Texas Wesleyan.But the hard work paid off, and Niemann found

herself with an opportunity to work in Wichita at Newman when her husband, Greg, took a job with what is now Hawker Beechcraft Corp.

The Niemanns have two adult children, Keith, 36, and Kelli, 31, and fi ve grandchildren. A sixth is expected in February.

Niemann is involved with the steering commit-tee for the Mid-Continent Regional Center for Health Care Simulation and volunteers at The Lord’s Diner and the Sedgwick County Zoo.

Additionally, she says she enjoys riding and training horses, running, reading and spending time with her grandchildren.

— Josh Heck


SHARON NIEMANN

Newman UniversityHEALTH CARE EDUCATORS

S

hen a child is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, they and their families can fi nd themselves in the

toughest fi ght of their lives.But having someone there to help them through

that fi ght can make all the difference.That’s what makes the work of Ben Broxter-

man, formerly a child life supervisor at Wesley Medical Center, so important. He is that person willing to help them take on the fi ght.

But it takes a team to be successful, Broxterman says, and one of his most important tasks has been making sure all the team members are accounted for. Often, he says, the young patients are ready from the start. It’s making sure that their families and physicians are all com-municating that can make the biggest difference.

“Kids handle things differently,” he says. “Kids just want to go on with life. But it’s so important that everybody involved with the care of the pa-tient is part of the team.”

But the patient always remains the focal point, says Broxterman, who recently moved on from Wichita to manage the child life department at St. Christopher Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.

“You see the kids and their families on some of the hardest days they’ve ever had to face,” he says. “People come back years later and say ‘you really helped.’ That’s very rewarding.”

Among the things Broxterman helped accom-plish in Wichita was spearheading the formation

of a family advisory council and a pet therapy program at Wesley.

But there were plenty of other programs and organizations in which he helped make a differ-ence. One of those was Camp Quality Kansas, which provides year-round programs for chil-dren with cancer and their families.

The camp’s director, Susie Mooney, says Broxterman was always willing to give his time

— even if that meant just taking the time to talk with the kids. She says his departure is a loss that’s being felt.

“He is absolutely won-derful with the kids and they all love him,” Mooney says. “Our last day of camp is always sad, but with the leaving of

him and his wife, there were lots of extra tears.”Broxterman was also a group support facili-

tator for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where he once went so far as to dress up as a character from the animated movie “The Incred-ibles” to brighten the day of one of the society’s pediatric survivors.

But that wasn’t a surprise to anybody who had seen him interact with kids, says Jennifer Jones, patient services manager at the society.

“Whenever I mentioned Ben, the kids just lit up,” she says. “He was always connected to them. It was kind of his mission to do that work. It wasn’t just a job. It was part of his life.”

— Daniel McCoy

BEN BROXTERMAN

Wesley Medical CenterHEALTH CARE VOLUNTEERS

W

Patient admissions and dismissals? Flow-er delivery? Installation of kneelers at the chapel? If Via Christi Hospitals staf f

need help, Gary Wortz steps up.“Gary never says no,” says Carol Lentz-Smith,

volunteer coordinator for Via Christi’s hospitals on Harry and St. Teresa.

It’s true, Wortz says, though he jokingly blames the Via Christi leaders who are doing the asking.

“Those ladies turn on the charm,” he says. “I’m a sucker for that.”

Wortz, a retired contractor and custom furniture maker, has contributed more than 9,000 service hours to Via Christi causes in the past decade, Lentz-Smith says.

It started, Wortz says, with a desire to get free access to a gym. His wife, Marge, had been a labor and delivery nurse at Via Christi, which gave Gary ac-cess, for a small fee, to the gym at the former St. Joseph Medical Center.

Wortz was there nearly every day, and fi nally, the gym director suggested he volunteer in ex-change for free access. Then the gym closed. Wortz says Lentz-Smith recruited him to do more general volunteer work, and he found he liked it.

He’s done just about every non-clinical task that happens at a hospital. He enjoys delivering mail, which helps him get to know the hospital’s functions, and admitting and dismissing patients, which allows him meet new people.

Wortz served in 2007 and 2008 as president of the Via Christi volunteer group Partners in Caring.

He also helped to start a men’s group within the Partners in Caring organization. Wortz says he got the idea for the men’s group when he attended his fi rst meeting of what was then called the auxiliary.

“I was the only guy in the house,” he says.Wortz decided he’d try to recruit some men by

paying the organization’s membership dues — $10 for the year — for the fi rst fi ve who joined. The men’s group does most of its work outdoors, helping with cleanups, installations, painting and

other tasks.His volunteer efforts don’t

end with the hospital. Gary and Marge Wortz also vol-unteer at Gerard House, a Via Christi mission that pro-vides a home for pregnant teens and young women.

Ginger Hurst, advocate coordinator at Gerard House, says she’s called

the Wortzes for a wide variety of tasks, and they always help. Gary has “fi xed one of everything,” Hurst says. Once, the couple mowed the yard in 100-degree weather.

“And it’s a very big yard,” Hurst says.Wortz is humble about his contributions. He

says the reason he does it is because he’s the “kind of guy who hates to be sitting around.”

Lentz-Smith says despite Wortz’s modesty, he really loves what he’s doing.

“Sometimes, he’ll come back from patient visits with tears in his eyes because we made someone so happy,” she says.

— Emily Behlmann

Used to be, if you had a medical emergency in Conway Springs, help was at least 30 minutes away.

But that has changed thanks to Jim Brozovich.Brozovich founded the volunteer emergency

medical service in Conway Springs. What started out as a one-man operation 25 years ago is now a force of 14 volunteers that provides services over more than 240 square miles. And those vol-unteers takes their cue for dedication from Bro-zovich.

Brozovich was working as an emergency medi-cal technician in Argonia when he started the pro-gram in Conway Springs. He says he saw an op-portunity to truly help the people of the town in which he lived.

“It’s just such a reward to provide high-quality care to my friends and neighbors,” he says.

Today, Brozovich works full time for the Sedg-wick County EMS. But he still lives in Conway Springs and still manages the volunteer EMS.

His experience as a full-time paramedic has been a huge asset to the program in Conway Springs because it has allowed him to keep it up to date with the latest technology and training, says Jennifer Mercer, a 25-year veteran of the vol-unteer force there.

“I personally don’t think we’d be able to have the service without him,” she says.

And, Mercer says, volunteer spirit that perme-ates the program comes straight from Brozovich.

She recalls an emergency call he responded to once wearing an old T-shirt and jeans.

“He had been helping paint somebody’s house,” she says. “He is involved in the commu-nity in every way he can be.”

Conway Springs resident Sandra Harris, a cod-ing specialist at Wesley Family Medicine, says what Brozovich has done for the town is a bless-ing.

Many of the volunteers, she says, have been with the program for many years, and their readi-

ness to come to the aid of their fellow residents never ceases to amaze her. She recently organized a fundraising effort for the program, and she says that has given her a much better idea of all the work that goes into training the crew and maintaining the equipment.

“We are so fortunate to have him,” Harris says. “He does all of this while also managing to coach soccer, be active in his church and raise a family. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it.”

Brozovich, for his part, says the program has been successful because of all the people who have volunteered over the years.

“I’ve always been amazed at the people that participate,” he says. “Everything they do for the community down here is absolutely free. But it’s the same type of response and care that people with a paid service could expect.”

— Daniel McCoy


GARY WORTZ

Via Christi HospitalsHEALTH CARE VOLUNTEERS

JIM BROZOVICH

Conway Springs Volunteer EMSHEALTH CARE VOLUNTEERS


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