2nd Annual Doctors Making A Difference

Medical Professional Nominees Making a Difference Registered Nurse Barb Jensen, Evergreen Hospital Medical Center, Kirkland Dr. Steven Ratcliffe, Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Bellevue Dr. Ash C. Patel, Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Bellevue Physician Assistant Shelby Dobbs, Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Bellevue Dr. Tom Lindquist, Group Health  Bellevue Medical Center Dr. Robert Nohle, Group Health  Redmond and Bellevue Medical Center Registered Nurse Julie Grimm, Group Health Bellevue Medical Center Dr. Phillip Milam, private practice, Duvall Dr. Nick Bagnaro, Redmond Spinal Center Dr. Christie Bagnaro, Redmond Spinal Center Dr. Marcia C. Jordan, Women’s & Family Health Specialists, Renton Registered Nurse Karen Anderson, Bellevue Medical Partners The late Dr. John Kent McCormick, Evergreen Orthopedic Center,  Kirkland, Monroe, Redmond Dr. Ajay Dhankhar, Issaquah Valley Dental Care Dr. Gavin Dry, private practice, Kirkland Vice-President Kevin Brown, Swedish Medical Center clinic, Issaquah   Dr. William Kinnish, Swedish Medical Center clinic, Issaquah Dr. Nadine Egger, Egger Orthodontics, Issaquah

Last year, we featured doctors who are making a difference on the Eastside. The article was incredibly well read and afterward we heard about a lot more doctors and other professionals in the medical community who are worthy of recognition, too.  So we combed through nominations from their colleagues, and e-mails and letters from 425 readers who recommended their favorite physicians, and we are pleased to introduce you to the 2009 “Doctors Making a Difference” honorees. And we mention all the nominees, as well!

Striving for a Healthier World
Dr. Patricia Boiko, Family Physician at Group Health Cooperative Factoria Medical Center, Bellevue
Dr. Patricia Boiko recently returned from a six-month sabbatical to Rwanda, where she and her husband, Karl, provided volunteer hospital assistance, helping doctors implement basic life-saving strategies such as mosquito nets and de-worming.

“I worked with (Karl) teaching public health and medicine to young Rwandan physicians. I also did a needs assessment and made a documentary about the Batwa (Pygmy) people of Rwanda,” she said. “My husband started (Coffee Rwanda) as a philanthropy to use Rwandan resources to fund the public health work with the Batwa and the Young Doctors Organization. He buys coffee from Rwanda, and, for a donation, people here can get delicious coffee that funds these projects — 100 percent of the profit goes to these projects.”

Closer to home, Boiko has evaluated the care experience for the developmentally disabled adult population at Factoria Medical Center. She strives to better serve patients who need more assistance “getting through the system.”

Boiko is originally from Queens, New York. “I’m proud that I got out of the ghetto and have my dream job as a family doctor, have a wonderful husband of 30 years and two great kids, and that my family of origin is close and wonderful,” she said. Boiko studied at Queens College and Cornell University’s School of Medicine before heading to the University of Washington for a fellowship. Now she embraces the Pacific Northwest lifestyle with a daily commute from Seattle to Bellevue for work. Like the true pioneer she is, Boiko makes the journey on a bike.

Along with continuing to work as a family doctor and work on the public health program in Rwanda, Boiko hopes to continue to make films.
 
A Medical Historian in the Making
Dr. Robert Clawson, orthopaedic surgeon at Northwest Orthopaedic Clinic, Seattle
Medical historians bring to the public’s awareness inspiring stories of discovery, miraculous recovery, innovation and courage. Using his own 34 years of medical experience and through extensive research and interviews, Dr. Robert Clawson is hoping to produce a medical documentary about the sweeping changes and improvements in trauma care. He notes many advancements in life-saving techniques were inspired by local doctors at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, such as the creation of the first 24/7 modern “trauma center.” Trauma Centers around the world are now staffed and often ran by physicians who were trained at Harborview. Clawson wants to tell that story.

“Physicians doing the right thing, at the right time for the right reasons are appropriate in this time of ‘health care crisis’ and change.  This story is a powerful example of that ethic,” the doctor said.

When he’s not acting as a medical historian working on his documentary, he’s working one-on-one with his patients. His orthopaedic emphasis includes joint replacements, arthroscopy and fracture care. He often replaces hips and knees, combining the fields of technology and biology to help restore mobility to his patients.  “The surgical benefit for patients and the intellectual challenge of staying abreast of the ever-changing equipment and techniques in this specialty have been rewards for me professionally,” he said. “The diversity of problems presented by patients holds endless interest. Two surgical days with multiple cases and hospital rounds daily complete a typical week. Ten to 12-hour days are not unusual.”

Clawson, who lives on Hunts Point, was drawn to medicine thanks to his parents’ encouragement and because two of his uncles were doctors. “They were role models and showed me the wonder of surgery and the gratification of the work.”

From Dakota to the Dominican
Dr. Dick Hoistad, Otologist/Neurotologist, Minor & James Medical, Bellevue
Dr. Dick Hoistad was raised on a farm near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, and he credits his rural upbringing for teaching him valuable lessons that he’s carried into his medical career. “On the farm, on a daily basis, some problem occurred or something broke and (we) needed to be accountable,” he said. “We had to resolve the problem in order to continue with the work that needed to be completed. And we were dependant on one another working together, which is something central to medicine as well.”

Hoistad’s subspecialty, otology/neurotology, is his passion ...“Every day I’m trying to improve the quality of a patient’s life either through better hearing or balance, or possibly their ability to smile. The demands can be great at times and at other times extremely gratifying. It’s an opportunity, privilege and an honor to provide care for patients and to have the ability to work alongside other physicians to try to improve or understand what the patient’s problem may be.”
 
Since 2000, each year Hoistad and a team of colleagues have traveled to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic to provide care to the indigent people and educate care providers in those countries. “We participate in one to two missions a year with the continued commitment to return to the same areas and hospitals to follow up on those patients, their families and to reach out to new patients in need,” he said. The group, called Medical Mission to the Middle of the World, aims to continue their efforts for the next 25 years.

And back on the Eastside, Hoistad says he’d like to eventually understand and find treatments for those relatively common problems that are still very difficult to treat, such as tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and sudden hearing loss.

Bringing it Home
Dr. David A. Lundin, Medical Director, Washington Neuroscience Institute, Neurosurgery Spine Center, Renton
Bellevue born and raised, Dr. David A. Lundin specializes in complex and minimally invasive spinal surgery. “One of my best friends growing up died after a motor vehicle accident where he suffered a traumatic brain and spine injury,” he said. Combined with an interest in the nervous system discovered in college, this catastrophic event led Lundin to the field of neurosurgery. Within his first year at the University of Washington School of Medicine, he focused on neurosurgery and ultimately graduated at the top of his class.

Lundin spent a year in London working at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital, the neurosurgery hospital where the brain CT scanner was invented. “Working in a health system with universal access to care was inspiring,” he said, “It gave us the freedom to treat patients without the barriers of insurance companies or the fear of high payments that stress patients and families in already stressful times of illness.”

Lundin also traveled to Sri Lanka, where he worked with the chief of neurosurgery in their national hospital. “With a population twice that of New York City and only one head neurosurgeon, the amount of work to be done and the severity of the illnesses due to a lack of access made me feel extremely fortunate to work and live in the U.S.,” he said.

He usually spends more than 12 hours at work, beginning at 6 a.m. and wrapping up around 7 p.m. with little time for lunch between surgery, meetings, patient rounds and administrative duties. But the hours spent are worth it when his patients follow up. “I had a patient travel to China to walk the Great Wall pain-free after a successful surgery. He could barely walk half a block before.”

“Working with a diverse group of patients and families who suffer from complex conditions and giving them hope that they can return to active and healthy lifestyles are what I like most about my job.”

Serving Those Who Serve
Dr. Daniel Pepper, vascular, general and thoracic surgeon and founder of Lake Washington Vascular, PLLC, with offices connected to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland and a vascular lab at the Medical Center of Issaquah.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were requiring repeated activations of reservists, the U.S. military took the unusual step of asking for volunteer civilian trauma surgeons and vascular surgeons to help in the one of the largest U.S. hospitals outside of the United States — Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southwest Germany, near Ramstein Airbase. 

Dr. Daniel Pepper and his wife, Vangie, who is a registered nurse, went to Germany last September and volunteered for two weeks. “I have never served in the armed forces, and leaving all politics stateside, I felt that helping our troops for two weeks was a very small contribution I could make to these soldiers who are, after all, our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers,” Pepper said.  

Pepper’s role model was his father, a B-17 pilot in the Air Force who was also a surgeon. His father would often take him on rounds as a boy. “He was intelligent, tolerant, curious, and intensely ethical. I remember the smell of the antiseptic soaps on his hairy arms, and the smell of mercurochrome and rubbing alcohol in the white-tiled halls of the community hospital where he practiced.” Lake Washington Vascular provides consultation and surgical care for diseases involving arteries and veins of the body (non-cardiac). Professionally, he’s extremely proud of his entire team and personally, he’s proud of all of his grown daughters.

When it’s time to retire, he plans to travel with his wife and volunteer where there are medical needs. “(I) am confident that my partners have the skills, wisdom, and maturity to carry on our goals of providing great vascular surgery care for the Eastside for decades to come without me.”

Gifts of Health and Literacy
Dr. Sonja Maddox, Family Medicine Doctor at Pacific Medical Centers in Renton
Dr. Sonja Maddox gives a new book to children 6 months old to 5 years old during their well child exams at Pacific Medical Centers in Renton, where she practices family medicine. “We use the book as a tool to observe how the child interacts with the book, but also as a reminder to talk to families about the value of reading to their children,” she said. “I have met families who did not realize that a 6-month-old would enjoy reading. The process of reading together helps language development, increases the chances of reading becoming an enjoyed activity by the child as well as increases chances of school success.” Maddox is able to give books to kids thanks to the national Reach Out and Read program.

Maddox was raised in Federal Way and received her undergraduate and medical degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. She had always been a good student, excelling in math and science, but when her mother was diagnosed with a nonmalignant brain tumor it got her thinking about medicine as a career. “I like the idea of being able to help other people, as my mom’s doctors helped her,” Maddox said. She is happy with her career choice.

“I enjoy working with patients over time and getting to know them,” she said. “I really love working with multigenerational families. I get so excited when there is an issue that with a fixable solution and after discussion my patient takes action and makes the needed change. It makes me really happy.”

When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and her daughter, taking pictures and traveling. “I want to continue to be a good example to my daughter,” she said. “And remind her she can be whatever she wants to be when she grows up.”

What Matters Most
Dr. Priscilla Madsen, Group Health Cooperative Pulmonary Clinic, Bellevue
One of the few pulmonologists trained in interventional pulmonary procedures, Dr. Priscilla Madsen cares for patients whose life spans are sometimes shortened by cancer and other terminal illnesses.

“I was born to do medicine,” said Madsen. “I’ve been fascinated by it ever since my childhood.” Her love of medicine set her on a difficult path: Madsen paid her way through college and partially through medical school by working as a paramedic. “I had many people tell me I wouldn’t make it along the way, and most of the people I worked with on the ambulance who were trying to go to college didn’t make it. It took a lot of dedication, hard work and sacrifice.”

Madsen’s tough attitude and ability to see the big picture enables her to provide excellent care to her beloved patients. “The other day, I listened to a woman talk about what she’d gotten out of the last few months of therapy aimed at palliating her symptoms of shortness of breath — the chance to hold a grandbaby twice and to attend a beloved uncle’s birthday celebration,” the doctor said. “When I turned around, the nurse who was listening to us talk was crying. It’s a humbling experience to watch people sort out what’s really important to them to accomplish before they die and then help them achieve their goals. It’s also an honor. I would do nothing else.”

When asked if there was a question we should have asked her, she said we should come follow her around the clinic for a day. “The experience is worth far more than words.”

Reconstructing Young Lives
Dr. Marshall T. Partington, Director at Longevity Plastic Surgery Center, Redmond
Dr. Marshall T. Partington went into medicine “to build a life of purpose; to seek a blend of intellectual challenge and heartfelt compassion.” And it would seem he’s found a perfect blend in the field of cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.

Partington considers his odds-defying microsurgeries on young patients to be among his most fulfilling accomplishments. “The 10-year-old boy whose leg we reattached after being severed by a train; the 4-year-old girl whose legs were tragically run over by a riding lawnmower and is today the star of her high school field hockey team; the infant born with a diseased liver incompatible with life,” he said. “After removal of the peanut-sized, shriveled organ, we transplanted a small segment of the grateful mother’s liver into the baby who went on to thrive.”

Partington says that if he could have a legacy, he’d like to be “a Robin Hood of plastic surgery” through donating his time and skills as a volunteer surgeon for Interplast, the first international, not-for-profit organization to provide free reconstructive surgery to children in underdeveloped countries. “Nothing can be as rewarding as renewing the esteem of a young child who has been traumatized by the outcome of injury or disease,” he said. In his experience, the team typically performs 10 to 12 reconstructive surgeries a day, merely 24 hours after their plane lands. “At least twice a year I travel, at my own expense, to reach out to these children. The cosmetic surgery I perform here at home helps me support this charitable effort in places such as China, Mongolia, The Philippines, Ecuador, Brazil and most recently, Mali, Africa.”

Logs, Legs and Landmines
Dr. Pierce Scranton, Jr., Orthopedics International Ltd., Evergreen Hospital Medical Center campus, Kirkland
Dr. Pierce Scranton always has been interested in anatomy, sports injuries and injury correction. From 1980 to 1997, he was team physician for the Seattle Seahawks and president of the NFL Physicians Society. But before, to pay for college, Scranton logged in Alaska. “The spar trees and guy wires and chokers that we used to pull logs in somehow clicked with my brain when I arrived on an orthopedic ward in 1971,” he said. “Everyone with broken bones was lying in traction with all sorts of pulleys and wires holding their healing legs out straight. It just fit.”

Being an orthopedic surgeon suits him not only intellectually, but also emotionally. “The worst part of the job is to awaken at night worrying about someone who is not doing well, who has a problem, an infection or a blood clot, or poor motion or pain,” he said. “I will lie awake all night and worry about what needs to be done; what, if anything, might I have forgotten, to make them better.”

Scranton says he does about 500 surgeries a year that are mainly knee reconstructions involving either arthroscopy, ACL reconstructions or total joint replacement.

He also established the Outreach and Education Fund for the AOFAS and created the ongoing missions each year to Vietnam to help treat landmine victims and the disabled. “I initially raised $2.8 million to get it going, and it is now in its eighth year and over 500 disabled adults and children have been treated,” he said. “Four surgeons go each year — two weeks each, and they each receive far more than they can give.”

“The best part of my job is to see the look on someone’s face as they walk into my office after a successful surgery, and all that pain, fear and anxiety are gone. Now they have their life back and the opportunity to live it to the fullest.”

 

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