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Champions of Health Care saluted for service, innovation,but worry about lack of access for some low-income patients
Champions of Health Care
* Dr. Jackson Yium and Dr. Michael Carr - Lifetime Achievement Award winners for leaving a legacy on the quality and delivery of health care.* Dr. Mack Worthington and Dr. Coleman Arnold - Physician Excellence award winners for performance considered exemplary by patients and peers.* Tennessee Interventional and Imaging Associates - Innovation in Health Care Award winner for its scientific advances in blood clotting treatment.* Project Access - Community Outreach award winner for helping solve a community health problem* Charlotte Smalley - * Non-physician Practitioner award winner for her service as a nurse practitioner* Dr. Walter Puckett - Health Care Volunteer award winner for serving as the only medical director for Project Access* Martha Weeks - Administrative Excellence award winner for serving as chief nursing officer at Erlanger North hospital
The doctors and nurses honored Wednesday as "Champions of Health Care" in Chattanooga highlighted the medical advances made locally during their careers.
But one award-winning physician warned that many working low-income Tennesseans are still being left out of the state-of-the-art health care system.
The Times Free Press and Edge magazine on Wednesday recognized nine individuals and groups for advancing medical care in Chattanooga during the first Champions of Health Care award ceremony. The honorees included surgeons who have pioneered new procedures in Chattanooga, as well as doctors, nurses and civic leaders who have extended care to low-income people in Chattanooga and around the world through their volunteer efforts.
Dr. Coleman Arnold, a surgeon recognized as a top physician, and Dr. Michael Carr, a pediatric surgeon selected as a winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, were honored for their work performing surgeries during numerous medical mission trips to Third World countries around the globe.
They and other local physicians and nurses also have volunteered their services to building Project Access, the 12-year-old effort that has provided more than $145 million worth of free medical care in Hamilton County. Project Access, which won the Community Outreach Award, coordinates charity care with 14 community health centers, three hospital systems with seven campuses and many other community programs.
"The heart of this program is the more than 900 volunteer physicians and other health care providers who offer their healing arts to our patients. Virtually every doctor in this room has been part of Project Access," Rae Bond, executive director for the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Medical Society and director of Project Access, told more than 300 health care and community leaders gathered for the awards luncheon at The Chattanoogan. "Together our partners transform and save lives by putting the gift of healing to those most in need."
Dr. Walter Puckett, a retired cardiologist who serves as the medical director for Project Access, said Chattanooga's volunteer service is exemplary. But he urged government to do more to make up for the gaps in medical coverage.
"It's great in Chattanooga to have Project Access, but who is responsible for such care in other counties across the state?" Puckett asked after being named a Champion of Health Care. "It's really important that our state Legislature and our federal government get their plan together to care for the working poor."
The Tennessee Legislature has so far rejected bids to expand Medicaid coverage in Tennessee under the Affordable Care Act, and Congress has yet to develop a cost-effective plan for medical care for many Americans, Puckett said.
"The Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable," Puckett said. "Medicaid in Tennessee is no longer accepting new patients. So unless we ask the question of who is going to step up to bat, we're lost."