Western Arizona Regional Medical Center Doctors Honored National Doctors Day by Making a Donation

4/10/2023

This article originally appeared in Mohave Valley Daily News on April 2, 2023. It was written by DK McDonald. The original article can be viewed here.

BULLHEAD CITY — Western Arizona Regional Medical Center doctors honored National Doctors Day by donating their celebratory gift fund to two local charities.

At WARMC's dinner honoring the doctors, hosted by Laughlin Ranch, checks of $1,000 were presented to both Legacy Foundation Christine Stamper Center for Help & Hope, 1594 North Oatman Road, and Bullhead City Senior Nutrition Center Meals on Wheels, 2275 Trane Road.

"This means everything," said Cathy Peterson, Catholic Charities executive director in Northern Arizona. "We appreciate the generosity — we're serving 175 to 200 meals every day, and with inflation that's a little tough. So this will help us with food."

Meals on Wheels Board President Irene Reyna said, "The donation means we'll be able to feed more of our seniors. We currently ask for a donation of $3 for a meal, but we don't refuse anyone. We really appreciate WARMC for this donation."

National Doctors Day is celebrated every March 30, in recognition of the anniversary of the first administration of anesthesia by Dr. Crawford W. Long in Jefferson, Georgia, in 1842.

WARMC has noted National Doctors Day every year for the past 30 years, said WARMC Chief of Staff Waheed Zehri. Every doctor with admitting privileges to the hospital was invited this year to the celebratory dinner and recognition ceremonies.

"Every year, the hospital gets gifts for the doctors for National Doctors Day," he said. "Sometimes an iPad or something else like that. The doctors decided we don't want the gift this year — instead, we wanted this money to go to nonprofit organizations in the community. The medical executive committee decided that taking care of our seniors and our homeless populations was most important, so we decided to donate that money to Meals on Wheels and the Catholic Charities homeless shelter."

WARMC CEO and event emcee Brent Parsons said, "Doctors work hard, and they are often the ones who are thanked the least. We set aside one day to give to them, so they can know how appreciative the entire community is of what they do. What I find so awesome is what they decided to do for Doctors Day this year is donate back to the community. That's really impressive to me."

The ceremonies included service awards to every doctor with 10 or more years affiliation with the hospital, and six certificates were awarded to doctors in categories voted on by their peers, including the Champagne Award for most sparkling Personality, Most Likely To Survive the Hunger Games award, and the Grandma's Dumplings award for the most comforting personality.

"I think it is incredible, because when I stand here I feel like I'm in a room of greatness," said WARMC's Board of Trustees Chairman Teri Tomlinson in her address to the doctors. "You inspire me — I know I speak for the board when I say thank you to every one of you for committing to staying here, for taking care us, for getting up day after day and coming into the hospital, doing surgeries, making decisions and treating patients. Thank you."

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