The Ninth Annual John Whitty Award Celebration Friday, August 11, 2017
Schedule of Events As Bay Area Hospital plans for the future, we reflect on how far we have come and acknowledge those who are an integral part of this worthwhile journey. The annual John Whitty Award for Excellence was established in 2009 to recognize individuals dedicated to improving the health and the well-being of our community. Many people can share a vision John Whitty Award winners roll up their sleeves and do the hard work to make the vision a reality. 6:00 Hors d oeuvres and Beverages 7:00 Program Welcome Barbara Bauder Thomas McAndrew, MD Donna Rabin, MD Friends and Colleagues Presentation of Award John Whitty Thomas McAndrew, MD James Martin 7:45 Dinner Entertainment
Bay Area Hospital Community Foundation honors James Martin, md for his dedication and exceptional contribution to the health of our community
James Martin, MD, isn t known for sitting still. His hobbies have sent him speeding around tracks in race cars, traveling the globe, and exploring country roads by bicycle; but while he s been on the move in his personal life, for more than 40 years he has kept his professional roots deeply planted in Coos Bay. Dr. Martin moved to the Oregon Coast with his wife, Georgia, and their two sons in 1973, becoming Coos Bay s only psychiatrist. As anyone who worked in his office will tell you, the role came with a busy schedule. Kimberly Davidson worked for Dr. Martin for more than two decades and saw his dedication to mental health firsthand. When I started back in 1989, he was working at his private clinic, he was still going over to Coos County Mental Health once a week, he was working with the folks at the Nancy Devereux Center, and he was part time at the former Pacific Child Center, while also working at the hospital all by himself, Davidson says. He was the guy, and he made it look easy.
Throughout his career Dr. Martin also worked as the chief of staff at Bay Area Hospital, served as the president of the Southwestern Oregon Medical Society, and was even a delegate to the Oregon Medical Association. Before moving to the Oregon Coast, he made huge contributions to the mental and physical well-being of folks in his home state of Idaho. He helped develop an inpatient psychiatric unit and started a free clinic, which to this day continues to serve uninsured and underinsured clients with dental and medical care. Dr. Martin started down the path to a career in psychiatry as a teenager. Back in high school, I got interested in psychology. At the time I had little information about the field but probably could have used a little therapy myself, he jokes. His interests soon expanded beyond the mind. He wanted to understand personality development but also the medical basis of various emotional problems and mental illnesses and the role that psychotherapy and medication could play in helping those issues. It was that quest for understanding that led him to a career in psychiatry. He was the guy, and he made it look easy.
He went on to attend the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where a nursing student, Georgia Hansgen, caught his eye. I had a job in the library, and I met her when she came in to study, Dr. Martin recalls. In fact, a classmate introduced me to her because he had started dating her. Of course, that classmate didn t date her for very long. Georgia and Jim were married in 1960, in a ceremony officiated by his father, Albert Martin, a retired Methodist minister. The newlyweds finished school, and a few years later Dr. Martin joined the US Air Force.
He played an important role as the only psychiatrist for a specialized correctional program rehabilitating air force offenders who had been court-martialed. It was the only program of its kind, and it proved to be successful: about 80 percent of the individuals who entered the program returned to service. After discharge from the air force, Dr. Martin and his young family moved back to Idaho, where he entered private practice for five years in Pocatello. Finally, it came time for the Martins to decide where they would call home. Inspired by a brief internship in San Diego, they looked to settle on the West Coast, and they made their home in Southern Oregon. Dr. Martin hung out a shingle in Coos Bay, and Georgia, who had spent the past few years working as a psychiatric nurse, stayed home with their sons, Arlan and Loren. Dr. Martin s practice was busy from the very beginning.
He was the only psychiatrist here for so many years, and on-call, and he was gone a lot, Georgia recalls. But it wasn t long before she joined her husband s practice, doing biofeedback and counseling. For a year Dr. Martin traveled between North Bend s Keizer Memorial Hospital and Coos Bay s McCauley Hospital, but that changed in 1974, when Bay Area Hospital opened its doors. Dr. Martin was there, transferring patients into the new facility. Over the years various psychiatrists came to town and eventually moved on, but Dr. Martin remained dedicated to the area, selflessly giving care to anyone who came through his door or gave him a call. He s just so incredibly kind. He s comforting, Davidson says. People would come to the clinic, and they would feel better just by being there. Davidson says that Dr. Martin s office was a haven for so many people. Patients would often stop by, even without an appointment, just to escape the chaos of everyday life and gain a sense of relief. Over the years the office staff became like a family, and a 20-plus-year career at Dr. Martin s office was the status quo. Going to work was a pleasure, Davidson says. It was really just like going home every day. He s just so incredibly kind. He s comforting. People would come to the clinic, and they would feel better just by being there.
Bay Area Hospital opened its own outpatient clinic in 2005, and it wasn t long before Dr. Martin joined the team. He became a hospital employee in 2008, and his office became the hospital s new Outpatient Psychiatric Services Unit. He s always been on the move, Georgia says. Sometimes I wish he would slow down a little. But it was hard to slow down after going full speed in a profession for half a century. Dr. Martin says that despite the stress and all the work that went into the job, he didn t even consider retirement until the past few years. In some way or another, I felt like I could probably keep going for another 100 years, just doing what I was doing, he says. Dr. Martin is finally tapping the brakes on his career and starting a new journey with his wife. He officially resigned from the hospital in January 2017, though he is still on-call twice a week and works one weekend per month. He says that medicine was more than a career to him; it was his passion.
I think when somebody finishes any career, they have to think carefully about what s going to be next, he says. While he pensively determines what s around the bend, don t expect to see him twiddling his thumbs. Dr. Martin and Georgia have a lengthy to-do list. They are ready to start the engine on their monster truck and take a fifthwheel trailer on adventures across the United States. They re looking forward to attending concerts, riding their bicycles, spending time with family, and putting their new golf clubs to good use. In some way or another, I felt like I could probably The keep Ninth going for Annual another 100 years, just doing what I was doing. John Whitty Award Celebration
In Appreciation Looking back on his career, James Martin, MD, expresses his profound appreciation for his office staff, in particular Sylvia Stoddard, Kim Davidson, and, since he joined the hospital staff, Connie Yeager. He says he feels that many patients came in to see them as much as him. Dr. Martin also expresses his pleasure and relief that Pallav Pareek, MD, and Robert Gerber, MD, are taking over the reins and with that the responsibility of both inpatient and outpatient programs at Bay Area Hospital. James and Georgia Martin
Bay Area Hospital Board of Directors Mike Gordon Thomas McAndrew, MD Lynn Menashian Donna Rabin, MD, Chair Mark Sheldon Barbara Taylor Bay Area Hospital Community Foundation Advisory Committee Joe Benetti Troy Cribbins Jon Hanson Basil Pittenger, MD Thomas McAndrew, MD, Chair Toni Poole Trish Price Arnie Roblan Patty Scott Eva Shimotakahara John Sweet John Whitty Paul Janke Bay Area Hospital President/Chief Executive Officer Barbara Bauder Chief Development Officer www.bayareahospital.org 1521