Senator Patricia M. McGee Award

Formerly the Award of Merit, the Senator Patricia M. McGee Award is given to an individual, group of individuals or organizations, agency or group of agencies who have made an outstanding contribution of major significance to improve the health of rural populations.  This Award was renamed the Senator McGee Award in recognition of the late Senator’s unyielding commitment to improving rural residents’ quality of life through legislation which will have a positive impact for many years to come.  Her willingness to listen and respond to constituents from her own district, and throughout NYS, including NYSARH events, was greatly appreciated.  The Awards Committee will consider broad benefits to health, innovative programs, unusual contributions or activities that provide outstanding and long lasting benefit to the public’s health and are consistent with the goals and objectives of the Association.

• If program or organization is nominated, duration of existence must be longer than three (3) years.
• Three (3) references must be sent with application that includes name, phone number, and email address of references.
• Nominees need not be NYSARH members.
• No self-nominations for this Award.  (If your organization is part of a collaboration, please note that in the description with a complete listing of all additional partners.)

Dr. Gary Ogden Rural Health Practitioner of the Year Award

The recipient of this award must be a direct service provider who has demonstrated leadership in bringing health services to citizens of rural New York.  Factors considered include:

Individual must be a provider (physician or mid-level provider)

• Must be providing outstanding care (not care that would generally be expected)
• Must be involved in the community
• Must be making a lasting contribution to the rural health care system in New York State
• Need not be a NYSARH member
• Three (3) references should be included with application material that contains name, phone number, and email address of references.
• No self-nominations

This award was renamed in honor of Dr. Gary Ogden, who passed away early in January of 2007.  Candidates for this award should exhibit the same qualities we witnessed in Gary; a passion for life, selfless dedication to their community, organization, and especially, their patients; a strong sense of truth, and the conviction, belief, and action to make dreams a reality.

Rural Health Worker of the Year

This award will be given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution of major significance to rural health in New York, is a member of the NYS Association for Rural Health, or an employee of a member of NYSARH, and is actively involved in health in NY.  Consideration shall be given to all areas of health.  Nomination information should indicate that the individual’s efforts have gone beyond what is normally expected and are exemplary of dedication to the advancement of the health of the public.

• Please include nominee’s complete name, title, address, phone number, and email address in nomination form.
• Three (3) references should be included with application material that includes name, phone number, and email address.
• No self-nominations

Outstanding Rural Health Program

This award recognizes a community-wide, regional or statewide program involving one or more health care professionals, or entities that promote or facilitate the development of the rural health care delivery system.  If a collaborative effort, please describe in detail the role each organization plays or played and the impact the program will have on the community in the future.  If a one-time event, but can be modeled in other communities, please clarify those factors that can be replicated.  Factors taken into consideration include:

• Coordination of system services with other health care agencies to avoid duplication of services, thereby maximizing the return on time and finances invested.
• Networking and collaboration with other health care entities to achieve common goals.
• Innovation in the development and implementation of the program.
• Lasting impact on the community, State, or region.

Additional information regarding applicant:

• Three (3) references must be sent with application including name, phone number, and email address.
• Nominees need not be NYSARH members.
• No self-nominations for this Award.  (If your organization, however, is part of a collaboration, please note that in the description with a complete listing of all additional partners

NYSARH presented its annual awards on September 19th at the Annual Conference in Lake Placid, NY 2011 Award Recipients

Dr. Joseph Mathey -  Dr. Gary Ogden Rural Health Practitioner of the Year Award

Dr. Mathey is a family doctor who has practiced family center medicine for almost 40 years, both as part of a group practice and as the medical director of a fortune 500 company headquarters in a small community.

An example of family centered care includes assisting patients with chronic or terminal illness and establishing the support systems they need. In one instance this included going out of his way to help an adult child find local employment so they could return home to provide support for a dying parent.

He goes out of his way and spends endless hours to assist patients with obtaining specialty medical services both locally and at specialty centers all over the country. Many times this has included traveling with his patient on his own time to assist them with navigating larger and more complex health care systems as well as providing moral support.  He often spends hours researching new and non-conventional therapies and treatments that his patients bring to his attention to help them evaluate the pros and cons.

He is an advocate of wellness and assists his patients by providing direction and resources to assist them with establishing a healthy lifestyle to include diet, exercise and mental well-being, using his own struggles with diabetes often as an example.

He has mentored several young adults in the community to help prepare them for futures in the health care profession, to include shadow experiences and personally writing 100s of letters of recommendation as well as helping students connect with institutions and other health care professionals.  He personally has recruited many health professional to the area, most notably his cousin obstetrician and gynecologist Nancy King.

He has followed many of his patients for several years, several from birth to adulthood. He can recognize problems that patients may not recognize on their own. An example was a patient who made an appointment to be treated for what they thought was a respiratory infection, only to find out after observation and further exam that the patient was walking around with an eminent cardiac event that was avoided by early intervention.

He still does home visits and is almost always available for his patients, even when he is traveling or when they are traveling, regardless of time of day. It is not uncommon for a businessman or patient to call from China or some remote region of the world when they have a health concern while travelling for business or pleasure.

During his years as Medical Director of Corning Inc., he used his position to initiate the company’s first wellness program and to initiate Corning as one of the first tobacco free corporations in the 1980s prior to state legislation. He established a Nationally Benchmarked Employee Assistance Program to assist employees and their families with emotional and mental and social issues including addiction and drug abuse. He established relationships with many rehab centers and has helped 100s of patients at Corning and in the community seek and obtain the care they needed to return to a normal productive life.   He also used his position at Corning to secure dental equipment and supplies for the local health ministries.

As a member of the community for over 30 years he has provided his services to include medical coverage for local sporting events, marathons, band trips and a variety of service organization events. His roles have included town health officer, and school physician at the elementary, middle, high school and community college level. He has been known to meet a family on a Saturday or Sunday to complete the camp or sports physical that had been overlooked and rendered the child ineligible to play or attend camp. Together with his wife they have shared their time and talents in support of local organizations and fundraising events to include the United Way, Children’s Miracle Network, and Race for the Cure, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, serving on the board of the Red Cross for many years and was instrumental in securing organizational support for the local YMCA.

He was honored in 2003 by the local Rotary club as a Paul Harris Fellow for his many contributions to the community and “service above self”. During this ceremony, James Houghton then chairman and CEO of Corning Inc. described Dr. Mathey with the following “Your care, your caring, your sensitivities to what is needed not only for the body but for the soul is unsurpassed”.  

Dr. Mathey was also given the 2010 Steuben Rural Health Network Outstanding Service to Rural Health Care Award.  He was nominated for this award by his patient, Debby Tally, President of Diabetes on Target. 

Shelley Hirshberg, P2 Collaborative of Western New York- Senator Patricia M. McGee Award