She’s A Hero
August 19th, 2011by Alina Trowbridge
Last month we announced that Dr. Ana Valdes, Medical Director of St. Anthony’s Clinic, was a finalist for a Healthcare Hero Award. It’s high time to announce that she won.
The San Francisco Business Times launched the new awards to honor professionals who go above and beyond to make the Bay Area healthier by delivering quality care, advocating for patients, innovating new technology or educating the community about health issues.
Dr. Ana was recognized for increasing healthcare access to the underserved. Interestingly enough, one of her achievements that most interested her healthcare peers was synchronizing St. Anthony’s electronic medical records with the coding system at San Francisco General Hospital. This made St. Anthony’s the city’s first low-income clinic to do so. It sounds technical, but coordinating with SF General means that all the doctors who serve a low-income patient have the same information. A more complete history means better care and more possibility for progress.
The magazine also cited the brand new breast health program Dr. Ana has started in the Clinic, based on an outreach model she created for diabetes patients and later for asthma patients. All three programs help patients who have a hard time keeping up with their healthcare come into the Clinic, check on progress, and make a plan for managing disease.
St. Anthony’s Executive Director and Clinic patients had good things to say about Dr. Valdes.
“It’s that combination of inherent compassion and leadership that helped Ana create a cutting-edge model for our clinic,” said Shari Roeseler, St. Anthony’s Executive Director.
Ramon Maciel, a 60-year-old diabetic patient of Dr. Valdes’ , said: “She’s the best doctor I’ve ever known.”
All of us at St. Anthony’s congratulate, and thank, Dr. Ana Valdes for the amazing things she’s done in the Clinic.
To see the whole story, go to the San Francisco Business Times web site: www.bizjournals.com
Tags: dr. ana valdes, medical clinic, staff