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Dr. Risha Raven Named Family Physician Of Year |
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DIXON, IL – KSB Medical Group physician Risha Raven, MD, has been honored with the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians’ (IAFP) highest honor, the Family Physician of the Year award.
Family physicians from around the state gathered at the IAFP Annual Awards banquet on Saturday in Oak Brook to honor Dr. Raven’s outstanding contributions to family medicine. “The greatest reward is knowing that you make a difference in people's lives,” said Dr. Raven, who practices family medicine at the KSB Center for Health Services – Polo Clinic. “I enjoy catching babies. I enjoy seeing them grow.“I enjoy getting people to quit smoking and start exercising and have talks with their families about ‘what to do if’ scenarios before they are needed.”The Family Physician of the Year was chosen from candidates nominated directly by patients and colleagues. The award is presented annually to an outstanding family physician who illustrates the values and vision of the family doctor. He or she is a role model for the community and sets the standard for healthcare delivery. The IAFP Public Relations Task Force and Board of Directors selected the recipient from an amazing pool of family physician nominees.IAFP’s 2001 Family Physician of the Year, Arvind K. Goyal, MD, of South Barrington, nominated Dr. Raven.Dr. Raven has led the Polo satellite site for KSB Medical Group since 2000, where she provides family medicine and obstetrics services to this rural community of 2,500 people. She’s an avid community volunteer with youth-focused activities. At the other end of the life spectrum, Dr. Raven served as medical director for the local nursing home for five years.She and her husband, Alan Fennel, and their children make up a busy family raising animals and growing much of their own food on the family farm.Kristine Dollmeyer, RN at the Polo clinic, said Dr. Raven’s direct patient care is inspiring.“Dr. Raven spends 90 percent of her time in direct patient care, whether it’s at the office, the hospital, precepting the residents or working at the volunteer care clinic,” Kristine said. “Her expansive knowledge base and diverse interests have endeared her not only to her patients from newborn to the elderly, but to the community.”Dr. Raven also is on faculty of the University of Illinois - Rockford Rural Residency Track at KSB, where she was honored as its Faculty Physician of the Year earlier this year. The Family Physician of the Year award was presented by IAFP president Patrick Tranmer, MD, of Chicago and 2002 IAFP Family Physician of the Year John Sage, MD, who is a member of the IAFP Public Relations Task Force charged with selecting the Family Physician of the Year. Dr. Raven said patients everywhere are facing conditions that make receiving appropriate healthcare a challenge and she is trying to do her part to ensure that care is provided.“The current economic struggle will make American healthcare delivery even more of an urgent issue as job losses and under-insurance cause more and more people to postpone their healthcare and present them with more complicated problems,” Dr. Raven said. “Mental health will have to be recognized as part of healthcare for the whole person and pre-existing conditions will have to be covered to prevent more people from falling into poverty.”As complicated as fixing health care will be, Dr. Raven does offer one succinct bit of advice.“We have to keep caring for individual patients and motivate them to care for themselves,” she added.The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, founded in 1947, represents more than 3,800 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students dedicated to excellence in family medicine and the patients they serve.
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