Nominations Open for 2012 Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Health Care. Submission deadline is March 2, 2012. View or download the introductory letter and the nomination form

Health Trust Announces Winners of 2011 Phil Rather Award for Leadership in  Health Care

The Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust is proud to announce it has selected two winners for the 2011 Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Healthcare this year.  The honorees were Dori Rose Inda, Executive Director,  Watsonville Law Center and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM). On May 18, before a crowd of more than 100 guests, the Health Trust honored the  winners at the Rather Award reception from 5:30 -7:30 p.m. at the foundation’s  community conference space at 85 Nielson Street.

 “We are very proud of these awardees and the leadership they provide to strengthen the community’s health,” said Trust CEO, Kathleen King, who served as emcee for the recognition event.  ”Both winners have made an important difference in the lives of Pajaro Valley residents that will have a lasting affect.”

The awardee honored in the “individual” category was Dori Rose Inda, Executive Director, Watsonville Law Center.  Marcela Tavantzis, Assistant Watsonville City Manager and Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust Board Emeritus, recognize Ms. Inda for her outstanding service and advocacy on behalf of injured farm workers in the Pajaro Valley who have been deprived of health benefits through the California Workers Compensation Program.  A resident of Watsonville, Ms. Inda is the founder and executive director of the Watsonville Law Center, a nonprofit organization that provides low-income individuals equal access to the law by helping them to understand and exercise their rights.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM), is the recipient of the Organizational Category.  Dr. Stan Hajduk, Emergency Medicine Physician at Watsonville Community Hospital and Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust Board Member, praised the PPMM for providing high quality health care, advocacy, education, affordable medical visits, community outreach and sexuality education to low-income residents of the Pajaro Valley since the first Clinica Mariposa opened in Watsonville in 1979.  The mission of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, both in Watsonville and beyond, is to ensure every individual has the knowledge, opportunity and freedom to a make every child a wanted child and every family a healthy family.

Dr. Lorena Bischoff-Russo, Supervising Physician at PPMM’s Watsonville Health Center, and Traci Townsend, Program Manager of PPMM’s Pajaro Valley Health Action Team, were present at the event to receive the Rather Award on behalf of the agency.

In addition to the Rather Award, the honorees also received proclamations from Representative Sam Farr’s office, Assembly Members Luis Alejo and Bill Monning, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the City of Watsonville. The Health Trust created the Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Healthcare in 1999.  The award was inspired by its namesake and first recipient, Phil Rather, whose volunteer leadership in health care spanned more than 30 years in the Pajaro Valley.  The Rather Award recognizes and honors individuals and/or organizations in the community whose contributions of time, effort and/or philanthropy have helped make a difference in the quality of our community’s health care.

Past recipients of the Rather Award include:

For more information about this event or the Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust, please contact Kathleen King, CEO, 831-761-5639.