Two volunteer physicians, a volunteer firefighter, financial planner, community supporter and high school senior were among this year’s recipients of a 2013 Healthcare Hero award from the Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD). Now in its seventh year, GHD’s Healthcare Hero awards program recognizes and rewards front-line volunteers for significant contributions to healthcare in San Diego’s East County region. Recipients of a 2013 Healthcare Hero Award included:
Frank Ault, a Sempra Energy retiree and volunteer firefighter, who has led the San Diego Regional Fire Foundation as chairman for the past 18 years; Phil Bresnick, a member of the board of trustees for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s San Diego-based Pacific South Coast Chapter since 1991, the year after he was diagnosed with MS; Connie Conard, a long-time East County volunteer and supporter for a number of local organizations, including Grossmont Hospital Foundation, Friends of Vista Hill Foundation, East County Family YMCA, Salvation Army, Rady Children’s Hospital and USS Midway Museum; Dr. Susan Kaweski, a practicing plastic surgeon with a private practice in La Mesa, who donates her time as a volunteer physician for the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation’s Project Access San Diego; Dr. Ernest W. Shaw, age 91, who has served as a volunteer faculty member teaching medical students, as well as a board member on the Grossmont Hospital Foundation and member of the La Mesa Lions Club; and, Chase Whittaker, a senior at West Hills High School in Santee, who has logged more than 1,300 volunteer hours as a junior volunteer at Grossmont Hospital. The 2013 Healthcare Hero awards were presented on a luncheon held on May 15 at Sycuan Resort in El Cajon.
