Miguel Cervantes, MD, selected as Community Physican of the Year, will be among a group of 10 individuals and organizations to be honored at the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation 19th annual Gala Awards Dinner at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16 at the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach, the foundation reported Wednesday in a media release.
Call 805.677.5300 or visit www.vcmrf.org to RSVP.
Other recipients include:
- Hospital Physician of the Year — Siamak Safar, MD
- Physician Emeritus of the Year – James Holden, MD
- Dentist of the Year – Bryan D. Fisch, DDS
- Psychologist/Psychiatrist of the Year – Ralph Armstrong, MD
- Hospital Nurse of the Year – Christy Monteith, RN, MSN, FNP-C
- Community Nurse of the Year – Kathleen Linthicum, RN, BSN, PHN
- Healthcare Professional of the Year – Debra Hill
- Volunteer of the Year – Stephanie Cabaniss
- Extraordinary Service Award – Verizon
This gala will salute the men and women for their personal commitment and dedication in supporting the medical profession and healthcare needs in Ventura County.
Noel Klebaum, foundatin president, said the honorees have spent most of their professional careers demonstrating their concern for others and reflect the late Dr. Fainer’s personal ethics, professional performance and selfless contribution to healthcare.
David C. Fainer was the director of the nationally recognized Family Practice Medical Program, as well as medical director of internal medicine at Ventura County Medical Center.
Those selected include:
- Miguel Cervantes, M.D. — Community Physician of the Year
Dr. Cervantes was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and immigrated to California at the age of five. He spent his youth working in the fields alongside his parents who were farm workers in Ventura County most of their lives. He graduated from Adolfo Camarillo High School in 1979, received a B.S. in Biochemistry from UCLA in 1984, his Medical Degree at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1988, and completed his residency at VCMC’s Family Practice Residency Program in 1991.
Since 1991, Dr. Cervantes has been the medical director of the Las Islas Family Medical Group, a satellite clinic of the Ventura County Medical Center. Among many other accomplishments, he served as the Chairman of the Family Medicine Committee and Chief of staff of Ventura County Medical Center.
Dr. Cervantes and his wife, Leticia, live in Oxnard and have three children — Matthew, age 24, Kristina, age 20, and Daniel, age 19. He has a granddaughter, Madi age 2.
- Siamak Safar, M.D. — Hospital Physician of the Year
Dr. Safar completed medical school at Tehran University. However, as a member of Baha’i Community (a minority religion in Iran) he was not permitted to practice medicine in Iran or immigrate to complete his education. In February of 1982 he fled Iran, in the middle of winter, through the mountains of Turkey. Finally in July 1982, he arrived safely in Washington D.C. After completing extensive exams, he was accepted into the Pediatrics residency program at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, University of Illinois. He completed his residency in and started his fellowship at British Columbia Children Hospital/ UBC in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Safar is a board certified neonatologist and fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Royal College of Physicians of Canada. Dr. Safar has been practicing Neonatology for more than 20 years and for more than ten years, has served as the Medical Director of NICU at VCMC.
- Stephanie Cabaniss — Volunteer of the Year
Over the past 30 years, Cabaniss has worked with numerous organizations throughout Ventura County, including but not limited to the Immunology Clinic, the annual Walk for Life and Christopher House (Ventura’s first Hospice home for AIDS patients). More recently, she has worked with the One Stop Resource Center for the Homeless and the Many Meals food program, and the Cancer Survivors celebrations. For more than a decade she has been very active in various roles, from the box-office to the stage, at the Rubicon Theatre Company.
Cabaniss is also the volunteer artist for the Ventura County Medical Center. In 1980, Cabaniss was hired by David C. Fainer, M.D. to work in Medical Education, beginning a 20 career with the Family Practice Residency program at the Ventura County Medical Center. This award is a full circle experience for Cabaniss.
- Debbie Hill — Healthcare Professional of the Year
Hill began her employment at the Ventura Medical Center in 1999, as the director of volunteers. She continues to lead volunteers at VCMC and Santa Paula Hospital. She manages the Health Care Interpreter Network, Patient Advocacy Program and the Transitional Partnership Program. She is fond of saying that “she never has two days that are alike.” Her passion is her work, she is often reminded how blessed she is to love what she does. Hill was born in North Dakota, and grew up in Ojai. She married her high school sweetheart Robert and they have been married for 38 years. They have two children, Jessica and Jonathon and are the proud grandparents of Emma Grace.
- Kathleen Linthicum, RN, BSN, PHN — Community Nurse of the Year
Carney-Linthicum earned her ASN degree at Ventura College and her BSN degree at California State University, Dominguez Hills. As a public health nurse consultant for Adult Protective Services and as a home health care nurse, she enjoys the opportunities provided for “creativity in nursing,” offering health education to individuals and families in the home environment.
Carney-Linthicum is a member of the Ventura County Adult Abuse Prevention Council, the Rapid Response Expert Team, and recently became an instructor for Mental Health First Aid. As a nursing preceptor she values sharing her knowledge, experience and skills with future nursing professionals. While her passion is nursing, she also enjoys performing jazz with her partner Bill, surfing with her son Joshua and sharing the love of her family and friends.
- Christy Monteith, RN, MSN, FNP-C — Hospital Nurse of the Year
As clinic coordinator of the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Clinic at Ventura County Medical Center, Monteith has the opportunity to help many local children and families with cancer and blood disorders. A Ventura County local, she graduated from Sacramento State University with her Bachelors degree in Nursing and found that her love and passion was in pediatric oncology. She decided to pursue her goal of becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner and in 2006 completed the Masters of Nursing program at UCLA. For the past four years, Christy has volunteered as a camp nurse and mentor at Camp Dream Street (a camp for children with chronic illnesses).
- Ralph Armstrong, M.D — Psychologist/Psychiatrist of the Year
Armstrong is a graduate of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, is board certified in Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, and is board eligible in Neurology. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Counseling at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. He has practiced in both the private and public sectors in Ventura County. He has served as consulting neurologist for Camarillo State Hospital, is a former medical director for the Addiction Medicine Service at Vista Del Mar Hospital, and has been the psychiatrist for the Ventura County Jail. For the past eight years he has spent every Friday morning consulting at the VCMC Academic Family Medicine Center, working with and alongside the attending physicians and family medicine resident physicians. Dr. Armstrong’s major accomplishments include 40 years of marriage to his wife Kay, four grown kids (who pay their own car insurance!) and his two grandsons.
- Bryan D. Fisch, DDS — Dentist of the Year
Dr. Fisch earned his undergraduate degree in Analysis and Conservation of Ecosystems from UCLA and then moved across town to the University of Southern California School of Dentistry where he received his Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1980. While volunteering with the USC Mobile Dental Clinic, Dr. Fisch became smitten with Ventura and opened his practice in 1980 specializing in family, cosmetic and restorative dentistry.
Dr. Fisch is grateful for all he has learned from staff and volunteers at the Ventura Coalition against Household Violence, Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation’s – Children’s Resource Program, and the Santa Barbara Ventura County Dental Society and Foundation. As Chairman of the Seal Out Decay program, he is especially proud that second grade children were provided protective dental sealants to prevent tooth decay.
- James Holden, M.D. — Physician Emeritus
Dr. Holden was born and raised in Ventura. He graduated from UCLA and attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin. He started his surgery practice in Ventura in 1981 with his wife, Terri, as his office manager and business partner. As part of his practice at VCMC, he helped introduce video laparoscopic cholecystectomy to Ventura County. Dr. Holden served as Director of Surgery for the Medical Center and founded Tower Surgical Associates a practice model that brought improved access to surgical specialists for VCMC patients.
Dr. Holden retired in 2005 and continues to live in Ventura. He enjoys riding his bicycle throughout the Ventura County with Terri and other friends. He also volunteers at the Museum of Ventura County historical research library. Dr. Holden has two daughters of whom he is very proud.
- Verizon — Extraordinary Service Award
Verizon has a close partnership with the Ventura County Health Care Agency, Human Services Agency and the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation. Together they developed the Foster Care Link Project to support the use of electronic health records for foster children. This technology will provide real-time information to providers and caseworkers to make care-related decision-making about the health of these at risk children. This pilot program is the only one of its kind in the United States. This collaboration has spanned many years to increase access to care through the use of cutting edge technology. Many critical steps for improved care depend on getting the right information into the right hands — when and where it’s needed. Verizon is adapting our broadband and mobile technologies to provide answers to longstanding challenges in healthcare.