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2004 Winners: Benneth Husted, DO and Whitney Doiron, CNP, GNP, ANP
Larry W. Irvin, MD, Selected for Posthumous
Lifetime Achievement Award
Benneth Husted, DO, Selected as House Call Doctor of the Year
In 1992, Dr. Husted was led by her faith to start making house calls her full-time mission. The first few years, she worked alone out of her dining room and was on call 24/7. With selfless determination, she provided this service before reimbursement made the practice financially feasible. Starting a non-profit in 1995 so that she could accept grants and donations, she has always had a policy of seeing all homebound patients regardless of their ability to pay. While her practice has now grown to four physicians, eleven nurse practitioners, and 8,000 visits per year, she also educates other health care providers regarding the value of house calls. Winner of other awards, she is also president-elect of the Oregon Geriatrics Society/Oregon Medical Director's Association. For her sacrifice, perseverance, care and love of her patients and spreading the mission of house calls, Dr. Husted was selected for this year's AAHCP award. In her acceptance speech, Dr. Husted cautioned the attendees about the perils of "sainthood," and urged them not to give up because of all of the problems. "The tide is turning...Medicare is...slower to catch on, but I believe they will." She also urged attendees to remember that there is strength in numbers and to support the AAHCP, to never abandon the high touch for the high tech, to learn the tools of palliative medicine and end-of-life care, and to share in her vision of a future in which every elder is valued, every disabled person is treated with dignity and respect, and every dying person is attended with compassion.
Whitney Doiron, CNP, GNP, ANP Selected as House Call Clinician of the Year
Nurse practitioner Whitney Doiron provides house call services in poor rural and urban Mississippi. She was recognized by the Academy for her pioneering work in starting and growing a practice, convincing both patients and the medical community of the value of house calls and the role of the nurse practitioner. Twice in the first year, her practice was forced to close, but rather than give up, Doiron educated area physicians and the Mississippi Board of Nursing. They eventually agreed on her model of practice and she was able to re-start her practice. She has also worked with the Louisiana Board of Nursing to have house calls officially approved for nurse practitioners in that state, where she herself hopes to make house calls. Called "an angel" by one of her patients, Doiron is also interested in fostering research on house call issues and barriers to health care. Citing her faith, inspiration from her mother who was a nurse, and colleagues, Doiron accepted this first-ever award to a nurse practitioner with her family in the audience.
Larry W. Irvin, MD, Selected for Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award
Larry Irvin was the much-beloved head of the house call program at the Parkland Hospital, Dallas Texas. In 1999, after a mid-career geriatric fellowship, he began the Parkland Senior Housecall Program that cares for the county's homebound, indigent elderly. He inspired a whole generation of house staff and fellows on geriatric rotations. In 2001, his description of the impact of the Parkland program on hospital admissions and emergency room visits won him the AAHCP Best Poster Award. The Housecalls program staff nominated him for this service award as a role model, faculty member, and clinician, even during his last, and sadly, terminal illness. His wife, Kaye Irvin, accepted the award on Dr. Irvin's behalf, speaking of his commitment and dedication to his patients and students.
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