Volunteers in Medicine recently recognized Central Oregon medical professionals who donate care to the medically underserved locally, nationally or internationally:
Bend’s Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) announced the winners of its annual Heart of Healthcare award. The two recipients are Dr. Catherine Quas, a pediatric dentist/orthodontist at Bluefish Dental & Orthodontics, and Dr. J. Randall Jacobs, director of the Bend Memorial Clinic’s Urgent Care Department.
“At our clinic in Bend we work every day with Central Oregon medical professionals who give freely of their time and expertise to help others,” said Kat Mastrangelo, VIM’s executive director. “Once a year we’re proud to recognize that passion with the Heart of Healthcare award, named after one of our founders, Dr. Ronald E. Carver.”
Dr. Catherine Quas (known as Dr. Cate by her patients) has worked closely with many Central Oregon non-profit organizations to improve the oral health of children. She serves on the board of The Kemple Memorial Children’s Dental Clinic and Healthy Beginnings, and contributes time and service to Project Connect, Give Kids a Smile, The School to Work Alliance and children’s health awareness events.
A longtime resident of Bend, Dr. Quas is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine and completed residencies in pediatric dentistry and orthodontics at UCLA. She opened Bluefish Dental & Orthodontics in 2004.
Dr. J. Randall Jacobs is the volunteer medical director of the Central Oregon Veterans Outreach mobile medical unit, providing care to homeless persons in Central Oregon. The mobile medical unit began operations in the spring of 2011. He conducted a weekly afternoon free medical clinic for residents of the Shepherd’s House, a local homeless shelter, from 2008 to 2011.
Dr. Jacobs is on the Disaster Response roster of Medical Teams International, and has served in United Nations refugee and IDP camps in Uganda in 2007 and 2009 treating displaced persons from the conflict zones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Uganda. Most recently, he provided medical services in villages in eastern Kenya and Somalia, treating refugees at risk of death from malnutrition, dehydration, illness and injury.
Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, Dr. Jacobs graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1972 and completed a family medicine residency at the University of Washington in 1975. A veteran of the US Public Health Service, he served with the National Health Service Corps in White Salmon, Washington from 1975-78, then practiced emergency and family medicine in Port Townsend, Washington from 1978-96. He has been director of Bend Memorial Clinic’s Urgent Care Department since he moved to Bend in 1996.
The Heart of Healthcare Awards will be presented at a dinner on May 11 at Seventh Mountain Resort. Tickets and table sponsorships are available by calling Joe Farmer, VIM Development Director, at 541-330-9054 or joe.farmer@vim-cascades.org.
More information is on the Volunteers in Medicine website www.vim-cascades.org.
Volunteers in Medicine operates a free medical clinic for low-income, uninsured patients in Central Oregon. The clinic is located at 2300 NE Neff Road, between St. Charles Hospital and the Bend Memorial Clinic.
