Many health care professionals within their own nations are sacrificing personal comfort in order to care for their neglected neighbors. The award recipients listed below are role models in providing health care for their own people. The Institute for International Medicine is touched to announce the 2016 INMED National Healthcare Service Award Recipient: Tom Kettler.
Known to hundreds of patients in Stanley, Kansas, as a quality family physician, Dr. Kettler has remained unswerving in his commitment to Kansas City’s most needy populous: those residing in the urban core. There was once no primary care facility available in the immediate neighborhood – a particular obstacle for the numerous patients without transportation. After years of vision casting and overcoming financial challenges, in 2009 Dr. Kettler saw his vision birthed into reality with the formal opening of Hope Family Care Clinic (HFCC) at 3027 Prospect Ave.
But the young HFCC required nurturing. For two years Dr. Kettler himself staffed the clinic part-time on top of his normal medical responsibilities in Stanley. This year when HFCC became under staffed he again returned to this role. Says Kettler, “My Christian faith was primary in my pursuit of a medical career. I enjoy helping others and the challenge of solving problems. Medicine is a great field for life-long learning and service to others.”