Thanking Winnie Kiser and Surgical Associates
Though Winnie Kiser’s official title at Surgical Associates is Office Coordinator and Surgery Scheduler, she describes herself as “Patient Advocate”. She knows that patients who come in don’t want to be there, so she aims to make their stay as pleasant and effortless as possible. She said, “I treat patients the way I’d like to be treated.”
Winnie also recognizes that Project Access NOW patients wouldn’t be able to get the help they need without the program. “Any one of us could be in that seat so easily,” Winnie said. “If it happened to me, I would like to know something like Project Access NOW is there for me. So if Tara Foley [at Project Access Multnomah County] needs me to go above and beyond, I’ll do it because it needs to be done.”
Every physician at Surgical Associates, including Winnie’s supervisor Dr. Nathalie Johnson, sees Project Access NOW patients. Most cases have to do with hernias and colon cancer. According to Winnie, Dr. Daniel Tseng sees more Project Access NOW patients than others because of his specialty in laparoscopic surgery.
“We don’t care if patients have insurance or not,” Winnie said. “We provide the care and work out the details later. It’s not about the money, it’s about the care for the patient.”
Recently, however, two Project Access patients needed the help of specialists who did not belong to Project Access NOW. Knowing many doctors outside of her group, Winnie decided she was going to help the patients. For the first one, she found a plastic surgeon who was willing to treat her.
The other patient needed a specific colorectal surgeon. When Winnie requested his help, he asked why he should do it. Winnie responded, “Because if each specialty in town helps only five patients a year and every doctor does their part, it would make a huge difference in the community.” The surgeon agreed to help.
Winnie keeps extremely busy. She has 7 children, and, as she said, “I go a 100 miles an hour all day long, but I love it.” Even with her life and work obligations, she said she’d “like to help get more physicians signed up for Project Access NOW. The challenge is to break down the walls of communication and speak to the right person.”
(December 2009)
