September 2019 Provider of the Month

Peter Balousek, MD, Neurosurgery

Congratulations to Dr. Peter Balousek, MD, Valley's September 2019 Provider of the Month! Dr. Balousek is known for going above and beyond for his patients and colleagues. He consistently takes on and cares for patients, even when he is not on-call. Recently, when a cardiologist needed some advice concerning a former neurosurgery patient whose provider was unavailable, Dr. Balousek stepped in and worked with the cardiologist to ensure the patients care wasn't delayed. He is always available, willing to help, and always puts patients and their health over everything. As his nominator, Neurologist David Vossler, MD, writes, "I am very proud to work with him and think he is an amazing physician. He is extremely thorough and careful, he is respectful of patients, families, and his support staff. He is someone who definitely deserves to be Provider of the Month."

Annual VMC Provider Recognition Event 2019

Congratulations to these providers for being recognized by their colleagues at VMC. (Pictured from the left: John Nemanich, Mickey Kander, Shahina Bathanavasi, Allison Warmington, Krissy Yamamoto, Sean Verlander)

Advanced Practice Provider of the Year: Allison Warmington, PA-C, General & Surgical Specialists

The VMC employed advanced practice provider who has demonstrated a commitment of excellence to patients, colleagues, and the community.

Allison has been a dedicated and committed Valley employee for 16 years. She is an outstanding provider whose warmth and kindness puts patients at ease. Her colleagues noted that Allison is knowledgeable, insightful, positive, extraordinarily intelligent (IQ and EQ), a great role model, always steps up to help, has an amazing sense of humor, is a great listener, trusted, and takes initiative.

Allison has not only spent her time at Valley working directly with a very busy surgeon, but she has also taken on administrative roles, mentored countless new providers, has become an Epic super user, and is an important member of the Informatics team. She is a powerful advocate for her patients and for her colleagues through her involvement with Washington Academy of Physician Assistants (WAPA) and her role as a medical director. She is known throughout the network as hard-working, fiercely loyal, and a great solution finder. It is apparent to everyone she works with that patients are first.

Teacher: Sean Verlander, MD, Covington Primary Care Clinic

The VMC employed provider who has demonstrated excellence in a mentor role or an instructor-related position at VMC or in an academic institution.

Sean Verlander has been a Valley employee since 2015. He is beloved by his patients and is known for his easy disposition around everyone in the clinic. He has a passion for teaching and is always willing to take on a new student, sometimes two at a time!

He is encouraging, knowledgeable, and shares his love of medicine and caregiving freely with his students. The clinicians who get the opportunity to learn from are very fortunate. Sean also keeps his colleagues in the loop when he has something interesting to share and we are fortunate to have him as a part of the Valley team!

Humanitarian: Mickey Kander, PA-C, MPH, MSW, Fairwood Primary Care Clinic

The VMC employed provider who is involved with charitable causes and takes an active role in creating awareness and advancement of charity work.

Mickey has been with Valley since 2017. His friends, colleagues, and family say he has an open, caring and empathetic heart. He spends a significant amount of time taking care of people, outside of his caregiving role at Valley.

Mickey is a full-time primary care provider at Valley and he also does work for YouthCare Orion Center in Seattle. This is an organization that serves runaway and homeless 12-24 year-olds with meals, legal assistance, medical care, case managers, and a warm place to sleep. He also works with DSHS training new parents who are getting ready to adopt foster children, and he is an executive member of the Guatemala Village Health Board.

Guatemala Village Health has a mission to improve individual and village health in rural Guatemala through education, empowerment of local leaders, and development of local health providers. Mickey is an active participant in meeting these goals. As board secretary his organizational skills are key to keeping the board on track and his skills in writing and research make his contributions to grant writing invaluable. Mickey is a true blessing to any organization he touches.

The VMC employed provider who has demonstrated kindness, caring, and activism that motivates others at VMC and the community to take action to make the world a better place.

Inspirational: Krissy Yamamoto, MD, Valley Women's Healthcare - Renton

The VMC employed provider who has demonstrated kindness, caring, and activism that motivates others at VMC and the community to take action to make the world a better place.

Krissy has been a Valley employee since 2014. Her colleagues say she is a person who leads by example. She is always concerned about the morale of her provider peers and support staff. She has given hours of her personal time to support the many changes of her very busy group and she often volunteers to take extra patients to give some relief to her team. She also is available to her team for enhancing their spirits or just to calmly listen.

Her team says she is an excellent leader who never asks anything of someone that she is not willing to do herself. She has been witnessed balancing a toddler on one hip while taking two phone calls at once. Now, that is Inspirational!

Lifetime Achievement: John Nemanich, MD, Cardiology Clinic

The VMC employed provider who has established many years of service to VMC's patients. The award goes to the provider with seniority, drive, and exemplary accomplishments in healthcare.

John Nemanich has been a Valley physician since 1988 and a Valley employee since 2017. He quickly gained a reputation for providing superb care and being a highly-skilled interventionalist who pioneered treatment of cardiac patients and has saved many lives. He is consistently involved in quality improvements and served in leadership roles throughout his career.

John is described by his colleagues and support staff as being full of passion about his work, perpetually available to help, and putting his patients first without exception. Here are some things that his clinic team said to describe him: ‘Thorough’, ‘professional’, ‘kind’, ‘never worked with better’, ‘talented hands and brain’, and ‘always finds a way to make it work’.

A person close to him described him someone who is light-hearted and kind but serious about medicine, who likes to find solutions. He is also one who jumps up in the middle of the night anxious to save a life if the call comes.

We have been privileged to have worked with him and will miss the loss of his talents and contributions when he retires in 2020.

Physician of the Year: Shahina Banthanavasi, MD, Hospitalists

The VMC employed Physician who has demonstrated a commitment of excellence to patients, colleagues, and the community.

Shahina Banthanavasi has been a part of the Valley team since 2006 and an employee since 2017. Her time here started out as part of a larger inpatient team. As her career progressed her talents as a leader were recognized and she is now the medical director of the 35 hospitalists at VMC, covering inpatient patient care 24 hours a day.

Shahina is known throughout the hospital as a talented physician and excellent team player. She collaborates with multi-disciplinary groups to ensure excellent patient care and the best outcomes that can be delivered. She truly cares about the people her team cares for. Here are some quotes from Shahina’s team:

"She is AMAZING, she gets things done quickly, thoroughly and never seems frazzled or in a rush. I'm grateful to work with her."

"She is an exemplary human being. She often goes above and beyond even when she is running low on time, energy, or both. She may be the leader, but she is really good about making sure everything is about the group."

"She is quick to respond. She is very present, even though she is so busy. I never feel as though she doesn't have time for me."

Sahina is a wonderful example of a dedicated, well-rounded physician who inspires those she touches, both patients and co-workers