Prakash Narain, MD
OCMA member since 2002

Prakash Narain, MD, a specialist in geriatric and internal medicine based in Los Alamitos and Seal Beach, took over as the new chairman of the Los Alamitos Medical Center's governing board on Jan. 1.

In his role as chairman, Dr. Narain will offer direction and advice for the hospital. "One of my main foci will be safety--[that is] something that we want to look at very, very seriously in our hospital," says Dr. Narain. Currently Medicare pays for preventable ailments, such as bedsores, that the program treats as safety issues. But Dr. Narain points out that Medicare may no longer pay for these types of ailments. "Actually, [focusing on safety] makes sense from the quality viewpoint too," he continues.

Still, Dr. Narain finds that the hospital's biggest challenge is capacity. "Last night I was on-call and we were facing the challenge that there were no [open] beds in the hospital," he says. "We had to open another section."

As a solution, the hospital is looking into building a 200-bed tower. "That is going to take some time, and it also needs a lot of capital," Dr. Narain says. The staff is working with hospital owner Tenet to get funding for construction. "It costs about $200 million per bed--it used to be, four or five years ago, $100 million a bed," he laments.

Dr. Narain had previously been chief of staff at LAMC for two years beginning in 2004, and currently serves as medical director for CareSouth Homecare agency, associate medical director for Odyssey Hospice, and as a council member for the city of Cypress.

Rodney Borger, MD
SBCMS member since 1990

Rodney Borger, MD, was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February as one of nine members of a public health advisory committee charged with guiding the new California Department of Public Health. The committee will advise Director Dr. Mark Horton on policies and procedures impacting Californians' health and safety, and it aims to help improve program effectiveness and identify emerging public health trends.

The advisory committee's first meeting is slated for April, and from there its role should become clearer. "I think the first thing on the agenda is to figure out what the agenda is, and how exactly we're going to interact and perform as a committee of healthcare experts representing the public," says Dr. Borger. "A lot of states have had a department of public health, and I think they've been fairly effective. The reason it was created, I think, is that a lot of public health initiatives got lost because they were small in scope, compared to the large budget of Medicaid and Medi-Cal," which were also administered by the state's Department of Health Services.

When the CMA recently put out a call to the counties requesting good candidates for the committee, the San Bernardino County Medical Society recommended Dr. Borger. "I've had quite a bit of interest in public health, especially this particular area, [including] emergency planning, operations, hospital licensing," he says. Dr. Borger is the only county medical association member on the committee, with the eight other members drawn from academia and state, county and local agencies.

The CDPH's duties include decreasing illness, tracking injury and death rates, protecting Californians in the event of bioterrorism or other major public health emergencies, and increasing accountability and improving program effectiveness for the public health.

Long-time Practitioner Wins Two Prestigious Awards
Lucille Fostvedt, MD
RCMA member since 1957

Lucille Fostvedt, MD, received the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce Athena Entrepreneurial Award at a Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel ceremony in December. The annual award recognizes women for professional excellence, community service and actively assisting other women. The honor follows on the heels of her prestigious St. Georges award, which the American Cancer Society bestowed on her in November for accomplishments throughout her life.

"It's a little embarrassing," 90-year-old Dr. Fostvedt says of the attention she has received lately. But her accomplishments warrant a little embarrassment.

Graduating in 1940 from the first women's medical college, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, she moved with her family from Wisconsin to Palm Springs in 1957, where she says women had comparatively more freedom. She became the first woman to practice medicine in Palm Springs. Dr. Fostvedt was also the first woman doctor on staff at Desert Regional Medical Center and Eisenhower Medical Center, and served as the chair of several departments and committees at each, according to the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce. She also served as the first woman president of the Palm Springs Academy of Medicine and the second female president of the Riverside County Medical Association.

After losing her daughter Siri to cancer, Dr. Fostvedt established the Siri Fostvedt Scholarship fund, which is overseen by the Desert Healthcare Fund. She serves on the American Cancer Society's Breast Health Team, its Patient Support Team, and its Reach for Recovery program. All three of Dr. Fostvedt's surviving children entered the healthcare field.