Katherine Gallagher, MD, honored with the David Lawrence Community Service Award
Katherine Gallagher, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek, was recently honored with the David Lawrence Community Service Award (DLCSA) for her commitment to volunteerism throughout the world and the countless hours of time and expertise she has shared.
The award is named in honor of David M. Lawrence, MD, former chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente and a lifelong advocate for improving health. Each of the 14 winners were selected because his or her service demonstrated a significant contribution to the overall health of a community or population. The awardees will be recognized in a national ceremony in May.
“It’s amazing to see what our employees and physicians do on their personal time,” said Curshanda Cusseaux Woods, Kaiser Permanente NCAL Community Relations manager, and a DLCSA selection committee lead. “I hope their incredible work inspires others to do more in their own communities.”
Katherine Gallagher, MD, was selected for the DLCSA for her decades of volunteering with the Girl Scouts of the San Francisco Bay Area, and 13 years of volunteering overseas on 19 medical missions.
For years, in addition to other Girl Scout work, Dr. Gallagher has devoted up to six weeks every summer to volunteer duties at the Two Sentinels Girl Scouts Camp in the Sierra, including opening and closing the camp, serving as a camp counselor, teaching the Wilderness First Aid program, and leading the backpacking program.
“There are not many opportunities for girls to get out into the wilderness and backpack, and it can be an empowering experience,” said Dr. Gallagher. “Living for several days in unfamiliar surroundings, with only what they can carry on their backs, they learn to have confidence in their own abilities. It can be a great leveler.”
Dr. Gallagher believes in helping young girls learn how to depend on themselves, and fostering a sense of self confidence.
“Girls who aren’t stars at school, or who are not well to do, can shine at backpacking, because it is their own effort which brings success. And they get a great sense of community- community without pretense. It is not about clothes or social status, it is about meeting a challenge. If it is rains, we are going to have to deal with how to cook in the rain. If the group needs to get from Point A to Point B, it is about what needs to be done so that we all arrive. For all of our girls it is a good experience; for some, it is a defining one.”
Dr. Gallagher also typically spends two to four weeks a year volunteering as a pediatrician on medical missions with the nonprofits Resurge International and Rotoplast. Traveling to countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Honduras, and Peru, she provides perioperative care for children who receive reconstructive surgery for burn scars, cleft lip, and cleft palette.
“I think one of the most amazing things on these trips is the trust the parents place in us. They bring their children for surgery, and turn them over to people who don’t look like them, who do not speak like them, whom even with translators, they may have trouble understanding. It speaks to the dreams they have for their children, and to their great courage.”
Despite the hard work, Dr. Gallagher enjoys the challenges of volunteering.
“Physically the work is hard, it’s all physical work, and that’s not bad – because we do a lot mental work when we’re home. It’s a change. It’s grounding in a way. You step out of your usual role into a different role, and you realize the validity of many roles, and values outside of what your usual work teaches you. Medicine is one of the fields where you touch on a lot of different lifestyles. You’re immersed in it when you in these other situations…. It’s different and it’s inspiring.”
