Backed by 55 years of medical experience, Dr. Schmidt now serves as medical director of House Calls Primary Care with Kindred at Home in Liberty Lake.
LIBERTY LAKE, WA, December 29, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Helen M. Schmidt has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Backed by 55 years of medical experience, Dr. Schmidt now serves as medical director of House Calls Primary Care with Kindred at Home in Liberty Lake, which provides medical care to patients in a residential setting. She works with nurse practitioners who travel to care for approximately 1500 patients. Dr. Schmidt is also an associate director for Kindred's hospice program in the area.
Dr. Schmidt served for 34 years with North American Baptist, Inc. in the Republic of Cameroon, from 1969 to 2004. Her interest in becoming a physician began in primary school, and deepened as she encountered missionaries in her church, youth camps, and associated meetings. After graduating from the University of Washington with a BA, she earned a MD at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, now part of the Drexel University College of Medicine in 1963 when women were still not easily admitted to medical schools. Dr. Schmidt was dedicated to performing surgery in Cameroon, and applied for a surgical residency at the Virginia Mason Medical Center, which also provided her internship. The chief of surgery there admitted her for the four-year training program as the first woman ever to join, against opposition from other surgeons. He was very supportive of her missionary goals.
After returning from her missionary work in Cameroon, Dr. Schmidt looked for other areas of service, and began working with a nurse practitioner in 2005 who had a vision of serving people in their homes as the primary care provider. This promised to decrease emergency room visits and hospitalization, and the resulting Mobile Medical Clinic served as a foundation for House Calls Primary Care when it became part of Family Home Care in 2007. Later, this company added hospice to its home health services, became part of Gentiva, and is now a part of Kindred at Home. Each step brought advancements in the company's ability to serve increasing numbers of needy patients who had difficulty getting out of their home to receive medical care. Dr. Schmidt is affiliated with the Spokane County Medical Society, the Washington State Medical Association, the Christian Medical and Dental Association, and her local church. She is a board member of the Greater Spokane County Meals-on-Wheels and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Schmidt returned to visit the Republic of Cameroon in 2007, 2014, and 2016. North American Baptist, Inc.'s mission work from the early 1930's emphasized education. Over the years, responsibility was increasingly shared. Before Dr. Schmidt retired, the schools, churches and seminaries, and medical work were transitioned to the ownership and leadership of Cameroonians. Upon her return, Dr. Schmidt experienced immeasurable joy and satisfaction in seeing how each part of the work had grown and continues to expand. "God truly continues to bless Cameroon with faithful servants," Dr. Schmidt observes.
Today, the Cameroon Baptist Health Services has grown from three hospitals to six, with two of them managing over 250 beds. From a handful of health centers, there are now over 25 integrated health centers and 50 primary care health centers. The training school for nurses and midwives has more than tripled in its number of students, and the scope of training has expanded to include nurse practitioners and many other medical services. Services have greatly expanded in the areas of poverty alleviation, HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, as well as education and treatment of persons with physical and mental disabilities. On her last visit, she revisited the director of the Cameroon Baptist Health Services, one of the first young people to call her "mom." Today many refer to her affectionately as "Mom," and she met her first "great granddaughter" (granddaughter of the director) on her 2016 visit.
Dr. Schmidt has also contributed to the ongoing training of surgeons under the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) for Africa, affiliated with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations. Another program, Christian Internal Medicines Specialization (CIMS) has graduated its first students, and soon the Family Practice Physicians program will begin training. Constant training is going on for new doctors in hospitals and health centers. As these Christian young people are trained, they are also growing spiritually with multiple seminary-trained chaplains who serve in the medical institutions. Dr. Schmidt is thankful that she and her collaborators could set a solid foundation for advances to have solid ground for expansion. She remarks that "God takes ordinary people, opens doors for their preparation, and goes with them to the places to which He calls them."
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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