PALMER -- The American Academy of Family Physicians recently recognized a Palmer physician as its 2002 Family Physician of the Year, at the organization's annual Congress of Delegates in Atlanta.

The group, which represents more than 93,100 family physicians, family practice residents and medical students nationwide, tapped Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson for the award on Oct. 1. It is the first time a physician from Alaska has received the honor, which has been made annually since 1977.

The award is presented each year to a member of the AAFP who meets the criteria for outstanding service to patients and community, and devotion to family practice.

Cathy Baldwin-Johnson

The Alaska Academy of Family Physicians nominated Baldwin-Johnson for the AAFP Family Physician of the Year award. The Alaska organization had recognized her as the Alaska Family Physician of the Year in 2000.

In 1999, Baldwin-Johnson received the Alaska First Lady's Award for outstanding volunteerism. This award is presented to a few select Alaskans who go above and beyond to volunteer their time to their community.

Baldwin-Johnson -- or "Dr. CBJ," as her patients and staff affectionately call her -- has cared for Mat-Su Valley residents for more than 16 years. She is on the medical staff for Valley Hospital in Palmer, and founded a practice in Wasilla that is now affiliated with Providence Health Systems in Alaska.

Highly respected by fellow physicians, she has also garnered admiration from numerous health-care providers for her leadership in addressing the problems of child abuse within Mat-Su.

Baldwin-Johnson is one of the founders and the volunteer medical director for the Children's Place, a local children's advocacy center dedicated to the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect.

"This additional tireless commitment to children is what I feel makes her extraordinary," said Margaret Volz, program director for the Children's Place. "She is a gifted family-practice physician who is loved by most all of her patients, but she has also added her quiet, firm voice to speak up for this vulnerable population of abused children and truly changed the way we care for these children in our

Valley."

Now in its third year of operation, the Children's Place is one of only three such centers in Alaska to use the child-focused approach, which ensures young victims are not "revictimized" by the legal and medical processes designed to protect them.

Instead of taking the child to the various agencies for multiple interviews, the agencies, police officers and other professionals come to the center to investigate the case and provide intervention services.

Baldwin-Johnson spends at least half a day per week, some evenings and many weekends at the center performing medical exams, reviewing cases and consulting on other cases within Alaska.

Baldwin-Johnson said she plans to use her award to spread the knowledge that "family physicians have such a unique and powerful perspective (about child abuse) by seeing what's going on in the family. I see this as the time to speak out for children and to advocate the family physician. I see this as an opportunity of a lifetime."

A lifelong Alaskan, Baldwin-Johnson grew up fishing, hunting, and trapping with her family, and had decided by age 3 to become a doctor.

She graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Swedish Hospital Medical Center Family Practice residency program.

Baldwin-Johnson serves as the medical and lab director for PMHC, as well as the volunteer medical director for the Valley Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), which she helped form. She also has served in various leadership capacities at Valley Hospital, including as president of the medical staff, medical director of Hospice of Mat-Su, and chair of the Maternal Child Health Committee.

Many local and state officials made recommendations to the AAFP on her behalf.

Karen Perdue, who recently vacated her position as the state's commissioner of Health and Social Services, lauded Baldwin-Johnson's dedication to her family, medical practice and community and added, "But what makes her extraordinary is the countless hours she volunteered toward starting the Children's Place."

Sarah Palin, mayor of Wasilla, said, "Alaska is a better state for having Dr. Baldwin-Johnson as our Alaska Family Physician of the Year. Her sincere love for the profession, her patients and the community deserve the highest honor."

Baldwin-Johnson's staff wrote that "Dr. Baldwin-Johnson has won our respect and affection through the dedication she has shown to us, both as employees and patients. She truly cares about us, and has never placed herself above any one of us. On the health-care side, she believes in educating her patients, and encourages them to participate in all decisions that are made about their treatment. It is clear that she has stayed abreast of new knowledge and technology in her field, and she is so gentle and skillful that oftentimes her patients are surprised to find that she has just finished the procedure they came in for without them being aware of it. She is without exception soft-spoken, pleasant, kind and caring."

According to Baldwin-Johnson, her greatest joys come from time spent with her spouse of 26 years and their two children.

She also enjoys family time, gardening, fishing, quilting, and water-skiing.

In their letter, her staff said, "Dr. Baldwin-Johnson has a strong family ethic as well, and despite the demands of her full-time medical practice and her community commitments, has managed to maintain a strong partnership with her husband, and loving and involved relationships with her children."

Elizabeth Ripley is the spokeswoman for Valley Hospital.