Dr. James Hudson is the 2013 recipient of Alton Memorial Hospital’s prestigious Chairman’s Award.
Dr. Hudson, an ophthalmologist on staff at AMH since 1979, received the award before friends and peers at the hospital’s annual Physician’s Appreciation Dinner, held this year at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Ken Balsters, chairman of the hospital’s board of directors, presented the award.
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“Dr. Hudson is very deserving of this honor,” Balsters said. “His compassion and clinical skills inspire confidence, and bring comfort to patients and their families.
“This is always a great honor for a doctor since nominations come from their peers along with hospital employees who work together every day to improve the health of the communities we serve. Each of the nominated physicians is a well respected member of the AMH team. On behalf of the board of directors and staff, I thank each of them for their commitment.”
The comments about Dr. Hudson in the nomination forms from AMH employees, volunteers and members of the medical staff included “consistently caring, persistent in his efforts and competent in his field,” “always given generously to his patient, staff, hospital and community,” and “just a good guy.”
A St. Louis native, Dr. Hudson, 69, earned his medical degree at Washington University School of Medicine in 1975 and has practiced in the Alton-Godfrey area for more than 30 years. He is with Illinois Eye Surgeons in Godfrey. He previously practiced with Alton Center of Eyecare (1979-94) and Riverbend Ophthalmologists (1995-2011).
“It was a great feeling to win because I knew who all the past winners of this award were, and it’s an honor to be included in that group,” said Dr. Hudson. “And I was a little surprised. When they started reading off the accomplishments of the winner, I was thinking those were all things I had done. Then it turned out it was me. I was only at the dinner to have a good time, so this turned out to be a wonderful surprise.”
The Chairman’s Award publicly acknowledges a member of the AMH medical staff for the contributions the physician makes to the hospital and community, active participation in hospital and medical staff departmental affairs, and the promotion and practice of outstanding customer service with hospital patients and staff.
Among other committee memberships at AMH, Dr. Hudson served as chief of the Head and Neck Department (1997-99) and chief of Surgery (2004-09).
Previous recipients of the Chairman’s Award are Dr. Leo Green; Dr. Daniel Platt; Dr. David Riedel; Dr. Kathie Wuellner; Dr. Edward Cornell; Dr. Edward Harrow; Dr. Maudie Miller; Dr. Robert Hamilton; Dr. Edward Ragsdale; Dr. Laurance Monckton; Dr. Thomas Ryan; Dr. Mark Allendorph; Dr. John Hoelscher; Dr. David Burnside; Dr. Charles Schranck; Dr. Randall Rogalsky; Dr. Salvador Lo Bianco, MD; and Dr. Erik Stabell.
AMH this year also honored several other physicians at the dinner:
- Dr. Noor Ahmed, a plastic surgeon, received the Community Service/Humanitarian Award.
- Dr. John Wuellner of Alton Internal Medicine received the Clinical Physician Award.
- Dr. Geoffrey Turner, an OB/GYN with Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation, earned the Patient Service Excellence Award.
- Dr. Randall Rogalsky, an orthopedic surgeon with Alton Multispecialists, earned the High Impact Teammate Award.
- -Dr. Aaron Omotola, an orthopedic surgeon with Alton Orthopedic Clinic, earned the Emerging Leader Award.
Service awards were also given to the following physicians:
- Dr. Sirisak Suntharasantic, 40 years.
- Dr. Peng Wang, Dr. Michael Taylor and Dr. Noor Ahmed, 35 years.
- Dr. Kathie Wuellner, 30 years.
- Dr. Mark Freeman, 20 years.
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