LAMONT, Calif. (KERO — Healthcare officials gathered at the Lamont Community Health Center on Thursday to unveil a commemorative plaque honoring Clinica Sierra Vista’s former CEO Steve Schilling.
- Video shows how Clinica Sierra Vista's former CEO Steve Schilling influenced healthcare in the area and how he's being honored for it.
- Healthcare officials gathered at the Lamont Community Health Center on Thursday to unveil a commemorative plaque dedicated to Schilling.
- The plaque will be posted at the Lamont Health Community Center in the coming weeks.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Clinica Sierra Vista honored former CEO Steve Schilling with a commemorative plaque that recognized him for his 44-year legacy in healthcare.
"Being the CEO of Clinica Sierra Vista was his life," said Schilling's daughter Mari Burgess.
According to her, her father was committed to serving the community, so much that he often missed out on family-related events.
"He just always fought for somebody that needed it. It was something that he was beyond passionate about," she said.
Schilling's trajectory began in 1972 when he worked as a business manager at Clinica de Los Campesinos in Weedpatch.
According to healthcare officials, this clinic was a trailer that served agricultural workers in the area.
"From that moment, when he laid his eyes on this clinic, he had a vision of growing it and being able to reach everybody in need not just the people in Weedpatch," said Family Medicine Physician and Clinica Sierra Vista CEO Dr. Olga Meave.
Over time, that clinic would become Clinica Sierra Vista—one of the country's largest community health networks, serving over 200 thousand patients every year.
"When he wanted something, it didn't matter if we had the money, the resources, or the time," said Dr. Meave, "If something was good for the patient, he found a way to get things done."
To continue his legacy, Dr. Meave said they will continue to bring specialty services to Clinica, including the PAICE program—a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.
Also continuing her father's legacy, Burgess says she now works in Clinica Sierra Vista's Specialty Behavior Health Department.
"I work with clients every day who have grown up here," said Burgess. "My daughter was delivered by a Clinica physician. It's just a part of our community that is so ingrained because without healthcare we'd have no life."
The plaque will be posted at the Lamont Health Community Center in the coming weeks.
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