VOLUNTEER
VOLUNTEER
Service honor given to Red Cross volunteer
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Dr. William G. McDowell of Hermitage, Pa., received the highest volunteer service honor presented by American Red Cross Blood Services, Greater Alleghenies Region.
Dr. McDowell was given the 2005 Edgar Cheely Award at the group's annual meeting May 5 in Charleston, W.Va.
The osteopathic doctor has been a Red Cross volunteer since 1956 at the local, regional, and national levels. He served in various capacities at the Mercer County chapter between 1956 and 1973, including as vice chair, chapter chair and as a member of its board of directors and blood services and executive committees.
From 1974 through 1977, Dr. McDowell was a member of the Red Cross Eastern Area Advisory Committee. He was also a member of the Blood Services Advisory Committee of the former Western Pennsylvania Blood Region, where he helped facilitate the 1991 merger between the Western Pennsylvania and former Johnstown blood regions.
He has been a member of the Greater Alleghenies Region's board since 1991, serving as board chair from 2002 to 2005.
Fellow board member Kenneth P. Martin of State College, Pa., noted in his nomination that McDowell played a "key leadership role" in planning and implementing the 1999 merger between the former Tri-state Red Cross Blood Services Region and the Greater Alleghenies Region.
The Cheely Award is named in memory of a regional volunteer from the Indiana County, Pa., chapter. Martin said McDowell follows the standard set by Cheely's innovative approach by demonstrating imagination and effort in developing creative solutions to blood services challenges at the chapter and regional level.
McDowell also received the Cynthia Wedel Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service earlier this year.
The Greater Alleghenies Region, based in Johnstown, Pa., covers a 100-county area in Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
SCOUTS
Girard Boy Scout earns Eagle Scout Award
Daniel George Grimes, son of Leo and Theresa Grimes of Girard, received the Eagle Scout Award, Boy Scouting's highest award, at a recent Eagle Court ceremony.
He is a member of the St. Rose Boy Scouts Troop 40 in Girard. Marlene Emery is scoutmaster.
Daniel's service project was building picnic tables for the Girard multigenerational center. He has held the positions of troop librarian, quartermaster, assistant senior patrol leader, senior patrol leader, scribe, historian, and is currently the troop's Order of the Arrow representative.
Daniel is a member of St. Rose Church and attends Ursuline High School, where he is a junior and was recently inducted into the National Honor Society. He also belongs to the Ski Club, Students of Stewardship and the Soccer Team.
Daniel will be attending the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia this summer as third assistant scoutmaster.
DOCTORATE
Orthopedist receives honorary doctorate
Dr. Michael J. Patzakis, formerly of Campbell, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens in Greece.
Patzakis is professor and the Vincent and Julia Meyer chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California,
The University of Athens conferred on him the title of doctor honoris causa to note the significance and impact of his work in the community of scientists.
An authority on orthopedic infections, Dr. Patzakis' protocols on the treatment of open fractures, osteomyelitis and limb salvage are used throughout the world.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Ohio State University, completed his orthopedic residency at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, and finished a fellowship in arthritis surgery at the University of Colorado.
He has been chairman of the Keck School of Medicine department of orthopedic surgery since 1991 and also serves as chief of the orthopedic surgery service at USC University Hospital and the L.A. County-USC Medical Center.
Dr. Patzakis' mother, Afrati Lampadarios, was born in Kalymnos, Greece, and his father, John Patzakis, was from the island of Symi, Greece. They owned and operated the Broadway Market on Robinson Road in Campbell in the 1940s.
Dr. Patzakis graduated from Campbell Memorial High School. His wife, the former Susan Giokaris, is from Lima, Ohio. They have four children and seven grandchildren, and live in San Marino, Calif.