San Juan Regional Health

San Juan Regional Medical Center Announces 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees

FARMINGTON, NM (August 30, 2012) – San Juan Regional Medical Center's Hall of Fame has six new members. These six will join the 42 current members of the hospital's Hall of Fame at an induction ceremony on September 6, 2012 at San Juan College. The newly named members are George Allen, Dr. Jack Ritzenthaler, Jack Wheat, Dr. Stuart Wilson, Dennis Peterson, and Alice Gibson. These individuals were selected by the Hall of Fame Committee for their contributions to the hospital and the people of the Four Corners Region.

            George Allen was a member of the first hospital association and was involved in fund-raising efforts for the first medical facility, which was established in 1910. He had a large family farm and often donated goods from his farm to the hospital for patients.  Dr. Jack Ritzenthaler practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Farmington and served as the hospital’s medical director in 1974. During his time as medical director, the emergency room became staffed 24 hours a day with ER physicians for the first time in the hospital’s history; prior to that all physicians with hospital privileges took turns being on-call. Jack Wheat was San Juan Regional Medical Center’s first full-time chaplain. He was on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week in addition to working normal business hours and created a clergy handbook and identification cards for all visiting clergy members. Dr. Stuart Wilson was hospital’s sole pathologist for 20 years. During this period the hospital’s laboratory was recognized for its quality of services when first inspected and accredited by the College of American Pathologists. Subsequently, the transfusion service was first inspected and accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks. Along with other community members, Dennis Peterson worked to establish the San Juan Medical Foundation in 1984. During his time on the foundation board, he was instrumental in the launch of the Connelly Hospitality House and the San Juan Regional Cancer Center. In 2003 and 2004 Dennis served as Chairman of San Juan Regional Medical Center’s board of directors. He was actively involved in getting the community’s approval to pass a gross receipts tax that helped make the east tower expansion project possible, which added 72 private patient rooms and eight new operating suites. Alice Gibson began volunteering at San Juan Regional Medical Center in 1978 and has accumulated over 30,000 service hours so far. Alice has served in many capacities including 32 years as a hospital Auxiliary board member. She has been recognized at the state auxiliary level for the most volunteer hours in the state.

            San Juan Regional Medical Center’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at the San Juan College Little Theater at 7:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

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