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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to congratulate Dr. Jeffrey D. | ||||||
| 4 | Parks on receiving the 2019 Rural Physician of Excellence Award | ||||||
| 5 | from the Illinois Rural Health Association; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, One of the biggest healthcare challenges across | ||||||
| 7 | our nation is the shortage of physicians who practice in rural | ||||||
| 8 | settings, especially with the high percentage of older adults | ||||||
| 9 | living in rural America and small towns; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks graduated from the Southern Illinois | ||||||
| 11 | University School of Medicine in 1980; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks completed his residency in family | ||||||
| 13 | practice at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at | ||||||
| 14 | Peoria in 1983; and | ||||||
| 15 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks began his professional career in the | ||||||
| 16 | rural health arena in private practice in Herrin in 1983, which | ||||||
| 17 | he later expanded to Logan Primary Care in 1994; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks has served as a physician with Southern | ||||||
| 19 | Illinois Medical Services since 2011 and is part of the active | ||||||
| 20 | medical staff at Herrin Hospital; and | ||||||
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| 1 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks takes time to serve as an assistant | ||||||
| 2 | professor at the Southern Illinois University College of | ||||||
| 3 | Medicine, where he has shared his vast knowledge of rural | ||||||
| 4 | medicine with many students who went on to careers in rural | ||||||
| 5 | practice; and | ||||||
| 6 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks is very dedicated and often provides | ||||||
| 7 | home visits to some of his homebound patients, something rarely | ||||||
| 8 | seen in the 21st century; and | ||||||
| 9 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks has been instrumental in developing a | ||||||
| 10 | team approach to area long-term care facilities so that | ||||||
| 11 | patients in several local facilities are able to benefit from | ||||||
| 12 | daily visits by medical staff; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, Dr. Parks's passion for caring for the underserved | ||||||
| 14 | goes well beyond Illinois and all the way to Liberia, Africa, | ||||||
| 15 | where he volunteered through the years in remote medical | ||||||
| 16 | clinics; and
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| 17 | WHEREAS, When not making rounds up and down hospital wings, | ||||||
| 18 | Dr. Parks can sometimes be found hiking on the beautiful trails | ||||||
| 19 | of Southern Illinois; therefore, be it
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| 20 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
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| 1 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 2 | we congratulate Dr. Jeffrey D. Parks on receiving the 2019 | ||||||
| 3 | Rural Physician of Excellence Award and commend him for his | ||||||
| 4 | compassion and dedication to his patients and for filling such | ||||||
| 5 | a tremendous void in rural medicine over the past 35 years; and | ||||||
| 6 | be it further
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| 7 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 8 | presented to Dr. Parks as a symbol of our respect and esteem.
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