Dr. Sam was awarded the Kansanite Award March 17 by United Healthcare Community and State. This awards program recognizes providers in Kansas rural and frontier counties. The development of the Kansanite Award is significant because it recognizes the special dedication and commitment required to deliver healthcare in rural counties.
The Kansanite Award was named in reference to the Jelinite, the official gemstone of Kansas. This is an amber that has been found only along the shallow dirt mound along the Smoky Hill River in Ellsworth County. The Jelinite was first called Kansanite and is called the “Holy Grail of Kansas Minerals”. Like the Jelinite, Kansas providers in rural regions are rare gems, and their dedication to Kansas communities is like a treasured gemstone.
United Healthcare provided this celebration which took place at Pioneer Manor. The celebration was a surprise for Dr. Sam. He was surrounded by his extraordinary team of not only the Medical Clinic staff but also many other members of Stevens County Healthcare who have worked alongside Dr. Sam in his 30-year journey in Hugoton. This award recognizes Dr. Sam’s years of dedication and sacrifice to Stevens County. For 30 years he has been serving this community. He has built a very robust rural health clinic practice along with caring for patients in the Emergency Room and inpatient stays. He also serves as the Medical Director for the hospital and Pioneer Manor. Stevens County Healthcare could not be prouder for Dr. Sam to receive this award and would like to thank United Healthcare Community and State for not only rolling out this program to recognize the amazing providers in rural areas, but for actually traveling all the way out to Southwest Kansas to personally deliver this award and meet the amazing team of Stevens County Healthcare.
The following was the nomination sent to United HealthCare by Jennifer Featherston CEO of Stevens County Hospital.
I would like to nominate Dr. Samer Al-Hashmi, lovingly called “Dr. Sam” in our community, because of his unwavering dedication to not only this community of Hugoton but to all the surrounding counties in which he cares for patients.
Dr. Al-Hashmi came to Hugoton in January 1996 by chance. Dr. Sam’s cousin, who worked in Amarillo, Texas, placed him with a recruiter in order to fulfill his requirements to work in a “critical access or physician shortage area.” Dr. Al-Hashmi had done three years of residency in New York, so you can imagine the culture shock when he landed in Southwest Kansas.
“Dr. Sam” loved the community from the first day, and he has built a life here caring for our community. He moved his wife here and they raised four children in our community. Dr. Sam leads our rural medical clinic, he takes care of every long-term care resident in our 77-bed nursing home, is the medical director for our school district, is the town coroner, and is the medical director for our town’s emergency medical services.
For the majority of his years here in Hugoton, he took ER call every day and night! I truly have never met a physician who cared so much about his community. Dr. Al-Hashmi is in his last—most likely four years—before retirement. We will never be able to replace his heart and how much he fell in love with a small town in Southwest Kansas. We are beyond blessed to have him here!