Kare Bears’ Korner

Ten-year pin recipients

Kare Bears volunteers honored

Joyce Van Ornam

Kare Bears volunteers were in full bloom at the 2019 Spring Fling, enjoying brunch and friendship!

The following volunteers received their ten-year pins: Dick Atwater, Mildred Callahan, Arlis Legler, Loretta Morris and Maureen Plate.

Please consider joining us by visiting www.karebears.org and completing a volunteer interest form.

Rotary Club and Kare Bears Food Drive

Joyce Van Ornam, President

Thanks, PebbleCreek, for making a huge impact to our local communities through the Rotary Club and Kare Bears Food Drive. You donated more than 2,000 lbs. of food to the Agua Fria Food Pantry. PebbleCreek residents always come through!

Dr. Aravind Sugumar

Kare Bears presents: The Doctor is In on June 26

Linda Jo Orinski

Dr. Aravind Sugumar is the newest addition to the Southwest Gastroenterology team. He is a board certified gastroenterologist who is extensively trained and practices advance endoscopic procedures (ERCP and EUD). These procedures help diagnose and treat patients with gastrointestinal problems.

After completing his basic medical training in India at the top of his class, Dr. Sugumar came to the United States to obtain a Master’s in public health from Harvard. While at Harvard, he did research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in complementary therapies. After two years in Boston, he moved to sunny Galveston, TX to complete his training in internal medicine at the University of Texas. There he met and married his wife and senior business partner Dr. Rajae Anaparthy. From there he was accepted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for a fellowship  in Gastroenterology and Hepatology (GI). On the completion of this three-year fellowship he chose to spend an additional year specializing in disease of the pancreas. He was then recruited to the University of Kansas to run the pancreas clinic. While in Kansas he was the founding director of the gastrointestinal high-risk clinic. The clinic was started to meet the special needs patient at “high risk” for GI cancers. After six years of doing this, Dr. Sugumar moved to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for a year training in advance endoscopic procedures.

The “needs of the patients come first” is a simple but profound statement that he tries to live by. He believes in decreasing barriers to communication and creating a safe, respectful and through patient encounter.

You do not want to miss Dr. Sugumar’s presentation on June 26, 11:00 a.m.-noon in the Eagle’s Nest Ballroom. Here are just a few of the conditions he treats: Acute Pancreatitis, Chronic Pancreatitis, Crohn’s Disease, Gallstones, Intestinal Failure, Liver Disease and Ulcers, to name just a few. This will be our last Kare Bears Presents for the summer. Knowledge is power, learning about what these diseases are all about may pay off at a later date if you have one of these issues!

June is my last month as your Programs Director for Kare Bears. I want to thank all the residents for attending the presentations I put together! I hope you learned something along the way and enjoyed the journey with me. Have a safe and wonderful summer!