Community Care Physicians, PC Gives its First Annual Excellence in Primary Care Award

LATHAM, NY (05/14/2012)(readMedia)-- On the evening of May 10 at Franklin Plaza in Troy, Community Care Physicians, P.C. (CCP), the largest multispecialty medical group in the Capital Region, presented its first annual Excellence in Primary Care Award to Arsenio Gerard Agopovich, MD, primary care physician at Capital Healthcare Associates of Community Care Physicians. This is the first of an annual event in which Community Care Physicians celebrates a primary care physician who embodies the quality, the compassion and the innovative spirit for which Community Care is known.

Dr. Agopovich was chosen as the first recipient of the Excellence in Primary Care Award (an award that is, in fact, formally named after him as The Arsenio Agopovich Award for Excellence in Primary Care) for his unwavering commitment to patient care for the past 60 years and for his contribution to the advancement of primary care and to the community. Dr. Arsenio Agopovich is a Board Certified Family Practitioner who specializes in adult and geriatric medicine.

"Dr. Agopovich has been and remains an active participant and advisor with organizations that help to shape medical practice in the region and in the State," said Dr. Ronald Musto, Executive Vice President of Community Care Physicians who served as Master of Ceremonies at the event. "He has not only kept pace with the changing face of American medical practice but offers the unique perspective of his long and multicultural experience. His patients uniformly afford him the loyalty and the trust born of his long commitment to Community Care's ideals of quality, compassion and innovation."

Dr. Agopovich's commitment and compassion were made evident in the testimonials given by numerous speakers at the event, including:

• Mr. Norman Dascher- Chief Executive Officer, Patient Care Division, St. Peter Health Care System/Northeast Health. Mr. Dascher collaborated with Dr. Agopovich through Dr. Agopovich's years of service for Samaritan Hospital and the Board of Trustees of Northeast Health.

• Mr. Lee Bordick, former superintendent of Lansingburgh School District, for which Dr. Agopovich still consults. Dr. Agopovich is also Mr. Bordick's primary care physician.

• Ms. Joanne Dawson, from Office of Professional Medical Conduct, who worked with Dr. Agopovich adjudicating cases brought before the office.

Dr. Shirish Parikh, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Community Care Physicians provided the opening remarks and touching anecdotes of Dr. Agopovich over his many decades of service.

The Arsenio Agopovich Award for Excellence in Primary Care will be given annually to the primary care physician within Community Care Physicians who has been engaged in primary care for at least ten years; who exemplifies CCP's core values; who contributes to the support or advancement of primary care; who contributes to the community and who is board certified in his or her specialty. The recipient will receive an award as well as a $5,000 donation to the charity of his/her choice.

"We do not often have an opportunity to express our appreciation for physicians who epitomize all that makes medicine truly a calling," said Dr. Musto. "The Arsenio Agopovich Award for Excellence in Primary Care provides us that opportunity."

About Dr. Arsenio Gerard Agopovich (aks "Gerry" Agopovich) Extended biography:

Dr. Agopovich was born of Italian parents in Edirne, Turkey. He attended the French preparatory school the Italian high school and college. After a year of teaching, He entered Medical School at Istanbul University from which he was graduated in 1952. He then came to the United States where he completed a rotating internship at New York Polyclinic, a surgical internship and residency at Methodist Hospital of Central Illinois and a year of pathology residency as well. He established a general medical practice in Watervliet in 1957 and practiced solo until he merged with then Capital Healthcare Associates (now Community Care Physicians) in 1990 where he remains in active practice.

Dr. Agopovich is a Charter Diplomate of the American Board of Family Physicians and a Charter Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. His distinguished career has included inpatient acute care, outpatient medical practice, and geriatric inpatient and outpatient care. He has served as a director and an advisor to the Boards of health care delivery systems and as a consultant to the New York State Health Department Office of Professional Medical Conduct. Dr. Agopovich has served at Samaritan Hospital in Troy as Chairman of the Family Practice Department, President of the Medical Staff (1972), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Samaritan Hospital and Albany Memorial Hospital, and is currently Trustee Emeritus of Northeast Health

He is multilingual, being fluent in English, French, Italian, Turkish and Latin; proficient in Spanish, Russian and Polish.

Photos of the event and interviews with participants will be made available upon request.

About Community Care Physicians, P.C.

Community Care Physicians, P.C. is a multi-specialty medical group with over 35 practices spanning Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties of the Capital Region. Community Care Physicians offers over 19 different specialty services, including Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatric Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, ImageCare Medical Imaging, Image Guided Radiation Therapy, Interventional Radiology, General Surgery, Urology, Physical Therapy, Urgent Care, Podiatry, Laboratory, Audiology, Dermatology, Diabetes Education and Nutrition, Sports Medicine, Occupational Medicine and Bariatric Medicine. For more information visit www.communitycare.com.