Community Impact Award

Dr. Rudolph B. Rustin, III, Mount Pleasant, SC, was honored as recipient of the 2009 Community Impact Award at the Annual Meeting in Hollywood, FL.  Dr. Rustin was recognized for his work with Welvista (formerly CommuniCare), a nonprofit organization that provides free medical care and prescription drugs to South Carolina’s uninsured.  Welvista partners with 12 pharmaceutical companies and a network of 3,000 healthcare providers to fulfill its mission of offering “hope and wellness to the uninsured.”  The largest in-house charitable pharmacy in the United States, Welvista in 2008 provided uninsured patients with 108,872 prescription medications worth $34.5 million.  Dr. Rustin has served as Chairman of the Welvista Board of Directors since 2003, and has been a member of the Board since 1998. His stepfather, Dr. Bart Barone, founded Welvista in 1993.

Fellow ASCRS member Dr. Brendan B. Murphy, Charleston, SC, nominated Dr. Rustin for the Community Impact Award. Members of the ASCRS Public Relations Committee made the final selection. “Dr. Rustin has demonstrated his dedication to the cause of medicine in the belief of its betterment for all. He realized early on the power to help not only those who can afford medical treatment, but also those for whom a doctor visit is an unthinkable luxury,” Dr. Murphy explained in his nomination letter. “He is caring, helpful, and ready to serve whenever called upon.”

The award, established in 2006, recognizes ASCRS members for outstanding humanitarian achievement and citizenship. “We know many Society members are doing important volunteer work in their communities. The Community Impact Award serves as a way for us to recognize and promote their outstanding contributions,” says Public Relations Committee Chair Dr. Harry T. Papaconstantinou, Temple, TX.