Help End Abuse for Life (HEAL) is pleased to announce that local physician Dr. Stephen Rath of Fusion Medical Spa has been selected to receive the 2012 New Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NMCADV) Community Hero Award. NMCADV is the leading voice for ending domestic violence in New Mexico and HEAL is a member organization. Dr. Rath will receive the award in Las Cruces in October which is also National Domestic Violence Awareness month.
In the nomination letter to the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence for the Community Hero Award, the HEAL Board wrote,
For over a year and a half, Dr. Rath has been an active donor to the Nest Domestic Violence Shelter, giving of himself, his family and his business.
The Doctors Rath (his wife is a local physician as well) have contributed financially to support the operations of the Nest. He has a keen understanding of the challenges facing a small nonprofit organization and through his family donations, makes an impact in the ability to offer comprehensive services to survivors of domestic violence in our community.
Last Christmas, the Raths invited the children staying at the Nest to join their own children for a fun day of snow inner-tubing at Winter Park. Despite being canceled and rescheduled due to exceptional winter weather, the kids had a blast! Dr. Rath helped our kids experience a day of fun, recreation and the love of strangers.
In the spring of 2011, Dr. Rath approached HEAL and offered to provide complimentary scar removal for survivors of domestic violence living at the Nest. After meeting with HEAL Executive Director Coleen Widell, and hearing of the gruesome tattooing of some victims by their abuser, Dr. Rath agreed to also provide tattoo removal for our residents.
Upon hearing that he had been nominated for the Community Hero Award which also was the same moment that he learned that he would receive the award, Dr. Rath says his first thought was, “I am not worthy. There are lots of people in the community that do things. I really appreciate it but I am not worthy of such an award. You don’t help out because you expect anything in return; you do things because it’s the right thing to do.”
Dr. Rath stated that most often he and his staff do not know the impact of their services or contact with Nest residents but last year he did learn from a Nest staff person the outcome of one story. The staff person had kept in contact with a previous Nest resident and the resident later told her that she did not return to her previous life of being abused because of the compassion and the caring that the Rath family had shown to her and her child. It gave her hope and strength to move on and away from her previous domestic violence situation.
In describing why he is willing to donate his many services from weight loss to tattoo removal at Fusion Medical Spa to residents of The Nest, Dr. Rath says aesthetic medicine is part of the big picture of empowering them and encouraging them to embrace the many outlets for change.
Dr. Rath explains, “I think a big part of that is just hearing a positive message from multiple sources. There certainly are many physicians in this community who have taken a stand against domestic violence. In my point of view, I am just partnering with the medical community, communicating with victims of domestic violence that there are options. You do not have to stay in the same bad situation; you can get out of it. You have options. There is hope. You can get out of a bad situation with the help of organizations like HEAL and the Nest Domestic Violence Shelter.”