October 25, 2022
Glenn County pediatrician Joanne Reid, M.D., received the 2022 California Medical Association (CMA) Compassionate Service Award at the association’s annual House of Delegates this weekend in Los Angeles. The award honors CMA member physicians who best illustrate the association’s commitment to community and charity care.
Dr. Reid runs the only rural health clinic in Glenn County. As the only access to care for Glenn County parents with sick babies, children and adolescents, she often has 40-60 patient visits in a day. Although she lives 30 minutes away in Chico, Dr. Reid knew that a rural health clinic was much more needed in Willows. She has served the community of Willows and all of Glenn County since 2002.
“Dr. Reid is deeply committed to and embraces the importance of human welfare and human dignity in her rural community of Willows,” said Kristy Bird Makieve, executive director of the Butte-Glenn Medical Society and CEO of Healthy Rural California. “Although she could practice anywhere, she is steadfast to the needs of the most vulnerable and broken in a small rural town with few resources and endless hardship, many who are frequently unable to pay for medical care.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic Dr. Reid’s clinic rose to the needs of the community to become a COVID-19 vaccination clinic when there were few, if any, options. She also helped distribute PPE across Glenn County and to neighboring medical practices as well.
“Dr. Reid is a critical member of our community’s fight to make a difference, to turn the tide, and to be the bright light for youth to have a healthier and higher quality of life,” said MaKieve.
Dr. Reid was also one of the first members on the board of Rural Healthy California and served as an advisor to the Chico Community Prevention Coalition as it formed in the wake of the Camp Fire.
Dr. Reid attended the University of Michigan where she earned a Bachelor of Science of Chemical Engineering, graduating Cum Laude in 1981. She graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan with a Doctor of Medicine in 1985. Dr. Reid completed her Pediatric residency at University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan in 1989.