Dr. Stanley Shepardson practices medicine with a social conscience.

Globally, he volunteers to provide eye care to indigenous Mayan people of northwestern Guatemala.

Locally, he helped initiate efforts to build a health care clinic that will use volunteer physicians to provide free health care to low income residents.

The longtime Bend ophthalmologist was recently rewarded for his career of local and international involvement in civic, environmental and charitable endeavors.

Shepardson was named the 2002 Doctor Citizen of the Year by the Oregon Medical Association.

”It was very surprising to me,” Shepardson said of the honor. ”I had no idea I was being considered.”

Shepardson, 59, was selected from the more than 6,500 doctors who belong to the OMA.

He is the 45th doctor in the state to receive the award.

”To us it’s a very big deal,” said Jim Kronenberg, spokesman for the OMA. ”The purpose of the award is to acknowledge a physician who does more than practice good medicine.”

A native Oregonian and a graduate of the former University of Oregon Medical School, Shepardson started his ophthalmology practice in Bend in 1975.

Over the years, he became involved in several community organizations.

”It’s just part of being an active community member,” Shepardson said.

”You have a responsibility to help out in the various decisions we have to make as a community.”

An avid outdoorsman, Shepardson has focused many of his efforts on protecting the environment.

He served for 10 years on the board of the Central Oregon Environmental Center and was involved in efforts to determine whether the Newberry Crater could be used as a renewable energy source.

The doctor also is working to preserve wildlife habitat on 500 acres along the Owyee River.

But he is also dedicated to improving access to medical care. He serves on the board of Cascade Health Services and he was part of the fact-finding committee organized to start the Volunteers In Medicine Clinic of the Cascades.

The clinic will provide free health care to low-income residents lacking insurance. Shepardson plans to volunteer his services for the clinic.

”There is a huge need for better access to medical care,” he said.

He also participates in EyeCare America, a national program to provide medical care to needy patients at no cost.

And he has traveled to Guatemala four times to volunteer at a hospital in the third-world country.

As part of a team of doctors and nurses from Bend, Shepardson sees hundreds of patients in his 2-week stints. He performs cataract surgeries on many of those patients.

”You see people that really have had no medical attention,” he said.

”Down there we see people who are totally blind.”

The work is challenging because the hospital is primitive. The power goes out a couple times a day, and the doctors need to bring all their supplies and equipment.

Also, it’s hard to treat people with chronic conditions such as diabetes because he can’t be there to provide follow-up care.

Shepardson said he hopes to work in the future to help people in third-world countries become more self-sufficient to better help prevent and treat disease.

And he wants to help eradicate treatable blindness.

Shepardson’s work in Guatemala, he said, helps him gain a better perspective of the world.

”You really do have a positive experience.” he said. ”You often get much more back than you ever contribute,”

Rebecca Merritt can be reached at 541-383-0348 or rmerritt@bendbulletin.com.