Saint Anthony Physician Receives State Honor

Left: Dr. Kristine Teodori shares a light moment
with patient June Shultz.

CROWN POINT - Kristine Marie Teodori knew at age 8 that she wanted to be a doctor.
“I never thought of doing anything else – it was a true life’s calling,” said the Saint Anthony Medical Center geriatrics physician, a Crown Point native and graduate of Lake Central High School in St. John.
Indiana Public Health Foundation Inc. agrees with Teodori’s assertion and recently announced her as a recipient of its 25th annual 2009 Tony and Mary Hulman Health Achievement Awards, in Teodori’s case, for exceptional contributions to geriatrics and gerontology. The awards, named for the prominent Indianapolis-area entrepreneurs, recognize contributions of health professionals and organizations throughout Indiana.
Teodori, DO, will be honored among other recipients during an awards program Oct. 8 at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.
“I had planned to go in to cardiology, but then decided I wanted to do something that allowed me to take care of the whole person,” Teodori said. “One day during my residency, I comforted a patient before a test and her smile warmed my heart. I fell in love with geriatrics.”
Teodori was nominated for the honor by Agnes Seitz, Saint Anthony mission integration director.
“She has true calling to make a difference in the lives of seniors before and at the end of their life ... You could not ask for a better champion of the elderly,” Seitz wrote, in part, of Teodori in a nomination letter.
Teodori said she was surprised to learn of the honor, of which she was notified by Helen Scheibner, health foundation executive director. Scheibner said the award was based on Teodori’s “compassion and desire to make care of patients and end-of-life patients and their families as comfortable as possible … ’’
Teodori said of the award, “I didn’t do anything extraordinary. I just love my job and work hard to do it right. Every patient I see makes me feel good; I enjoy taking care of them. There are not enough geriatricians around.”
Teodori and her partner, Christina Araya-Osorio, MD, who specializes in family practice/geriatrics and recently joined the Saint Anthony staff, are located at Saint Anthony-North Point, 2050 N. Main St., Crown Point.
For more information, call (219) 663-3737.

ABOUT DR. KRISTINE TEODORI
Kristine Marie Teodori, DO, is a 1995 graduate of Indiana University Northwest in Gary. She attended medical school at Midwestern University-Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in Downers Grove, Ill., and earned a geriatrics and gerontology fellowship from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She resides in Lakes of the Four Seasons with her husband, Louis, who is a staff neurologist at Saint Anthony Medical Center, and their four children.