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2020 COPIC Humanitarian Award - Presented to Gayle Frazzetta
Tribute to Dr. Gayle Frazzetta by the House of Representatives in recognition of her decades-long commitment to the people of Colorado.
Dr. Gayle Frazzetta has been awarded the 2020 COPIC Humanitarian Award. This award is presented each year to honor physicians for volunteer medical services and contributions to the community and who unassumingly volunteer outside the spectrum of their day to day lives.
For over 20 years, Dr. Frazzetta has provided health care for thousands of people in the Montrose area. She doesn’t simply provide for the community, she also raises up members of the community by equipping them with knowledge. Dr. Frazzetta is a model citizen, physician and community member who has given her time, her knowledge and her resources to the people of Colorado. The members of the Colorado House of Representatives are proud to recognize Dr. Gayle Frazzetta for her dedicated leadership, and thank her for her exemplary contributions to her community. Tribute on request of Representative Marc Catlin.
Published in Montrose Daily Press 10/2019 for Women’s Health
It’s A Girl!!
Gayle Frazzetta, MD, FAAFP, CCD
Breast Cancer, PMS and contraception. This is what often comes to mind when thinking of woman’s health. Perhaps a better place to start is at the beginning. Correct naming is critical to a healthy start. Not the child’s given name, but of her body parts. Yes, we can all correctly name a boy’s penis, but what about a girl? Yes, she does, in fact, have a VAGINA, and it is an incredible organ, but it is not visible externally. Girls have a vulva, the visible exterior portion of her genital area, which is probably the most misrepresented structure on the planet! Correct naming and anatomical ownership is important. Girls shouldn’t be vacant between the navel and knees. Worse, is shame about the area; “Down there” “the nether- lands”, “who-who”, “Va jay jay”! We give the message to young girls that there is something so wrong with their body parts, that we can’t even bring ourselves to say it out loud. Kind of like a feminine Voldemort. Then of course, we add to the sinister nature of the female genital area with; puberty and the onset of menstruation. The beginning of having girls believe that every mood, emotion or bad day is caused by hormones. You never hear anyone saying “Wow, I had a great day, it must be my hormones!” or “I had a really great work-out today, it must be the right spot in my menstrual cycle.” To be clear, having a period is not a disease. In fact, none of us would be here without them. This shame and negative thought often continue throughout a women’s life. Medically accurate puberty education and comprehensive sexuality and relationship education is fundamental to help counter this, in addition to calling a vulva, a vulva.
Globally, being born female is a distinct disadvantage. You are less likely to survive in until age five and if you live in poverty, you are the poorest of the poor in every country.About 50% of girls under age 18 have given birth or are married. Adolescent girls ages 12-19 make up the fastest growing group contracting HIV. Female genital mutilation is inflicted upon 2 million young girls. In the U.S. there are about 500,000 at risk for this procedure.While a federal law has been in place banning this procedure since 1996, it was overturned last year, declaring it unconstitutional. While currently thought of as an immigrant issue, excision of the clitoris was performed in the U.S from the 1880’s- 1950’s to treat depression, hysteria, nymphomania, masturbation and lesbianism. These were continued somewhat into the 1970’s and were covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance until 1977. The 1970’s were a big decade for women. Bans were finally lifted that allowed women to get their own credit cards without their husband co-signing, run marathons, participate on juries and train to become astronauts! All of this, a mere 40 years ago!
Women still have a ways to go. Their health is more often a result of environment and circumstances they find themselves in and their access to healthcare. With limited access, there is a direct correlation to poverty, low education and lack of money for themselves and their families. Access to healthcare is a critical issue for women to improve their lives and the lives of their families. Recently, healthcare access for many women in the U.S. has become increasingly threatened. This again burdens women the most and puts them at greater overall risk. As individuals, we can certainly understand and support this, as a nation we shouldn’t stand for an embarrassing step backwards!
Humanitarian Award Nomination Application
Gayle Frazzetta, MD, FAAFP, CCD has been an active participant in our rural community since she and her family arrived here in 1998. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Family Practice Residency in 1995. She was in private practice there for 3 years and served as an attending physician at Rose Hospital and was the team physician for the Colorado Xplosion , the Professional Women’s Basketball team. Over the past 20 years, she has helped to orchestrate some permanent and lasting changes that have improved the Montrose community. Early on, she focused her attention on the Montrose County School District. She created the Physicians Health and Wellness Committee which served as a medical advisory board for the school district. The board helped to initiate changes including, improving the school lunch program, complying with state mandated nutrition guidelines, improving access to milk in the cafeteria, and implementing a recess before lunch program to improve consumption and decrease waste. She has used her background in Nutritional Sciences to work on improved nutrition and address childhood obesity. During this time, Dr Frazzetta also was on the COPAN expert panel, helping to revise the states guidelines.
Dr. Frazzetta has played an instrumental role in the school districts sexuality education for the past 2 decades. Recognizing the importance of puberty education and the lack of consistency across the district, she was able to pull together some key players in the community and the district, so that we now have the Denver Health and Sciences Museum outreach program provide reliable, accurate puberty information to all 5th graders in our district. She secured continuous, local funding for this project.
Additionally, she is the sole director and coordinator of the contraception education to 9th graders. Through her leadership, the program has remained an active and integral part of the community. She both teaches and coordinates the education program to include both local medical providers and medical students from the University of Colorado Medical School to be the educators for this event. This has helped to connect the local medical providers to the community they serve. Additionally, Dr. Frazzetta has given community lectures on puberty, sexuality, and contraception to the community prior to these school talks, to give parents an opportunity for education as well. While Montrose once had the highest teen pregnancy rate in the state in the 1980’s, it now can boast that their teens are about 2x more likely than the state average, to use protection for the first sexual encounter! Dr Frazzetta was consulted by the Delta County School District, to help guide them, to implement state guidelines on comprehensive sexuality education. She provided active demonstrations and lead discussion groups towards this goal. They are now underway with puberty and contraception education to attempt meeting state goals of comprehensive sexuality education.
Another program that Dr. Frazzetta successfully started about 10 years ago is the school districts concussion protocol. This is now a standard part of the districts Athletic policy and entails baseline Impact Testing every other grade starting in 7th grade and Safe, Return to Play protocol. She is the medical supervisor for the districts athletic trainer who over-sees all school related concussions and their return to play. Dr. Frazzetta has again, secured local, continuous funding for this and also, volunteers annually in in the Sports Physical Fundraiser to help support the local athletic trainer for the school district as the school district itself does not have the funds to do so.
Dr. Frazzetta is a prolific, lifelong learner and a passionate educator of her peers and the community. Over her career in Montrose, she has given lectures in Montrose, Telluride, Delta, Ridgway, Grand Junction and Lake City. Her most recent community talk was attended by over 100 participants. She has been a leader in medical education in Western Colorado, spearheading and improving the rural track for medical students. She has also maintained her affiliation with the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is an Associate Clinical Professor. She teaches medical school students in their 3rd and 4th year of training. She also offers a two week specialty elective in Women’s Health to Fourth year medical students.
Over the years, Dr. Frazzetta has served on multiple hospital and community boards, all of which have benefitted from her participation. Within the hospital, she has served leading roles on the Family Practice Committee, Nutrition Committee, and Obstetrics and Gynecologist Committee. Above all, she is a patient advocate, comfortable in challenging established norms to advocate for improved patient care.
She was critically important in improving obstetrical patients access to epidurals and also championed access to emergency contraception in the Emergency Department here in Montrose in the early 2000’s. In the community, she has served on the Montrose Medical Alliance, Medical Director for the County Health Department, and the SanJuan Healthcare Foundation Board for over 15 years, each individually. She is the current president of the Curecanti Medical Society. She has also coached youth soccer, basketball and baseball. She was the High School Boys Soccer Booster Club President for 3 years and coordinated multiple volunteer and community events including the annual Thanksgiving day event, assembling and delivering meals to home bound adults in the Montrose community. She was recognized by her community in 2015, voted Best Physician by the local newspaper and in 2017, voted Physician of the Year by her peers. She is also an athlete, participating in local softball, basketball and triathlons over the years. As a family, with her husband Dr. Singh and she, have done volunteer work with Health Volunteers Over Sea’s in Peru, Nicaragua, Mongolia, Peru, and Cambodia. Her most recent endeavor is working with the hospital and local orthopedist to establish a Fracture Liaison Team, to ensure that patients having a fragility fracture get the appropriate care and follow-up they require. She is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist and has served as the local community expert in osteoporosis management for over 20 years. Additionally, and currently, she is engaged with the C.U. Medical School to improve the curriculum for education in Women’s Health.
Dr. Frazzetta is hard working, well-read, well-organized, and well-respected by her fellow medical staff at Montrose Memorial Hospital, and well-loved by her loyal patients. She possess leadership skills that are rare. She is well spoken, motivating, and has done a tremendous job in leadership roles in the hospital and the community. She has been a crusader for physical education, sports, and health awareness. On top of all that, she has a tremendous sense of humor and brings that to every occasion to liven things up. Montrose has benefited from her commitment to her neighbors and colleagues. She has succeeded it making lasting and permanent change in our community. It is without reservation that I recommend her for Copic’s Humanitarian Award.
Michael Benziger, MD
2019 COPIC Humanitarian Award Recipient – Dr. Gayle Frazzetta
Mar 11, 2020
The 2019 COPIC Colorado Humanitarian Award is presented annually to honor a physician for volunteer medical services and contributions to his or her community. The award aims to recognize those individuals who unassumingly volunteer outside the spectrum of their day-to-day lives. The 2019 award is presented to Dr. Gayle Frazzetta who has been described as a “crusader for physical education, sports, and health awareness.”
Dr. Frazzetta has been an active participant in the Montrose community over the past 20 years. She is a graduate of the Colorado University Family Practice Residency at Rose Hospital and has helped to orchestrate lasting changes that have improved the Montrose community.
Dr. Frazzetta created the Physician’s Health and Wellness Committee which served as a medical advisory board for the Montrose School District. This board helped to initiate changes including improving the school lunch program, complying with state nutrition guidelines, improving food access, and implementing a “recess before lunch” program to improve consumption and decrease waste. Additionally, Dr. Frazzetta has played an instrumental role in the school district’s reproductive health education program for fifth graders and ninth graders. Another program Dr. Frazzetta started is the school district’s concussion protocol, now a standard part of the district’s athletic policy. These are just a sampling of ways that Dr. Frazzetta has contributed to the well-being of her community through volunteer work. A dedicated leader, she is well-respected by her colleagues and patients alike.
Dr. Frazzetta has chosen the San Juan Healthcare Foundation to receive the award’s $10,000 donation to support health services in the Montrose schools.
On March 4th, Dr. Frazzetta was recognized at Colorado’s state capitol, where she was introduced by Representative Marc Catlin on the floor of the House before the Colorado General Assembly for her exceptional volunteerism and recipient of the 2019 COPIC Colorado Humanitarian Award. Congratulations to Dr. Frazzetta!
To learn more about the COPIC Colorado Humanitarian Award, visit our website at https://www.callcopic.com/about-copic/copic-humanitarian-award.
