Prairie du Chien mayor proclaims Feb. 11 as Dr. Michael Garrity Day
Feb. 11, 2017, has been designated Dr. Michael Garrity Day in the city of Prairie du Chien. Mayor Dave Hemmer encourages area residents to join in celebrating “our great neighbor and caring physician.”
The mayor signed an official proclamation for Dr. Michael Garrity Day Wednesday. The proclamation details some of the doctor’s history.
From 1960 to 2000, Dr. Garrity “exhibited a spirit of love and care through his medical professional efforts to support his Prairie du Chien area patients and their families, improving their quality of life and in fact saving many lives, and delivering 1,695 Prairie du Chien residents during those four decades of service.”
Dr. Garrity continues to dedicate his life to the Hippocratic Oath, which, according to the proclamation, is “fulfilling, to the best of his ability and judgment, the covenant to respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps he walks, and sharing his knowledge gained with those who are to follow; particularly through his participation in the La Crosse International Health Partnership, serving in the Ukraine over four trips there, between 2000 and 2004, earning him the World Services Legacy Award in 2015.”
Since 2002, he has continued to travel weekly to La Crosse to care for patients who have chronic conditions, at St. Clare Health Mission. His patient dedication is described by Clinic Director Sandra Brekke, RN, as a “remarkable dedication for any physician, but for one who travels 120 miles per week to serve patients in need, people who lack reliable, basic health care access, is emblematic of Mike Garrity’s character.”
The mayor said, in the proclamation, “the Prairie du Chien community is grateful that Dr. Michael Garrity, and his wife Mary Ann, continue to participate in our community, generously supporting their neighbors.