Richard Klug, M.D., family medicine physician associated with McCook Clinic, received the Colorado Physician’s Insurance Company’s (COPIC) Harold E. Williamson award for Nebraska on October 2 at the Nebraska Medical Association honors luncheon. As part of the award, Dr. Klug received a $10,000 grant to be designated to the non-profit organization of his choice. He has chosen the McCook Community Foundation as the non-profit organization to manage the funds, with the proceeds earmarked towards emergency medical services. 

The Harold E. Williamson award honors a physician for volunteer medical services and contributions to the community. Dr. Klug has been instrumental in ensuring that the residents of southwest Nebraska have continued access to quality healthcare for more than twenty-three years. He has devoted countless hours and continues to do so, volunteering his time and expertise to many different organizations as well as serving the residents of this region through his own private practice.

His many accomplishments include serving as the physician medical director for many of the area ambulance services including Stratton, Trenton, Palisade, Culbertson, Hayes Center and McCook for more than twenty years. Dr. Klug has served as the physician medical director for the McCook Fire Department since 1987 when he was involved in training the department in the use of semi-automatic defibrillators. He was instrumental in bringing advanced life support (ALS) to southwest Nebraska and to the McCook Fire Department in 1990. He also helped with the training when the McCook Fire Department progressed to the advanced EMT-intermediate level in 1990 and then on to the EMT-paramedic level in 1997. It is because of Dr. Klug’s passion and dedication to ensuring that this region has highly trained and qualified individuals that the McCook Fire Department has one of the most aggressive protocols in Nebraska for its emergency medical services.  This commitment has helped save many lives and touched many more in southwest Nebraska.

Dr. Klug has also been directly responsible to see that this region, as well as other communities located outside of southwest Nebraska, continues to have qualified individuals by serving as the physician medical director for the emergency medical technician program offered through McCook Community College for the past twenty years. During that time he has been involved in the training and certification of literally hundreds of EMT-paramedics and he continues to be actively involved in emergency medical services for the entire region.

Dr. Klug also volunteers as the medical director for Eldorado Nursing Home in Trenton and has served in this capacity as long as anyone can remember. This has involved traveling to Trenton almost monthly to assist with the implementation of resident care policies and coordination of the medical care.

Throughout his career Dr. Klug has also served as a faculty physician for the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and the Lincoln Family Medicine Program. He has been actively involved in the training and education of numerous family medicine residents, medical students and physician assistant students and in doing so has been instrumental in ensuring there are highly trained and qualified healthcare professionals throughout Nebraska.

In 2004, Dr. Klug also assumed the medical directorship of the People’s Family Health Services which provides patient care services related to family planning for individuals needing financial assistance.  His duties include serving as the direct supervisor for the clinicians (physician assistant or nurse practitioner) and People’s Family Health Services staff in performing and delivering medical services.

Dr. Klug has also served as the hospice director for Community Hospital since July 2000.  Additionally, he has served on almost every committee at Community Hospital at various times throughout his career and was Chief of Staff from 1990 to 1992. He has served on the Community Hospital board of directors approximately seven years from 1989 to 1995 and has currently volunteered to accept an appointment to fill a vacancy for another two years.

COPIC chooses one physician each year from Nebraska and Colorado to receive the award.