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Phoebe psychiatrist gets national honor

• A psychiatrist on the staff of an Albany hospital wins a national honor.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — A staff psychiatrist at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital was recognized Wednesday by the National Alliance on Mental Illness for being one of approximately 30 “exemplary physicians” in the United States.

Winston Pineda, who joined Phoebe’s Behavioral Health Center in February 2006, is the type of physician who possesses the “knowledge, skill and understanding” to help families coping unexpectedly with mental illness, said Mimi Marlow, vice president of NAMI Georgia.

Pineda aids patients in a state rated “D” for its efforts and ranked 44th in the nation for spending on mental health care, Marlow said.

“It’s about doctors who go the extra mile,” she said.

Pineda had been too busy to attend a recent ceremony in Washington, D.C., to receive the award, said Phoebe Senior Vice President Frank Middleton, who presented the honor instead during a news conference held in the hospital’s Wetherbee Lobby.

NAMI’s Albany chapter representative Alan White said he’d met Pineda at one of the group’s monthly meetings, held at Phoebe Northwest.

“I’ve never heard a negative comment about Dr. Pineda, which is great indeed,” White said.

Pineda, who was born in the Philipines and came to Albany from Cahaba Mental Health Center in Selma, Ala., thanked two Phoebe employees who nominated him for the award.

“Also, I want to thank all of our co-workers, and I mean all, at the behavioral health clinic, at the inpatient units, at the VA clinic,” Pineda said.

“Nurse support in various capacities make us doctors, and maybe me especially, look good.”

He dedicated the award to Lisa Schexnayder, office coordinator at the behavioral health clinic, “a source of inspiration for me and many others,” Pineda said.

Psychiatry is a “medical specialty that makes room for all the nuances of wellness and wholeness of body, mind and spirit, informed by an economy where the other sources of understanding matter, existential and spiritual,” he said.

“But I am ultimately convinced that all this knowledge and understanding is of no worth if one is not deeply and respectfully cognizant of the decency of every human being.”

Pineda’s duties include seeing patients at Albany’s veterans clinic, which Phoebe has a contract to operate and where many patients are treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.

Pineda said he’d gained a “soft spot” for veterans.

“Before working with them, I guess I misunderstood them. But now I know their plight. They’re a very appreciative group of people,” he said. “It is truly a challenge to have to deal with this disorder (PTSD), and I’m understanding their plight more deeply.”

Schexnayder works closely with Pineda and other physicians involved with the behavioral health center.

“He’s probably one of the most compassionate, gentle, caring people,” she said. “He’s always very respectful with everyone, and it’s just a joy.”

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