Dr. Patricia A. Keener, founder of the Safe Sitter program and a longtime pediatric physician and community advocate in the Indianapolis area, left her mark on the care of children.
“Pat is in the top 1/100th of 1 percent of people who have made a difference in the quality of life and quality of healthcare for children," said Dr. Richard L. Schreiner, chairman emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine.
Dr. Keener, who died in 2021, graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine with honors in 1968 (one of only 15 women in the class). Following graduation and an internship at Wishard Hospital (now Eskenazi Health), she accepted a pediatric residency at the Medical College of South Carolina, where she served as chief resident and received training in pre-term and seriously ill infants.
She returned to the IU School of Medicine as director of undergraduate education in the Department of Pediatrics. She went on to achieve board certification in neonatology, and in 1974, on loan from Riley Pediatrics, she established a neonatal intensive care unit at Community Hospital.
In 1989, she returned to the IU School of Medicine and Riley Hospital and was named director of General and Community Pediatrics, where she served as a fierce advocate for the medically underserved. She worked in partnership with community leaders to improve care for underserved populations, overseeing the pediatrics program at Wishard and serving as medical director of the Indianapolis Campaign for Healthy Babies, a public-private partnership that addressed the infant mortality problem in Indianapolis.
Dr. Keener supported the education of young physicians and developed a cultural competency curriculum that evolved into the IU School of Medicine’s Office of Medical Service Learning. The American Academy of Pediatrics recognized her with the Ross Education Award for outstanding accomplishments in pediatric postgraduate and continuing education. Other awards included the Girl’s Inc. 2005 Touchstone Award, the 1991 Tony and Mary Hulman Health Achievement Award in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, and Indiana’s highest honor for distinguished service, the Sagamore of the Wabash in 1992.
Dr. Keener founded the Safe Sitter program in the 1980s to teach life skills, safety skills, first aid and rescue skills to middle-school-aged children. The program soon spread across the Midwest, and with the help of a grant from the Lilly Endowment, it went national. Today, Safe Sitter is a national nonprofit organization that continues to help build safer communities by providing youth with the skills they need to be safe while home alone, watching younger siblings or babysitting.
In 2001, the Riley Children’s Foundation sponsored Dr. Keener’s authorship of “Caring for Kids” and facilitated statewide distribution of several hundred thousand free copies to physicians and their patients around the state. The book offered a wealth of information and tips not found in traditional parenting books and was prepared by Dr. Keener and her staff with the input from other physicians, healthcare professionals and parents throughout the state.
Dr. Schreiner credits Dr. Keener’s vision and leadership in the 1990s to convert public health clinics to primary-care health centers as significantly contributing to Indianapolis today having one of the best primary-care medical programs for the underserved in the nation.
“Pat laid the groundwork for why the underserved in Indianapolis can now go to neighborhood-based healthcare centers and receive convenient, quick and affordable access to high-quality medical care by appointment and from the same doctor,” he said.
--Compiled by the Riley Hospital Historic Preservation Committee
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