Olden Family M.D. Scholarship for Lifelong Community Care
EST. 2018
Please address your letter to:
Dr. Carl and Susan Olden
The Starfish Story
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”
Dr. Carl and Susan Olden were inspired to establish a “starfish” scholarship for students at the UW School of Medicine. Dr. Olden, part Yakama Indian, was born and grew up on the Yakama Indian Reservation. Dr. Olden always intended to come home to practice and care for the community he grew up in, and in Family Medicine has had the joy of being able to care for multiple generations of families who included lifelong friends, neighbors, and relatives. Dr. Olden included obstetrics in his practice for the entire 33 years and is currently delivering children whose parents he delivered earlier in his career. Along the way, Dr. Olden became deeply involved in medical leadership, having served as the President of the Washington Academy of Family Physicians 2011-2012, President of the Washington State Obstetrics Association 2016-2017, and has been on the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors since 2014. Dr. Olden was the Washington State Family Physician of the Year in 2014.