Palliative Care
Palliative Care Means Reframing How We View Healthcare. Northwell Health Is Leading the Way
“Their suffering was physical…but it was emotional as well, a desperate sense of helplessness. For them, there was no place in the medical care system that met their needs.”
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The mission of palliative care, Dowling explains in The Aging Revolution, was diametrically opposed to what many physicians assumed their patients wanted: to be kept alive at all costs no matter the resulting quality of life. Palliative care urged doctors to take a different approach. By asking their patients what they wanted out of their lives in the moment, physicians were able to align patient care with a patient’s directives in a fashion previously unavailable.
As CEO and President of the largest healthcare provider in New York, Dowling has advocated for this change in perception and practice.
“The definition of palliative medicine has evolved over the past two decades,” writes Dowling, “from a focus on end-of-life care to a broader scope that hews closely to geriatrics’ focus on quality of life, functional independence, and aligning care with what the patient says matters the most.”
The growth of palliative medicine is one of the great success stories in American medicine made possible by innovative healthcare systems like Northwell Health continuing what the founders of palliative care began. Today, Northwell is advancing palliative care by expanding the scope of who needs it and raising awareness of its existence.
Palliative Care at Northwell Health
With America Getting Older, Northwell Health Is Investing in Home Care
With America Getting Older,
Northwell Health Is Investing
in Home Care
In the early evening on a fall day in 1992, Dr. Eric de Jonge stopped by the home of one of his favorite patients for a regular check-in, a last stop before heading home after another grueling day of his residency at Johns Hopkins.
Northwell Health Palliative Care has a clear mission: to provide reliable, high-quality care to older adults and to all those with advanced illness. Their commitment to advancing palliative care has earned the healthcare system a U.S. News & World Report ranking as one of the nation's Best Hospitals for Geriatric Care in 2023-24 and a Joint Commission Certification in Advanced Palliative Care for many of its healthcare locations.
In practice, the Northwell palliative care mission takes several forms. Northwell employs a team of specialized palliative care doctors, nurses and social workers who collaborate closely with each patient’s primary care provider, surgeon or pain specialist, with a distinct focus on communication and coordination. Through expert management of symptoms with a variety of treatment options including medications, medical care and psychosocial therapies, the goal is always to improve quality of life as defined by the patient. As an integral part of this mission, the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their loved ones are made a priority, with team members available to help address these needs.
Currently, Palliative medicine services are provided at all Northwell hospitals, including the dedicated Palliative Care
Unit at North Shore University Hospital. Services are also provided at an outpatient site, Northwell Health Physician Partners Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Great Neck, and through the Supportive Oncology Program at R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian made headlines in the 1990s and inadvertently helped realign healthcare. Nicknamed “Dr. Death” by the press, the man who assisted people in ending their lives was infamous in pop culture. But few stopped to think about why someone like Dr. Kevorkian who provided these services existed in the first place.
“People seeking Kevorkian’s help felt that they had no alternatives,” writes Northwell CEO Michael Dowling in his latest treatise on healthcare, The Aging Revolution. “Their suffering was physical…but it was emotional as well, a desperate sense of helplessness. For them, there was no place in the medical care system that met their needs.”
The failure of American medicine to provide compassionate care for people with serious illnesses created the need for palliative care, a specialized medical field for people living with a serious or terminal illness. While it first emerged out of the UK hospice system in the 1960s, it wasn’t until the practice was codified by the Center to
Advance Palliative Care in the late ‘90s that palliative care began its slow and steady process of normalization across US healthcare systems. As healthcare stakeholders realized the importance of palliative care and its mission to reduce the suffering of people with serious, complex illness, a new understanding of patient-focused care took root.
Michael Dowling, Northwell Health CEO from his new book The
Aging Revolution
When the push to increase awareness of palliative care began, most people had no idea what palliative care was. Dowling argues that even in 2024 this remains the case. Surveys show that we want to die at home, free of pain, surrounded by the people we love.[1] But still, patients continue to die in the hospital, alone, and experiencing unnecessary discomfort. The solution, Dowling says, is to increase the awareness of palliative care’s value not just among clinicians, but in families and caretakers as well.
“The rise of palliative medicine has responded to what many were seeking—relief—but much more is needed, particularly better alignment between the two specialties intensely focused on suffering,” Dowling writes. “More cooperation between the two disciplines could help geriatric and palliative medicine specialists, along with the models of care they lead (e.g., primary care, consult services, hospice, home-based care, skilled nursing facilities), to decrease the burden of illness on patients.”
Northwell strives to be at the vanguard of the aging revolution. On December 3rd, Northwell presents the inaugural Aging Revolution Summit which will host an influential invitation-only group of stakeholders across the healthcare continuum to define and address the most pressing issues within the field. World-class speakers and participants will examine how increasing lifespans are exacerbating individual medical conditions and system-wide operational challenges. The goal of the Aging Revolution Summit is to highlight the far-reaching potential of innovative age-friendly healthcare solutions, and discuss pathways to impactful programs and partnerships that will improve the lives of patients and caregivers alike.
The Aging Revolution by Michael Dowling explores the history of geriatric and palliative care and what can be done to better provide this life-affirming care in the future. Order it now on Amazon.
The Future of Palliative Care
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The Aging Revolution
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[1] “On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying: Shows,” BillMoyers. com, January 8, 2024, https://billmoyers.com/series/on-our-own -terms-moyers-on-dying/.
Here’s How Northwell Is Changing Healthcare to Address an Aging Population.
Here’s How Northwell Is
Changing Healthcare to
Address an Aging Population.
When Dr. Kedar Mate got the call that his grandmother was dying, he immediately left to be with her. She had been suffering from a combination of illnesses that prohibited her from doing what she loved most in life.
If You’re Taking Care of a
Family Member, Don’t Go It
Alone.
If You’re Taking Care of a Family Member, Don’t Go It Alone.
There are an estimated 48 million family caregivers in the US as the responsibility to care for ill, disabled, and aging populations is falling on relatives and profoundly changing their day-to-day lives.
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