What is the role of a health care provider? It’s a question on the minds of many in the health care industry, one thrust back into the spotlight by a global pandemic and the troubling, persistent inequities seen in health care across populations.
According to a recent op-ed by David Battinelli, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Northwell Health, the medical community now recognizes that the “social determinants of health are responsible for about 80% of health outcomes.” These determinants—like race, gender, and socioeconomic status—are at the root of the great inequity within health care and are threatening to destabilize the entire system.
Rather than attempting to deal with such individual inequities on a case-by-case basis, as so many health care providers have done in the past, Northwell is taking large-scale action. As Lawrence G. Smith, MD, MACP, physician-in-chief of Northwell Health, put it, “In order to level the playing field, we can’t just take baby steps—we need a revolution.”
At Northwell, it’s a revolution that begins in women’s health. Women make up over half the population, and yet their unique health experiences are consistently lumped in with men’s. This means women’s health issues are often misdiagnosed, mistreated, or sometimes just plain missed altogether.
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How Northwell Health Is Leading a Revolution in Women’s Health
Katz Institute for Women’s Health
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"After the Roof Caved In" on Mental Health
A commitment to mental health is something no one should take lightly, especially after a year when the vast majority of us struggled with our mental health. Luckily, institutions like Northwell are putting in the time and resources necessary to improve the lives of the population they serve. Dowling would say it’s a commitment that starts from the top. If you want to learn more about Dowling’s fascinating poverty-to-success story, his struggles and triumphs, and why he cares so much about the mental health of others, pick up a copy of “After the Roof Caved In” wherever books are sold.
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“Forty-five years ago, when I was in medical school, it was made very clear to my class of aspiring physicians that there were stark differences in evaluating male and female patients,” says Dr. Smith. “If you saw a man with a set of symptoms and a thorough workup failed to yield an answer, you’d continue to aggressively pursue a diagnosis. But if your patient was a woman, it was another matter entirely: Her symptoms were often dismissed as psychosomatic—all in her mind.”
While Dr. Smith acknowledges that women’s health has made strides in the past half-century, the progress hasn’t been nearly enough. This is a sentiment echoed by Stacey Rosen, MD, senior vice president of Northwell’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health (KIWH). In a recent edition of the podcast “20-Minute Health Talk,” Dr. Rosen speaks about Raise Health, Northwell’s new advertising campaign platform which challenges the New York region to raise their expectations of what health can and should be.
“Raise Health is truly a rallying cry for our community, particularly our women, to improve our own health,” Dr. Rosen says. “Northwell knows better than anyone that what goes on in your doctor’s office and our hospitals and our emergency department is only a small percentage of how you stay healthy as an individual. For that reason we work to empower women with the knowledge to improve their health and the health of their families and communities.”
healthier, everyone benefits,” Dowling wrote in a recent op-ed. “A 2016 review published in the journal PLoS, for example, reviewed more than 120 articles and concluded that healthier women and their children contribute to more productive and better-educated societies.”
Dowling experienced this firsthand. In his recently published memoir, “After the Roof Caved In,” Dowling writes extensively about his mother, Margaret, who taught him kindness and compassion for others, a relentless work ethic, and a dedication to positivity. Despite being rendered deaf in childhood, Meg Dowling was an inspiring force, not just to Michael for his decades-long career in public health, but to her rural Irish community, where Meg was a seamstress and respected mother of nine.
Northwell’s Raise Health initiative echoes Dowling’s fundamental experience: When we raise the health of women, we raise the health of everyone.
“Raise Health means raising the standard of care,” says Dr. Rosen. “We’re providing women-centered care at every age and stage because it’s time to stop treating men as the norm.”
This is a recurring theme in medical research—its propensity to focus on middle-aged white men, with disparaging side effects for a majority of the population.
“Cardiac disease in the United States is the classic example of why we have to look at things with a sex and gender lens,” explains Dr. Rosen. She recalls how 1985 was the first year that more women than men died of heart disease, and it has remained the case for decades, yet heart disease was still thought of as a “ man’s disease.” Rethinking their approach to heart disease to equitably study and care for women led forward-thinking providers like Northwell to refocus their research priorities across the board.
A commitment to mental health is something no one should take lightly, especially after a year when the vast majority of us struggled with our mental health. Luckily, institutions like Northwell are putting in the time and resources necessary to improve the lives of the population they serve. Dowling would say it’s a commitment that starts from the top. If you want to learn more about Dowling’s fascinating poverty-to-success story, his struggles and triumphs, and why he cares so much about the mental health of others, pick up a copy of “After the Roof Caved In” wherever books are sold.
VIEW BOOK ONLINE
CONTINUED LEARNING
Northwell understands that even though women represent 51 percent of the population, they are continually understudied, undertreated and underserved. This must change.
According to Michael Dowling, CEO and president of Northwell Health, this change will have a massively positive effect, not just for women, but for society at large.
“Research shows that when women are
"At Northwell, we are committed to studying how various illnesses like heart disease and cancer impact gender differently"
Vaccines and Social Media Are Helping Mental Health Post-Covid
The true toll of COVID-19 remains to be seen as millions of us continue to struggle with our mental health.
"Northwell knows better than anyone that what goes on in your doctor’s office and our hospitals and our emergency department is only a small percentage of how you stay healthy as an individual"
“At Northwell, we are committed to studying how various illnesses like heart disease and cancer impact gender differently,” says CEO Dowling. “We are actively working to eliminate disparities resulting from the fact that much of what we know about treating the human body results from studies of predominantly Caucasian, middle-aged men. Only by addressing our knowledge gaps and committing ourselves to eliminating these disparities will we achieve similar health outcomes among men and women.”
The Katz Institute for Women’s Health is resolving the knowledge gaps in two ways: one, by studying women’s health in clinical trials, and two, by partnering with community organizations to address knowledge gaps in the population.
“For example,” says Dr. Battinelli, “we at KIWH work with Bridging Communities of Faith & Health to empower their leaders and members to make informed health decisions. We’ve partnered with MOMMAS House to provide free parenting classes and joined forces with the Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York to offer educational women’s health programs to the community. We also work with the American Heart Association to empower women to take charge of their heart health and extend STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) initiatives for high school girls in underserved communities.”
There’s another, larger issue lurking in the shadows of women’s health that Northwell must address: the devastating effect COVID-19 has had on women.
“COVID-19 could set women in the workforce back decades,” says Maxine Carrington, senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Northwell Health. “A report from Lean In and McKinsey & Company, published in September 2020, found that a jaw-dropping 1 in 4 women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce entirely. The report also found that lost earnings for women could total as much as $180 billion this year. The research is grimly clear: While COVID-19 itself is hopefully short-lived, its impact on women’s careers may last for years, if not decades.”
As chief human resources officer, Carrington witnesses firsthand how women are grappling with caregiving responsibilities while working amid the pandemic. But the reality is, this tension has always been an issue, even before COVID-19.
“Women’s careers have traditionally taken a back seat to their partners’ once they have kids,” says Carrington. “Unfortunately, companies have historically viewed caregiving responsibilities—whether it’s for children or aging parents—as something employees needed to navigate on their own.”
Northwell disagrees. Child and elder care are part of the larger equation of Northwell’s success.
“As health care providers, we have a responsibility to make sure that we help women shoulder the burden,” Carrington stresses. “It’s not just because it’s the right thing to do—if we don’t, we may lose talented employees or experience declines in engagement, well-being, and productivity.”
Ultimately, Northwell is using the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for important change. Dowling identifies a focus on education, collaboration in clinical delivery, and making women’s health research a priority as three fundamental changes Northwell is making—all of which are embodied in the Raise Health initiative.
“Thanks to progressive steps we’ve taken over the past few decades, especially since the creation of the Katz Institute for Women’s Health, we are in a good place,” says Dowling. “But we must continue to change the narrative about our systemic approach to health care for all women in our communities. By maintaining our focus, we’ll achieve meaningful progress in creating a more productive, equitable society. It’s time to make women’s health a priority.”
To learn more about Northwell’s Revolution in Women’s Health, visit RaiseHealth.com/Women.
Northwell understands that even though women represent 51 percent of the population, they are continually understudied, undertreated and underserved. This must change.
According to Michael Dowling, CEO and president of Northwell Health, this change will have a massively positive effect, not just for women, but for society at large.
“Research shows that when women are
"At Northwell, we are committed to studying how various illnesses like heart disease and cancer impact gender differently"
What is the role of a health care provider? It’s a question on the minds of many in the health care industry, one thrust back into the spotlight by a global pandemic and the troubling, persistent inequities seen in health care across populations.
According to a recent op-ed by David Battinelli, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Northwell Health, the medical community now recognizes that the “social determinants of health are responsible for about 80% of health outcomes.” These determinants—like race, gender, and socioeconomic status—are at the root of the great inequity within health care and are threatening to destabilize the entire system.
Rather than attempting to deal with such individual inequities on a case-by-case basis, as so many health care providers have done in the past, Northwell is taking large-scale action. As Lawrence G. Smith, MD, MACP, physician-in-chief of Northwell Health, put it, “In order to level the playing field, we can’t just take baby steps—we need a revolution.”
At Northwell, it’s a revolution that begins in women’s health. Women make up over half the population, and yet their unique health experiences are consistently lumped in with men’s. This means women’s health issues are often misdiagnosed, mistreated, or sometimes just plain missed altogether.
It’s Time to Remove the Stigma Behind Postpartum Depression
Up to 20 percent of all women giving birth will develop postpartum depression, with a percentage experiencing moderate to severe PPD.