48 The QUEE NS Courier • health • AUGUST 4, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Dr. Isabella Park brings incredible palliative care to LIJ Forest Hills By Emily Davenport edavenport@qns.com A patient battling a difficult ▶health diagnosis helped shape the course of Dr. Isabella Park’s medical career. The encounter between the two happened when she was a recent graduate from New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, doing her residency in Family Medicine at Jamaica Hospital. The patient – struggling with endstage esophageal cancer – wanted to die a dignified death. “He was a very proud and independent man, and was known to be very tough and demanding; he was hard to get close to,” recalled Dr. Park, now the associate medical director and director of palliative care at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital. “For some reason, he and I developed a bond, and I discovered he suffered from many complicated issues. The bond that I had with him is what led me to think, ‘This is what I was meant to do, to help patients and their families navigate through their difficult disease course.’” And do, she did. Dr. Park completed her hospice and palliative medicine fellowship at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center – Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2013, she joined the geriatric and palliative medicine staff at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, where she helped expand the now robust Geriatric and Palliative Care Consultation Service at the hospital. Palliative care focuses on relieving the pain, symptoms and stress of a serious illness. It balances (sometimes unsteadily) the needs of the patient, their family or caregiver, and the medical staff trying to treat the patient. “I see patients from the ICU to the regular floors. I’m not seeing only dying patients,” explained Dr. Park. “I’m seeing people at any stage of their disease processes when there are difficult, complex symptoms or when tough decisions need to be made. I support the primary team in taking care of their patient.” Those decisions sometimes arise because the patient does not have advanced care directives, which essentially outlines the patient’s wishes for care if – because of illness or injury – they are not able to speak for themselves. “On average, about 500 palliative care consults are done each year at the hospital,” said Martin Grossman, MD, associate director of palliative care. This includes patients in the recently opened special care unit in the hospital’s fourth floor north wing, as well as the hospice unit, also on the same floor in the south wing. Dr. Park will be working with Dr. Grossman and Sarah Prager, a nurse practitioner with training and a focus in advanced illness, to provide palliative care to even more patients throughout the hospital. In her new leadership role at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, Dr. Park will be working closely with Mitchel Jacobs, MD, medical director and director of critical care at the hospital, to provide seamless integration between patients receiving critical care and palliative care. More than 1,200 patients are treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit each year. Perhaps the most daunting challenge Dr. Park faces is navigating the nuances involved with palliative care coupled with the culturally and ethnically diverse patient population the hospital serves. Approximately 160 languages are spoken in Queens. “A lot of times when you talk to patients about advanced care planning, if you are able to speak their language or meet them halfway in their understanding, they do want to talk about their life and how they want to be treated, especially at the end of life,” said Dr. Park, who also speaks Korean. To accomplish this, she relies on Northwell Health’s phone interpreters or iPad interpretation and also being culturally sensitive and responsive. A strong supporter of educating the public on advanced care planning and other health issues, she often does community outreach through Northwell Health’s BRIDGES Program. The program helps to build trust, understanding, loyalty and respect for the many cultures that comprise the diverse patient populations served by the health system hospitals. Through BRIDGES, Dr. Park promotes the “best care possible” for patients that extend beyond the hospital walls. “When patients come to our hospital, we treat them, but our care doesn’t stop there. When their acute medical issues are treated, we are discharging them with appropriate services and follow-up care,” explained Dr. Park. “So we have a responsibility to really take care of our community by providing health Neighborhood News QNS.COM education and resources beyond our hospital.” Photo courtesy of LIJ Forest Hills Dr. Isabella Park View More
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