November 18, 2005

A decade of compassion — Schwartz Center celebrates milestone anniversary

It has been 10 years since health care lawyer Ken Schwartz died of lung cancer at age 40. Shortly before his death, Schwartz wrote an article that appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine describing his struggle with the illness and his relationship with his care providers. In that article, Schwartz detailed his interactions with his doctors, nurses, therapists and other caregivers and how their open, compassionate and human relationships with him helped him through his darkest moments. These gestures of kindness and benevolence — the human connection — touched him deeply. “The rule books, I'm sure, frown on such intimate engagement between caregiver and patient,” Schwartz wrote. “But maybe it's time to rewrite them.”

During the past decade, those rules have indeed been rewritten. Through various programs and lectures, the nationally recognized Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, established shortly after his death, promotes the delivery of medical care in which trust, hope and compassion are paramount to the patient-caregiver relationship. This relationship, and the success of programs dedicated to strengthening it, recently was highlighted at the 10th annual Schwartz Center celebration, featuring a symposium and dinner, held Nov. 3 at the Boston Convention Center. More than 1,800 members of the health care community, family, friends and supporters attended the celebration.

The symposium, entitled “Beyond the White Coat and Johnny: What Makes for a Compassionate Patient-Caregiver Relationship?,” was facilitated by veteran journalist John Hockenberry, with physicians, nurses and patients participating.

The dinner program included a touching video presentation entitled “A Decade of Compassion,” which focused on the accomplishments of the center; the presentation of the much-anticipated Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award to Paul G.K. Jodka, MD, of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.; and a tribute to the Project HOPE and Project Helping Hands caregivers who were deployed across the globe to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of natural disasters, many of whom were in attendance.

The evening culminated in a performance by the Longwood Symphony Orchestra (below) with internationally acclaimed flautist Eugenia Zukerman. This year's event raised more than $2 million for the Schwartz Center's programs.