Dr. Rosenbaum Advocated for Compassion and Empathy in Medical Care
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Dr. Ed Rosenbaum was the author of “A Taste of My Own Medicine” which shared the autobiographical story of his experiences as a physician while being treated for cancer. The book became a movie in 1991 titled “The Doctor” starring the award winning actor, William Hurt. Both the book and the movie advocate for compassion and empathy in medical care. As a consequence the movie continues to be required viewing in hospitals and medical schools throughout the world.
His other achievements include establishing the Division of Rheumatology at what has become the Oregon Health & Science University. He practiced medicine for almost four decades with his brother at an office in Northwest Portland. OHSU established the Edward E Rosenbaum Professorship in Inflammatory Diseases to honor his name and to perpetuate his work. Three of his sons, two of his daughters-in-law, two of his nephews, and two of his grandchildren have chosen to become physicians. (Some black sheep became lawyers or donate their time with Hospice Foundations.) Ed Rosenbaum passed away in 2008 at age 93. This memorial fund was named July 28, 2012 at our Garden Party Gala and Governor Barbara Roberts, the first recipient of the Edward E. Rosenbaum Life Award was honored at the event. |
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The Edward E. Rosenbaum Award Recipients
2022 Edward E. Rosenbaum Award Recipient Cathe Day
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Having been inspired by my midwife by the level of education, coaching, and empathy that she provided me motivated me to pursue nursing. I wanted to give to others what my midwife had given to me. So, with the support of my five children and husband, I set out to get my nursing degree. When I worked as a CNA during nursing school on a medical-surgical unit, I fell in love with our older population and identified the need for patient advocacy.
Over the sixteen years, I continued to work on my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing while working for various hospices and roles. It was stepping into the professional development role where I found my passion and mission for compliance and quality outcomes. I became board certified in nursing professional development. I then stepped into quality assurance and then leadership. As a new hospice nurse at Providence Hospice, I remember the first days and weeks. I could hardly believe that I was getting paid to love people. Hospice work filled that deep desire to connect, nurture, teach, and love others—additionally, the interdisciplinary focus on addressing the needs of the whole person. I knew hospice was my home. In my home life, I have been blessed with five adult children, three granddaughters, a wonderful son-in-law, and lovely partners for my kids. I also love glamping and hiking with my husband and #120 puppy. My youngest daughter started medical school in Poland last year, which was the perfect excuse to use my passport for the first time. |
2021 Edward E. Rosenbaum Award Recipient: Dr. Yolanda Suarez |
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Dr. Suarez’s path to medicine was along a circuitous path by way of civil engineering. She decided that boredom, evidenced by snoozing through her Environmental Engineering PhD classes, was the sign she needed to pursue her dream of studying medicine. She attended Western University of Health Sciences in California, then went on to complete a Family Medicine Residency at USC.
It was at the end of her final year in residency that she discovered hospice. It was a transformative moment that led her to redesign curriculum at USC, making hospice a core rotation rather than an elective one. Later, her hospice training came from the talented nurses with whom she had the privilege of working and that exceptional education made it possible to become board certified in Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine. In 2017 she took a year off to pursue a fellowship in geriatric medicine at UNR School of Medicine in Reno, becoming board certified in Geriatric Medicine—an educationally and financially humbling experience. She feels blessed to be on a team that shares similar visions and the determination to find creative alternatives to care for, as one team member said, “humans.” |
Being a hospice physician has spoiled it for other jobs. She was privileged to be at the bedside of a beloved patient who requested her presence while actively dying. She lay on the floor, comforting a patient whose husband had just died and grandson was missing as she herself neared death. She held a dying patient because his exhausted wife had let go. So many other stories. It has been an enriching ride.
She is now pursuing a Healthcare MBA at OHSU to develop the financial expertise and accompanying voice that it will take to develop a community hospice house. As medical director of Signature Hospice, she and her leadership team are exploring ways to help people in need. She feels blessed to be on a team that shares similar visions and the determination to find creative alternatives to care for, as one team member said, “humans. Additionally, Dr. Suarez travels and has backpacked through amazing countries. She creatives mosaic art and beads jewelry. Her daughter is her proudest accomplishment and is herself a physician. |
2018 Edward E. Rosenbaum Award Recipient: Dr. Harry Krulewitch
Dr. Krulewitch was born in Chicago and attended the University of Illinois at Champaign and then the University of Illinois medical school in Chicago. He interned at Cook County hospital and then came to Eugene Oregon where he worked for seven years as the medical director of a community health center where he first began to make house calls for dying patients. He completed his family practice residency at Fort Collins U of Colorado Family practice and then worked in Minneapolis as a family physician until he was awarded a fellowship in Family medicine at the U of Minnesota where he would earn his geriatric certificate and then go on to become the medical director of Bethesda St.Paul chronic care hospital and also serve as their hospice medical director. In 1993 he returned to Portland Oregon to help establish the first replication site for the PACE program nationally and for nine years worked with the Providence PACE program making house calls with his team of home care professionals and providing end of life care to Medicaid eligible home care elders in the east metro area. In 2003 he began his own practice on the west side of Portland and then shifted in 2007 to provide long-term and community-based care to older adults in the Portland area working as the medical director for a number of SNF, ICF, RCF and ALF settings including a number of memory care units. He also became an assistant professor in family practice at OHSU in 2006. During the past fifteen years, he has worked for a number of different hospice companies as a medical director.
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He currently is working with Comfort Hospice primarily providing staff and development and family education.He teaches the family practice residents courses in end of life care, palliative care, team leadership and chronic disease management. He has served as the president of the Oregon Geriatric Society and is currently working on a state initiative for de-prescribing. He works with the Oregon Partnership to treat dementia patients and recently has been a speaker at the McGinty conference and the OHCA annual meeting with presentations on palliative care and person-centered care at the end of life.
To support his work with patients at the end of life and their family caregivers he has taken courses in medical chaplaincy with the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe. His best role models remain his 93 yr. old father and stepmother who continue to live independently and enjoy active lives. Dr. Krulewitch loves to read fiction, listen to jazz and classical music and is a hardcore Chicago Black Hawks hockey fan. He has two sons who work and live in the northwest and his wife and partner Kathleen Dougherty who has encouraged and supported him throughout his career. They enjoy hiking and traveling and their last trip was a month in Ireland visiting pubs and listening to Irish traditional music. |
2017 Recipient Jim Pfeifer
Mr. Pfeifer is the Director of the No One Dies Alone program at Signature Hospice. This amazing program makes sure that literally no patient dies alone. Mr. Pfeifer directs a team of over 200 volunteers who answer the call that comes when a hospice patient's journey is coming to a close to sit at the patient's bedside. It was an honor to present this important and prestigious award to Jim.
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2016 Recipient Dr. White
Dr. White began working with hospice in 2000 at Legacy Hopewell House Hospice Center for acute care hospice patients. In 2004 Dr. White left Internal Medicine and began working in Hospice and Palliative Care full time, adding home hospice to her duties. Since 2012 Dr. White has focused solely on hospice care at Legacy Hopewell House and one of Legacy’s home hospice offices covering Yamhill, Washington, Clackamas, and Marion counties.
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2012 Recipient Governor Barbara Roberts
Barbara Roberts was elected Governor of the State of Oregon in November of 1990, becoming not only the first woman governor of her state but also one of the first ten female governors in the nation. During her four year term (1991-1995), Governor Roberts was recognized as a strong advocate for environmental management, human and civil rights, and creative workforce development. She also became a nationally acknowledged leader in the field of government redesign and reinvention.
Prior to being elected governor, Barbara Roberts was elected Oregon Secretary of State, serving from 1985-1991. She was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 1981-1985 and served as Majority Leader in 1983 and 1984. Roberts also served as a county commissioner, elected school board member for 10 years and a community college board member for a four year term. She began public service as a citizen advocate for disabled children as she fought for the educational rights of her autistic son before the Oregon Legislature in 1971.
Following her time as Governor of Oregon, Barbara Roberts held a position at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government for four years where she served as Director of the State and Local Government Executive Programs. She was also a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Women and Public Policy Program.
Barbara returned to Oregon in 1998 taking a position at Portland State University’s Hatfield School of Government as the Associate Director of Leadership until early 2005. She now serves as a Metro Councilor for District 6, which encompasses southwest and southeast Portland.
Governor Roberts was married to the late State Senator Frank Roberts, who died under the care of hospice in 1993. While she served as governor, she endorsed and voters later approved the state’s landmark Death with Dignity Act in 1994. She later related the positive effects of this law to Washingtonians, as they considered and eventually passed their own Death with Dignity Act in 2008.
Governor Roberts serves on the advisory board for Compassion & Choices of Oregon and was on the board for the Oregon Hospice Association. She has been an active public speaker focusing on issues of death and grieving, leadership, women in politics, and environmental stewardship. Her book “Death Without Denial, Grief Without Apology” was released in 2002 and is currently used by hospice organizations here in Oregon and around the country.
It is because of her tireless work and passion on these important issues that Pacific NW Hospice Foundation is honored to present the first annual Edward E. Rosenbaum Life Award to Governor Barbara Roberts.
2013 Recipient
Kay Kirkbride |
2014 Recipient
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