Physicians on working with Lev Medical

They throw themselves into families in a very, very unique and genuine way. Everybody seems to be actually a member of their extended family, and they really treat people how they would want to be treated and how they would want their families to be treated. My name is Dr. Gail Roboz. I'm a professor of medicine and director of the leukemia program at Weill Cornell Medicine and the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. I deal with diseases of the bone marrow. I have had the pleasure of working with Lev Medical for quite a few years. My initial introduction was to Pessie, but of course, when Mendy joined the team, it has been my pleasure to work with both of them. The bone marrow is the power center of the body, and when the bone marrow is in trouble, the patient is in trouble, which is why the incredibly fast and expert action of Lev Medical has been both a pleasure to work with and very, very important for patients with these diseases. I like to be known as a doctor who's very involved with patients and families, and truly, truly cares about trying to optimize the patient and family experience, not only to get the best medical outcome, but to try to protect from many of the challenges, difficulties, even nightmares that somebody has to go through when they have a difficult bone marrow diagnosis. And I have found that actually this professional and personal goal really aligns with what I'm finding in both Pessie and Mendy. Patients with bone marrow diseases are facing a complex diagnosis, which requires a lot of expert management, as well as a lot of support for both the patient and the family in organizing the logistics of treatment. I cannot think of better collaborators than Pessie and Mendy to get patients with these very difficult diseases what they need as quickly, safely and supportively as possible.

I don't care really what age you are, I don't care what religion you are, I don't care what color you are, or what sex you are… My name's Mike Rutter. I'm a pediatric ear nose and throat surgeon. I'm from New Zealand, but I'm actually based in Cincinnati, and I mainly look after children with complex airway or aerodigestive problems. So Lev's relatively new, and a lot of the people who work at Lev are people who I've worked with for years, and so it's actually a pleasure to maintain a relationship with a lot of the people that I've known and worked with for quite a long time. Lev is an organization that's designed to provide coordinated care for complex children, and by complex children, often these children are many faceted needs, and it's trying to find the right person or the right team to try and provide optimal care for them. My job is to provide comprehensive care to children with complex needs, and I try to do that in as colorblind a fashion as possible. Irrespective of how you're insured, and often hospitals have a lot of problems with children with difficulties with insurance or payment practices. This is healthcare in America, and our team and Lev's team also works to try and cross those barriers so we can aim to help the children, and that's really the goal of both Lev and myself.

I think that that's really important to take care of the entire person, not just their medical problem. Yes, my name is Dr. Jason Hawksworth. I'm a transplant surgeon and a hepatobiliary surgeon here at NYP Presbyterian Columbia Hospital. I operate on both pediatrics and adult patients, and I specialize in robotic, minimally invasive surgery. I've been working with the staff at Lev Medical for years now, ever since I came to New York about four years ago. And in collaboration with Lev Medical, we've taken care of dozens and dozens of patients who need surgery for various conditions on their liver, as well as patients who need liver transplant. And in particular, we have worked together on over 50 living donor liver transplants so far. Lev Medical is a really unique and phenomenal organization that knows how to take care of patients, not just their medical needs, but their personal needs, emotional needs, and really knows how to find the best doctors in the world for that patient's unique condition. And so the networking ability and the wherewithal to do that is truly impressive. I think that our personal and professional values align very well. We both believe in taking care of the whole patient, not just their specific medical condition, but how that condition may affect them in every way, their family life, their home life, work issues, financial impact of that condition. So we're very fortunate that we've been able to work together on many, many patients so far successfully.

We're letting them feel and know that we are on their side and we have their back and we're going to take care of them and that sense of making the families and the patients feel special and cared for I think is even more important than the technical service we provide to them. My name's Howard Weiner. I'm a pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm actually the chief of neurosurgery at Texas Children's Hospital here in Houston, Texas and I also serve on the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine as professor and vice chair of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Lev Medical is one of the referral services that we deal with. We are very connected to Lev. They reach out to us when they have a child who has a neurosurgical problem that may need an initial consultation or a second opinion or a third opinion. Lev is really essentially the matchmaker and they connect us to these families that hopefully we will help and hopefully we'll stay in touch with. It's probably my greatest joy as a doctor to not only help them from a technical standpoint but really to forge these relationships that kind of live on forever. My philosophy is really based on hospitality. So I feel like we're doing two things at once in neurosurgery and medicine and in life. I feel like Lev is very much on the same page. Lev is really all about letting these families feel that they're cared for and that they have their back and they'll never let go and they'll never let them down. So I thank you Lev for doing what you do, I'm very privileged to be part of the team.

Every patient should have an opportunity to work with an organization such as Lev Medical. I'm Dr. Heather Symons. I am the clinical director of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital and I spend my time taking care of patients who have both malignant and non-malignant disorders who need bone marrow transplants. I have worked with Lev Medical for a number of years now collaborating on patients, patient care, patients who need bone marrow transplants, patients who need second opinions, trying to get patients the best care that they possibly can. I think it really affords people with that peace of mind that everything is being done for their loved one, that no stone is being left unturned, that all the I's are being dotted, all the T's are being crossed. I would hope that they could be afforded an organization like Lev who again really takes into consideration the whole patient. Like the patient as a patient but also the patient as a person, really trying to align a patient's and their family's goals with what the medical community has to offer. I really sometimes forget that the people that I'm talking to at Lev are not actually physicians because I find that their wisdom and knowledge around any given diagnosis is so exceptionally strong that I sometimes feel like I'm talking to a physician. I give the organization a lot of kudos for that.

This isn't a business, this is a life, this is a life that is a privilege to be able to do. Hello, I'm Michael Helmrath. I'm a pediatric surgeon practicing at Cincinnati Children's Medical Center for a very, very long time, specifically focusing on babies and infants, even adults with very complex GI issues. The unique aspect is when I get a call from many of the professionals at Lev, which we have now for well over maybe 15, 20 years, it's very different because they know what they're doing from all aspects of what these patients need. So, the challenge then is how do we get a child from that area to our area? And that requires a lot of logistics, and I will tell you that the professionals at Lev do it better than anyone, and being able to make it happen in a timely and a safe manner. Now, once a child is here in Cincinnati, there's multiple ethnic and cultural differences that have become very evident to me, and it is a huge benefit to understand that the care of the child is the care of the family, and taking into all of the cultural aspects of what's important is what makes us able to give the best outcomes and solutions to families. It's a privilege to take care of these patients. It is a joy. My team thanks Lev for the efforts that they give, which are tireless, and so if you're considering them, you have my strongest recommendation because they're going to take care of you like family.