It was 1973 and I had been in clinical practice for 18 months. At the time, Clinical Cardiology was in its infancy. Many of us, in addition to our subspecialties were certified in Internal medicine, and our private practices included general health care. Having established my practice on Fifth Avenue and East 72nd Street and as a consequence of being on the active teaching faculty at New York University Medical School, my practice appealed to many upscale Manhattan residents. Among the other roles one plays as a primary care provider is referring patients for specialist care.
The upper East Side of Manhattan houses the private offices of many outstanding practitioners. One of the outstanding ophthalmologists (eye doctors) had seen me when I was a student at the medical school and had successfully diagnosed and resolved a long-standing problem of mine. By the time I started clinical practice, he was the head of the Department of Ophthalmology at a major hospital and maintained a private consulting suite not far from my own. As my practice grew, I referred many patients to his practice.
In 1983 I received an announcement that the daughter of my Ophthalmologic colleague, having completed her formal training, was joining the consulting practice of her well-known father. Because of his overwhelming schedule, more and more frequently patients that I referred to that practice were being seen by his daughter. Over the years, and with the many patients that were cared for by both myself and the daughter, my confidence in her as a knowledgeable physician and as a skilled surgeon grew. Soon I was referring patients directly to her.
In 1986, the senior ophthalmologist died unexpectedly. At the shiva, in addition to consoling the daughter, I assured her that despite her father's death, I had confidence in her and it was my intent to continue referring patients to her office. Needless to say, given her personality and her surgical skills, her practice continued to grow and thrive.
In 1991-1992, my wife Ruth and I spent a Sabbatical year in Israel in which I served as a consultant in cardiology at the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. I was horrified at the poor coordination between the hospital care and the follow-up care in the community. Many of the patients who were successfully treated for acute cardiac events in the hospital were returning within months with recurrent episodes. Prof. Daniel David, then Chairman of the Department of Cardiology at Meir Hospital and I, concluded that an outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinic would potentially resolve the problem. He committed to getting floor space within the medical center for the Clinic and I committed, on my return to the States at the end of the year long Sabbatical, to raise money to create a first-class Center. We were committed to both expert follow up care and research into best methods for preventing recurrent events.
Upon my return to the States, I incorporated the Israel Heart Fund a non-for-profit organization, to promote Preventive Cardiology. Funds were solicited among my friends, patients and colleagues. The goal was to get multi-year commitments so that with my return to Israel, there would be a steady flow of funds to support our research. Among the individuals solicited was the Ophthalmologist and her husband who by then was a senior partner in a Wall Street firm.
At that meeting she confessed to me that my shiva visit years earlier had changed her life. She had convinced herself, years earlier that her successful practice was based on her sharing an office suite and a name with her esteemed father. At the shiva she had been weighing closing the Fifth Avenue office and moving her personal practice to a more modest locale. She repeated to me what I had told her at the shiva visit and explained that our brief conversation had contributed to her commitment to continue in her father's path. She went on to become a major figure on her own right in Manhattan and became an active Board member and financial supporter of the Israel Heart Fund.
The programs supported by the Israel Heart fund continue to function. Many of the trainees who were employed in the early years have gone on to become Department Chairs in Israel and to establish international reputations in preventive cardiology research. Promises kept.