November 16, 2007

Honoring compassion in action

With the hurried pace of a busy hospital, providing compassionate care to patients can be a challenge. To look at a patient and see beyond an assortment of symptoms — to understand the context of each person's illness in his or her life — requires a commitment to excellence as well as a deep capacity for empathy. Barbara Moscowitz, MSW, LICSW, program director of Geriatric Social Work in MGH's Geriatric Medicine Unit, (below) was recognized for these qualities when she became the ninth recipient of the Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award, presented by the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center at their annual dinner Nov. 1. The honor is named after Schwartz, a Boston lawyer, who in 1995 wrote an article in The Boston Globe Magazine about the treatment he was receiving at the MGH for terminal lung cancer. The deep compassion of his caregivers, he wrote, "made the unbearable bearable.”

Moscowitz has worked at the MGH for more than 20 years and is the first social worker to receive the Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award. In addition to her clinical practice, she directs MGH Senior HealthWISE, a program offering free nursing and social services to local seniors. In her practice, Moscowitz focuses on caring for families affected by Alzheimer's disease and helping the children and spouses of Alzheimer's patients cope with the effects the disease has on their loved one.

"With Alzheimer's, often the person will look the same on the outside but will be disappearing on the inside,” says Moscowitz. "The only way to ensure the safety, well-being and dignity of the patient is by working very closely with whomever is in his or her life.”

The Compassionate Caregiver Award is given based on three criteria: communicating with the patient and family with sensitivity, respecting the patient's values and decisions and understanding the significance of the patient's family and community. On providing compassionate care, Moscowitz says, "I don't think of it as separate from clinical care — it's the only way to approach a patient. I work with people who may be ill, terrified or traumatized by the events surrounding diagnosis. A clinician should approach them not only with knowledge and skill, but also with respect for who they are.”