Health, Not Healthcare

August 19, 2013

We were humbled to have been included in a small group of folks that were invited to The Sydell and Arnold Miller Pavillion at The Cleveland Clinic (or more specifically, its unbelievable roof terrace – I’m told there is lunchtime yoga up here and I want IN) last week for a state-of-the-Clinic event. After a few minutes of mingling, hors d’oeuvres eating & beverage enjoying, we gathered to hear from our host, Dr. Toby Cosgrove.

Both Eric & I have had the pleasure of working on various communications & research-based projects for The Cleveland Clinic in the past, but there was something very special about hearing Dr. Cosgrove talk about what is, what his team is working towards & what he hopes will be. With a track record like his, the “hope” part seems to fall away in light of a lot of hard work. We were lucky enough to hear about the Abu Dhabi facility underway (and how his intent is to infuse the project with the “Cleveland Clinic culture” – it’s clear this is very important to him), how the care they provide is correlating to better care/stats for patients and rankings for our areas largest employer, and most importantly the “A-ha” moment he had one night.

His “A-ha” was realizing that he wanted The Cleveland Clinic to be in the business of Health rather than Healthcare. He wanted wellness to be a bigger part of what they provided to their patients, their staff, their community. And they’ve done a lot to make that happen, as anyone close to the organization knows.

Dr. Cosgrove also shared the following quote:

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” -Theodore Roosevelt

This holds true for so many industries – truly something to internalize. We then watched the “Empathy” video (which, if you haven’t seen it, you should – and can below).

It’s simple in its execution, but does a nice job of illustrating all of the different emotions that run through a hospital on a daily basis.

We ended the night with some great conversation with Sally Wajahn, Senior Development Director at The Cleveland Clinic (Sally & I are currently brainstorming ideas to make Key to the Cure at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beachwood amazing…you won’t want to miss it!).

And, while talking to Dr. Cosgrove he stopped the conversation to draw everyone’s attention to this:

At the end of the day, I guess these moments are what it’s all about. Thank you to The Cleveland Clinic for sharing your insight. Cleveland, and the world, has a lot to look forward to.