Immeasurable heritage

COEUR d’ALENE — Treating a patient requires more than a 20-minute session to discuss symptoms and a prescription for medication.

Dr. Joseph Abate knows this. He knows that an entire person needs to be treated, not just a symptom.

"We have divided up physical and mental or psychological and spiritual as if they’re different parts of a person that can be treated independently, and I think the truth is that they can’t,” he said recently, seated at a table in a Kroc Center meeting room as a buzz of healthy human activity took place in the rec room beyond the door.

At the end of this month, Abate will be retiring from his role as Heritage Health's chief medical officer, a position he assumed in June 2011.

"I said when I started that I wanted for Heritage Health, then known as the Dirne Clinic, to be more than just a last resort option for people," he said. "I wanted it to be a significant health care provider in the region and I wanted us to be an indispensable community asset.

"I’ve been surrounded by an incredible group of people, remarkable physicians and providers and incredible staff. We all felt we had the same mission, which was Ledwina Dirne’s original mission, which is provide health care to everyone," he said. "We just did that, and I do think we’ve accomplished getting to a place where if we didn’t exist it would be a terrible hardship on the community."

Although it is technically a retirement, Abate, 61, is far from finished. He was instrumental in implementing innovative approaches to health, including chronic pain management and the wellness program Kroc RX, and he envisions a "center for healthy living" for Coeur d'Alene where all the resources a person needs are in one location.

"The last seven years have been a journey to figure out, ‘What are the parts of wellness that allow a person to live a good life?’ We see that people have a lot of psychological issues that make them feel unhealthy and they have a lot of spiritual issues that make them feel unhappy ... There are a lot of people who just don’t understand what their reason for existence is and don’t have a lot of good relationships and friendships,” he said. "That impacts them in a way that often creates a symptom that leads to an office visit. And sometimes that office visit doesn’t lead to, ‘Tell me your story.’ It leads to, ‘If I understand your symptom, I can treat that with a medication.’ That direction that we have taken has not served us well."

In his time with the board-directed, federally qualified health center, Abate said one of the biggest challenges was the consistent growth.

"When I started, we had five providers and one location and about 8,000 patients a year," he said. "We’ve grown to about 45 providers and almost 30,000 patients and four locations. The growth was spectacular, and there was just a huge need to be met."

He doesn't like to describe it as "pride" when he explains the reward of his work at Heritage Health. It's simply the good feeling of knowing he helped someone and changed lives for the better.

"The thing that makes me feel best is when someone comes up to you and says, ‘Thank you for doing this.’ Often times that’s about Kroc RX, because people really love that program. But it can be about anything that we do," he said with a smile growing on his face. "But when someone comes up to you and says, ‘Thank you for what you do,’ then you know that you’ve done a good job. And that happens all the time when I walk into the Kroc Center and I see people who are in this program who knew how it started. It happens at the Fourth of July parade where people just yell things out from the audience. Those are the things that make us feel the best."

Abate said he feels good about stepping away — "I’m feeling good about taking time off, I’m feeling good about spending time with my family and looking for another challenge,” he said.

He plans to go to Cambodia for a part mission, part leisure trip to visit humanitarian operations, such as one that employs women in a garment factory to keep them out of the sex trade. He's looking forward to continuing his relationships in the medical field, bolstering collaboration between institutions and looking for ways to unify the community as he keeps his focus on overall wellness.

Family practice specialist Dr. Peter Purrington will take over as Heritage Health CMO in early January.

"I’m not completely done with health care," Abate said. “There are always things to do. Mostly, I feel like I’m turning over the reins of the chief medical officer position to Dr. Purrington, and I’m sure he’s going to do a great job. He’s a great guy, very skilled and very knowledgeable."

Heritage Health CEO Mike Baker said he knows this is not farewell from Abate.

"You wont find anyone with a bigger heart than Dr. Abate," Baker said. "He’s incredible and has left just an incredible impact on the work that we do. This community is in a much better place because of his commitment and passion to the mission of the organization. You don’t replace Dr. Abate, you build on the legacy he left with us.

"This isn’t a goodbye,” Baker said. “He has incredible ideas; we need him to stay involved in our community and driving the future of health care."