By Darby Kendall
Watching a loved one struggle with health issues is never easy, but seeing kindness and effective communication from their providers can help ease the burden of illness. Rick Gustafson knows firsthand the importance of compassionate care during challenging health situations.
Rick’s wife, Susan, passed away in 2021 following a 10-year battle with lymphoma, for which she received stem-cell treatment at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Though their time in the hospital was tough, Rick remains grateful for her medical care, which inspired his charitable gift annuity benefiting the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care.
“My wife’s experience with the stem-cell transplant for her lymphoma was exceedingly well-handled and managed by OHSU. I was very impressed with the thoroughness, professionalism and intense support provided by all the staff as we went through the transplant,” Rick said. “That was a marvelous experience. I was impressed by the empathy that was demonstrated by the nurses, and it was consistent throughout all of them.”
Rick’s gift was also influenced by his close friendship with Ron Naito, M.D., namesake of the OHSU Center for Ethics’ Ronald W. Naito Director in Serious Illness Education endowment. Naito also cared deeply about patient communication, having experienced his own disappointments in how information was delivered to him during his illnesses. Naito, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2019, dedicated his final months teaching compassionate communication skills to medical professionals and students. His work led to his named endowment, which is now held by Katie H. Stowers, D.O., FAAHPM, interim director for the OHSU Center for Ethics.
“I was a big fan of Ron’s,” Rick said. “He wanted to see a stronger effort on the part of OHSU to educate doctors on how to convey the message to patients that they are terminal. It’s great to see Dr. Stowers carry on Ron’s legacy.”
Since 1989, the OHSU Center for Ethics has been a national leader for end-of-life and compassionate care. The center’s mission, to change health care through compassion, integrity and innovation, has led to programs that teach and test students, aided OHSU faculty on proficiency in communication skills, and helped shape Oregon state policy. As a leader in this field, Stowers is grateful for donors like Rick who make her work possible.
“Rick shares the center’s vision for a more compassionate health care system,” Stowers said. “His generous gift will help the center to create and sustain essential programming, such as the Program in Compassionate Communication and TalkOregon workshops, that refocus health care on humanism.”
As someone who has exclusively experienced the patient perspective in this area, Rick is reassured by Stowers’ point of view.
“We had a luncheon session with Dr. Stowers, and she had an excellent perspective she gave to the whole issue, which is that we spend all of our time educating doctors on how to take emotion out of the picture, but the best way to communicate with somebody that they are terminal is with emotion,” Rick reflected. “That perspective just helped me tremendously in terms of understanding. I sympathize with the challenge that doctors face, but at the same time, they should have some training to be confident in their ability to convey this news, which is dealt with obviously quite emotionally by the individual receiving it.”
By supporting the OHSU Center for Ethics, Rick hopes to improve doctor-patient communication, especially during times of uncertainty in serious and terminal illnesses. He looks forward to seeing Stowers continue his friend’s legacy and finds comfort knowing future patients will receive empathetic care, just as his wife did.
“OHSU is a place that I truly admire in terms of what they’ve accomplished in health treatment and health care,” Rick said. “They are doing very good work, and it’s very meaningful. I’m happy to be a part of it.”
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