Finding Hope

After Jacki Barron was told she was suffering from untreatable gastrointestinal cancer, she came to Northwestern looking for a second opinion. But what she found was hope. After evaluating her history and analyzing new diagnostics, Steven T. Rosen, MD, director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, believed she was misdiagnosed. Jacki, who is 54, soon benefited from the combined experience available in the academic medical center environment. Rediagnosed with treatable breast cancer, she received a newly available therapy that personalized her treatment with chemotherapy and medication. She has been in remission for more than a year. "I am so grateful I am here," she says.

Jacki is back to the activities she enjoys most, such as helping her middle daughter, Jamie, choose paint colors for her new home. In this video, she discusses her experience at Northwestern.
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Regular checkups with Dr. Rosen provide Jacki and her husband, Bruce, with an opportunity to ask questions. The couple recently danced at their oldest daughter’s wedding, an event Jacki was not sure she would live to attend.
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Jacki's lifesaving treatment lasted more than a year with frequent outpatient visits and hospital stays. Nurses such as Christine Sans, RN, are essential to the complex and personalized care of patients with cancer.

Diabetes: Now and Tomorrow

Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with roughly 7.8 percent of the population diagnosed with this life-altering disease. Our focused work on diabetes is making an impact on two significant fronts. In the community, people with diabetes in medically underserved areas benefit from the Diabetes Collaborative, a partnership joining Northwestern and our community health partners. Together, we are creating replicable local initiatives that are improving education, prevention and treatment. In the laboratory and in clinical trials, Dixon B. Kaufman, MD, PhD, is overseeing breakthrough therapies that could bring us closer to eradicating the disease.

Willie M. Teague Jr., who receives his care through Near North Health Service Corporation, a community health partner, discusses managing his diabetes in this video.
In this video, Dr. Kaufman talks about his research, which involves replacing damaged cells with insulin-producing islet cells, enabling some patients with diabetes to live without insulin shots.
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Before her islet cell transplant, Kim Angelini experienced diabetic seizures so severe that she was often left with broken ribs. Today, she says she is living a new life and no longer takes insulin to control her diabetes.

A Transparent View

Northwestern is a leader in the national movement to voluntarily disclose information about quality and industry relationships. Both the hospital and the medical school launched new efforts in 2009 that respond to the growing demand for useful information. Northwestern Memorial became one of the first hospitals in the United States to voluntarily share comprehensive data with the new Quality Report Card Web site that highlights safe and effective care processes and measurable outcomes. In similar fashion, Feinberg launched a new Web site that features enhanced faculty profiles and identifies professional and industry relationships for about 2,000 faculty members. These efforts are important to our shared vision to impact the future of healthcare.

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Amy Mischler, 33, finished the 2009 Chicago Triathlon then collapsed from a stroke. She was treated with tPA, a time-sensitive drug that can potentially reverse the effects of a major stroke. The quick administration of tPA is among the highest priority measures in quality stroke care. Today, Amy is back at work and running again.
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Nearly 300 measures of the hospital’s quality performance and national comparisons are highlighted on Northwestern Memorial’s Quality Report Card on nmh.org
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Northwestern Memorial was an early adopter of safe surgical methods now endorsed by the World Health Organization and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
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Our Shared Goals:

Deliver Exceptional Care

Finding Hope

Diabetes: Now and Tomorrow

A Transparent View

Advance Medical Science and Knowledge

Develop People, Culture and Resources

 

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Deliver Exceptional Care

Navigating through today’s complex healthcare environment can be overwhelming. At Northwestern Medicine, we understand the patient’s perspective and are working to provide a consistent experience that brings the best in medicine to the bedside and consistency to all levels of care. We strive for superior outcomes for diseases and medical conditions that are based on proven treatments, seek to improve the health status of our community and place great value in sharing information that can help patients and their families make informed choices.