By Dan Murphy
Saint Joseph’s Medical Center has served the people of Yonkers and beyond for more than 100 years. In addition to the hospital on South Broadway in Yonkers, St. Joseph’s has five ambulatory health centers: The Family Health Center, St. Vincent’s Family Medicine and Urgent Care Center-Harrison campus, Cardio-Vascular Center, Specialty Services, and St. Joseph’s Family Medicine and Urgent Care Center.
One of St. Joseph’s driving forces behind its commitment to caring for patients is Elizabeth Joglar, director of ambulatory services at St. Joseph’s Family Health Center, 81 Broadway, Yonkers.
Joglar brings a new perspective to the family health center, as a patient advocate dating back to her roots in the medical field during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Since then, she has spent the past three decades straddling the worlds of medicine and social work, playing an indispensable role between the patient and the hospital.
Joglar’s current position gives her the ability to use her experience as a social worker, and in health care operations, to serve St. Joseph’s and its patients well. As director of ambulatory services for the family health center, she is more than just a medical administrator.
St. Joseph’s Family Health Center on Broadway is the group’s largest health center, and Joglar has been there for three months. Already she has made an impact to make sure that the patients that walk into the family health center are provided with quality-based services.
Many of the patients are treated through the residency program, where future doctors work as a team to provide services. Joglar’s arrival fits perfectly with the continued goal to respect each other and have compassion for others and respect the dignity of life.
“Our question for patients is: What is your main problem? What can I do? And why is it important?,” said Joglar. “Many patients don’t have a dedicated primary care doctor but have chronic health care needs that sometimes go untreated. That’s where we come in, providing a medical home to support patients through the process, with nursing as the backbone of what we do.”
Chronic medical conditions including diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure are all treated at the family health center, but the societal causes are also addressed. Joglar brings a wealth of experience to her new role. In the 1980s, as the AIDS epidemic hit New York City, she worked for the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, helping patients, but also working in grief and bereavement counseling.
Joglar worked for more than 20 years in long-term care, eventually transitioning over to hospital work, for NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation, and for Montefiore and Beth Israel hospitals and at health care centers across New York City.
Based on her experience, Joglar knows firsthand that the challenges to treating a patient are not just in the examining room; there are now political, economic and financial challenges facing hospitals and health care centers, who need to balance what they can do with providing the best care possible.
Patients who don’t show up for an appointment have other reasons for their cancelation, from transportation issues, to job commitments, or child care needs, or perhaps domestic violence. “Health care is learning that we cannot separate these issues from the medical issues,” said Joglar.
Interacting in a positive way with patients the right way is another important factor for Joglar and St. Joseph’s Family Health Center. “The first person you see entering one of our centers sets the tone for the entire visit,” she said. “The entire team, nurse practitioner, and doctor wants to make sure that continuity of care is managed, and due to cost and insurance issues, timing is limited, so let’s make it right from the first time you meet us.”
Joglar comes from the whole approach to medical care, what the Jesuits call “Cura Personalis.” A lifetime of service to patients fits perfectly with the mission of St. Joseph’s and the Sisters of Charity to treat all patients.
The close location of the family health center to the hospital is a plus, said Joglar. “Everything is within walking distance with the family health center, specialized services, dentistry and the hospital,” she said. “This creates easier access to care and improves outcomes.”
Joglar works as part of a team at the family health center, which includes Medical Director Dr. Deborah Gerson. “Dr. Gerson wants to streamline the system so that workflows and protocols don’t hinder the patient,” said Joglar. “She has a let it be my burden philosophy that allows the team to do the work needed to prepare for the visit, see the patient and ensure high quality continuity of care.”
Fran Casola, senior vice president of hospital operations, is also part of the St. Joseph’s family, and someone who Joglar says has her finger “on the pulse of everything that we are doing to better serve our patients.”
Joglar’s experience in health care in the New York-metropolitan area for decades gives her unique insight into the challenges in medicine and heath care today.
St. Joseph’s is the last independent hospital in Westchester County. Joglar sees that as an opportunity rather than a challenge, which epitomizes the can-do attitude and optimism she brings to her job every day.
“We treat patients here at the family health center, but this is also a teaching hospital, so we are addressing the needs of the patients while building a better team at the same time, she said. “The community needs more dedicated primary care family medicine providers who can treat the whole family using a holistic approach to care. How can we leverage our independence? How can I improve the quality of care balanced against the cost? This is a unique situation and a great challenge.”
visit stjosephs.org for more information.
