In this episode we look to Dr. Rana Awdish, a highly respected physician, not for medical advice, but for guidance on compassion.

“It was really there in that space between life and death that I saw how we could miss caring for the whole person.” Years of training and professional experience gave Dr. Rana Awdish the know-how to address medical issues. Yet, it was her own near-death experience that taught her the need to establish a culture of caring in our health care system.

“The things that I had valued for so long, the things that had made me want to be a physician – the science and the medicine – became secondary to me as a patient. What I found really mattered was that sense of connection with my caregivers; the sense that they were able to witness my suffering and be with me during really difficult times.”

This week she shares her story, and what she’s doing with her new understanding.

Dr. Carmen Maria McIntyre also joins us to explain what the Culture of Caring is and why it’s important for medical professionals – and all of us – to embrace it in order to improve the way we heal.