Douglas Flora, Executive Medical Director of Yung Family Cancer Center at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, President-Elect of the Association of Cancer Care Centers, and Editor in Chief of AI in Precision Oncology, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Warning: Personal Post
The heart, when it misbehaves, is not subtle about it. For the last few months, mine has been reminding me – with some regularity and little patience – that my health does not particularly care how busy I am.
AFib. Pesky, persistent, and deeply uninterested in my schedule.
Yesterday I became the patient.
There is something clarifying about becoming the patient. I have guided people toward this kind of trust for years – and having walked this road before, I knew what I was hoping for. What I did not anticipate was how completely every single person I encountered yesterday would deliver it.
From the moment I arrived at the St. Elizabeth Heart and Vascular Institute, there was not one interaction that missed.
What I witnessed across that day was not a collection of individual kindnesses. It was something more deliberate – a coordinated architecture of care, built by professionals who had mastered their roles completely. The nurses who received me were unhurried in a way that only comes from confidence, not casualness.
The OR team worked with the quiet efficiency of people who have done hard things together long enough to trust each other without words.
The PACU team brought me back to the world with steadiness and warmth. Every handoff held. Nothing was dropped.
I study quality data for a living. A Medicare 5-Star designation is earned through objective outcomes – it is not a marketing label. Yesterday I understood exactly how St. Elizabeth earns it. Not in the abstract. In me.
I am doing great. And I mean that.
To Dr. Sinno – thank you. Your skill spoke for itself. So did everything else.
And to Dr. Suresh and Susan Bohl – what you have built here matters. The St. Elizabeth Heart and Vascular Institute is a crown jewel for heart care in this region, and yesterday my family and I were the direct beneficiaries of that work. Thank you for your leadership and your vision.
St Elizabeth Proud. Not as a slogan. As someone who was there.
And to the rest of you – fair warning. I’m about to have energy again.”
Other articles featuring Douglas Flora.
