Page 24 - BusinessWest 2023 Healthcare Heroes

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Healthcare Administration
Dr. Mark Kenton
Chief of Emergency Medicine, Mercy Medical Center
He Considers Listening His Strongest, Most Important Talent
By George O’Brien
s a general rule, physicians working in the emer- gency room don’t get to know their patients as well as those in primary care or other specialties, who see their patients regularly and over the
course of years and, sometimes, decades.
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But Dr. Mark Kenton makes it a point to get to know those who come to his ER, the one at Mercy Medical Center. Indeed, he said he always looks to make a connection by listening to each patient and learning about what they are interested in and passionate about.
In addition to making these connections, he tries to get involved and make a difference, in ways that go beyond providing medical care.
“Sometimes, the best medicine you give someone is not actually medication,” he told BusinessWest. “It’s just listening. Everyone has a story.”
He was listening as one patient, a veteran named Homer who was going into hospice care, expressed regrets about never making it to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. So Kenton researched the Honor Flights program and worked with the patient’s family to help make arrangements for him to visit the stirring memorial. Later, he received a letter from that family.
“They said he died two weeks before he was scheduled to go, but he died knowing that he was going, and it meant a lot to him,” Kenton recalled. “That stuck with me.”
He was also listening to another patient who was near the end of his battle with cancer and came to understand that the two shared a love of baseball and the Red Sox. Kenton arranged a phone call to the patient from former catcher Rich Gedman, whom Kenton had come to know well from his participation in Red Sox fantasy camps.
“Sometimes, the best medicine you give someone is not actually medication. It’s just listening. Everyo”ne has a story.
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“He said, ‘I can’t believe Rich Gedman actually called me,’” Kenton recalled, adding that the conversation had a lasting impact.
This ability to listen, and act on what he hears, is one of many traits that has made Kenton a Healthcare Hero for 2023 in the Healthcare Administration category — annually one of the most competitive categories within the program.
He stood out amid a number of others nominated for the award for his ability to act upon what’s heard — in a variety of different settings — and generate needed dialogue, which has sometimes led to real change.
This includes the ER at Mercy, where he has worked