When I think about getting outdoors, I think of golf. As you know from some prior blog posts, I do think of golf as a metaphor for many aspects of life and a window into our culture and society.

Detroit Golf Legend Ben Davis

Golf also offers insights into how people respond to challenges and life events.

Just as real quality is what occurs when no one is looking, the self regulation of penalties in golf is an incredible reflection of character. If a person cheats at golf, what do you think they do in business or in other aspects of their life?

The reason for this post isn’t to convince you of the metaphysics or tangential aspects of a sport that has someone trying to hit a small ball into a cup; it is to pay tribute to a great golfer and even greater man, Ben Davis.

Mr. Davis recently passed on at the age of 101.

On May 9, he was memorialized by the naming of the street leading to Rackham Golf course in Huntington Woods. Forever, golfers will drive down Ben Davis Drive to play at a course that plays a significant role in Detroit history.

Rackham Golf Course, off the westbound I-696 service drive near the Detroit Zoo, opened in 1923 as a gift from the philanthropist Horace Rackham. Incorporated in the deed for the property, it was stipulated that the course would be open to anyone, of any color. Most golf courses in Detroit and in the Nation were restricted to African Americans and people of color. Rackham broke down this barrier .

It was only fitting that Mr. Davis, who learned the game as a caddie, became the first black person to be appointed as a head professional of a United States golf course.

People weave in and out of our lives, especially in medicine, and my relationship with Mr. Davis was just so.

The Detroit Free Press would have a free golf course clinic for beginners back in the 1960s and 1970s. My father thought it would be a good idea for me to learn golf, I think mainly because he knew my career as a baseball player was going to be limited by my inability to hit a curve ball.

So my mother took me to stand in line of about 50 teenagers and children, learning how to hold a golf club from a smiling and spry professional, Ben Davis. He took time to look at all of our grips. To this day, I remember his hands, moving mine on the club: “Hold it like a baby chick, young man.”  And, “Swing like you would dance.”

Lindsey Mason III, the current head pro at the New Rogell Golf course in Detroit learned the game from Mr. Davis. He was quoted in the Free Press saying, “He made a great impression on a lot of young people. If you messed up, he’s just say, ‘let’s move on to the next shot.’ ”

I learned to love the game, but the time constraints of a few other activities, like medical school and residency, put my game on hiatus.

After being on staff for a few years, I was advised to take up a hobby other than reading the New England Journal of Medicine, and thought about starting up to play golf again.

I bought some clubs at a discount store and tried to hit the ball again. As any of you who took up the game know, it is humbling even when you play well and frequently, but it is most humbling at the beginning or at a new beginning.

One afternoon, a patient named Ben Davis was on my schedule.

I walked into the clinic and immediately recognized the hands. Big hands for a man his size, soft, lithe. I asked him what he did for a living, and he confirmed to me who he was: “I help people find pleasure in playing golf.”

I told him about the Free Press clinic that I attended. In a soft voice and smiling face, he said, “Doctor, I think I remember you.” He made me believe he did. I told him about my struggles returning to the game, and he told me, “remember what I do.”

He saw me for a few lessons at the Rackham range, a small range with the lessons interrupted periodically by the train whistle from the zoo. When I told him I thought my clubs were a problem, too long and too hard to hit, he took my six iron and hit an elegant draw over the 150 yard marker. “Clubs seem OK to me Doc. Might be that swing.”

I had the privilege of seeing Mrs. Davis, as well as hearing the stories about their life together. How they met in a club, love at first sight, dancing together.

Golf is about history, and Mr. Davis told me about his history.

How he loved the game, but was told there was no future in it for people like you. What it was like to be excluded because of your color, judged by your skin not your talent. How you needed to hide your abilities from certain other pro’s and golfers to not “show them up.”

No bitterness, just facts.

He told me about the games he would play with the legendary boxer, Joe Louis, some of them away games for big money, where he didn’t have to hide his skills. Joe Louis called him “my pro” and many a game was won by Joe Louis’ pro. He, like Louis, was a legend.

Over the years, I lost touch with Mr. Davis, but thought about him recently when I missed a turn and got off the I-696 ramp by Rackham. Within a week, my assistant saw a column in the Free Press talking about the memorial.

So this summer when I walk outside, with the smell of cut grass and the warm sun on my face, I will think about Mr. Davis.

I hope you will too, even if you aren’t a golfer.

“Swing like you would dance. If you mess up, move on to the next shot.”

Thank you to all of our nurses at Henry Ford Hospital and throughout the Health System!

If you have a special message for our nurses, please share it in the comments section below.

ACCESS presents the Arab American of the Year Award to individuals or groups that exemplify the organization’s mission to empower and engage Arab Americans. This year’s other awardee was National Public Radio journalist Diane Rehm.

ACCESS – an organization that focuses on empowering and enabling individuals, families and communities to lead informed, productive, culturally sensitive and fulfilling lives – has a long-standing partnership with Henry Ford. We’ve worked together to provide free health screenings and education, and so much more, in the community. And, its executive director, Hassan Jaber, is a member of the Henry Ford Hospital and Health Network Board of Trustees.

As Arab American of the Year, Dr. Abouljoud will take his place among a distinguished group of past honorees that includes former White House correspondent Helen Thomas; U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham; entertainers Casey Kasem and Tony Shalhoub; U.A.W. International President Stephen Yokich; U.S. Congressman Nick Rahall; the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee; and St. Jude Hospital.

Dr. Abouljoud has led transplant surgery at Henry Ford to national and international recognition. He performed the first split liver transplant in Michigan in 1996, and in 2000 developed the first adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant program in Michigan.

In 2005, Dr. Abouljoud developed the first active laparoscopic liver surgery program, and in 2008 was the first in Michigan to perform a laparoscopic live-liver donor procedure for transplantation.

In the above video, I discuss in more detail Dr. Abouljoud’s award and his remarkable professional journey.

We’re very proud to have Dr. Abouljoud on our team at Henry Ford Hospital!

Share your congratulations for Dr. Abouljoud in the comments section below.

You may recall a few of my “tweets” from that post: “Are any hospital gowns made for someone over 6 feet?” and “Need two gowns, you don’t want to see what’s behind #youtube.”

These are the same complaints we’ve heard for decades about the standard patient gown – it’s ill-fitting, uncomfortable and has a very drafty backside.

And now, we have a solution: A newly designed patient gown that’s comfortable, warm and keeps patient covered, yet still accessible to clinical staff.

Michael Forbes, a product designer at the Henry Ford Innovation Institute, talks with patient Ismail Khalil, M.D., who traveled to Henry Ford Hospital from Lebanon for a liver transplant. Khalil is wearing the new gown.

The new patient gown – resembling a wrap-around robe that completely closes in the back and front – is being rolled out on several inpatient floors at Henry Ford Hospital.

It is among the first inventions to be made public by the Henry Ford Innovation Institute in collaboration with the College for Creative Studies.

The newly designed gown is:

• Completely closed in the back, creating more privacy for patients
• Made of a thicker, cotton/polyester blend material, which keeps patients warmer than the previous patient gowns
• Double-breasted in the front, using three snaps, instead of ties, to close the gown
• Intuitive in design, with different colored snaps and stitching along the left and right sides of the gown, making it easy for patients to put on
• Accessible for IVs and other medical lines. The health care teams say it offers them uncompromised clinical access to the patient without needing to remove the gown

The goal is to license the design to an existing gown manufacturer, which would then produce and sell the gown nationally.

The cost to manufacture and purchase the new gown is very comparable to existing gowns. Laundering is exactly the same too; the new gown meets with current national hospital cleaning standards.

I actually like the gown a great deal, but prefer to not model it personally.

Trust me that even this gown doesn’t look good on me while wearing long black stockings and work shoes! 

Watch WDIV-TV4’s story about the new gown here.

This Saturday, March 30, we’ll honor and celebrate the work of physicians who serve our communities as part of National Doctors’ Day.

While it officially became a day of national recognition in 1991, the observance of National Doctors’ Day dates back to March 30, 1933 in Winder, Georgia, when Eudora Brown Almond, the wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, decided to set a day aside to honor physicians.

Nearly 60 years later, President George H.W. Bush signed Proclamation 6253, establishing National Doctors’ Day to “recognize our Nation’s physicians for their leadership in the prevention and treatment of illness and injury…”

Traditionally, people celebrate the day by thanking their physicians, mailing greeting cards, or sending flowers.

The red carnation is commonly associated with the National Doctors’ Day. The first observance in 1933 included the mailing greeting cards and placing flowers on graves of deceased doctors.

To celebrate and recognize the work of the physicians at Henry Ford Hospital and throughout our System, I’ve sent the following card:

While National Doctors’ Day celebrates our country’s physicians, I want to also extend my gratitude to our health care teams that support our physicians in patient care.

If you’d like to send a special message to or thank a Henry Ford physician, please feel free to do so in the comments section below.

Gwen took part in the Michigan Health & Hospital Association’s campaign to expand Medicaid, sharing her story as a registered nurse in this video:

The decision of how federal money will be spent impacts our patients and our hospital.

The Expand Medicaid coalition – made up of Michigan hospitals, mental health care providers, physicians, community-based health centers, health plans, human service organizations and others – urges the state Legislature to join with Gov. Rick Snyder to expand Medicaid as states are authorized to do under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA).

According to the MHA, under the ACA’s provision, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of the expansion for states that choose to participate for the first three years (2014, 2015 and 2016).

If Michigan chooses to participate, it is estimated:

• 450,000 uninsured Michigan adults will get health insurance and “newly enroll” in Medicaid
• Michigan will receive about $2 billion a year from the federal government to pay for the expansion, and
• The state will save about $1 billion over a decade as the federal government’s appropriations cover Medicaid services that currently must be funded by state tax payers.

If the state accepts the new federal funds for Medicaid expansion, roughly 600,000 would gain coverage.

Learn more at www.mha.org and www.ExpandMedicaid.com.

We all know that February can be a time when our resolutions begin to wane. You put in a pretty good effort for the first six weeks of the year, right?

So for those seeking motivation to carry on with their 2013 resolutions, I want you to watch this video:

Employees from across our hospital campus are working to ACHIEVE their 2013 goals – both personally and professionally.

I hope their work and determination will inspire all of us in our actions throughout 2013.

A very special thank you to those who starred in the video:

• Gwendolyn Brown, Environmental Services
• Dr. Steven Kalkanis, Neurosurgery and Center for Cancer Surgery
• Michael Malecki, B1 inpatient floor
• Jhonnie Miller, Transplant Living Community
• Dan Murakami, System Facilities
• Michael Nelson, Plant Operations
• Lynette Norris, Environmental Services
• Rafael Rivera, Security Services
• Beth Rubinstein, Transplant Living Community
• Otis Sammons, Plant Operations
• Carla West, MICU, Pod 6

Enter our creative partners from DBA. They donated their time and talent to create a video modeled after the popular TED talk format to serve as that vehicle.

Actors being far too expensive, we found someone else to read the lines. And read the lines…and read the lines. (How do actors do this every day?)

I hope the above video from the 2012 Grand Ball inspires, motivates and excites you about the future of health care at Henry Ford Hospital.

Change is coming, we are ready, we are Henry Ford Hospital.

I grew up in a time when there was a threat of weapons of mass destruction, an unpopular war in a far-away country, economic uncertainty, and violence amongst our people. I was influenced, as a child, by John F. Kennedy, who as President dared us to do what we could only dream.

As the years have passed, I am now more greatly influenced by another noble man, the most eloquent and articulate spokesman of peace and justice and one of the most courageous Americans of our time: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He dared us to dream of what we could collectively be. His messages are as vibrant, powerful and meaningful today as they were nearly 50 years ago.

His life has special impact for me and every American, for he helped to free us of the illusion that we can somehow lift ourselves up by holding others down.

He filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country that truly lives by its noblest principles.

He spoke to me when he preached that the yoke of oppression shackled the oppressor as well as the oppressed. He realized that oppression was more the result of a culture afraid of change than the result of hatred, and that the hearts and minds of well-intentioned moderates were more important to change than the actions of extremists.

He knew that a country could not truly be great when it did not live by its professed values, nor could any country truly be free when any of its people were not provided the freedoms and opportunities of the most privileged.

This was the same American dream that my Grandparents sought when they came to this country almost 100 years ago.

Dr. King dreamed the American dream.

He dreamed of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation, a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race, a Nation that not only celebrated its diversity, but employed the power of that diversity for the collective good.

His messages of collective action and union have had a profound effect on me.

Henry Ford Hospital celebrated MLK Day with a special viewing of the Presidential Inauguration in Buerki Auditorium.

All of us working together, serving together, thinking together, bringing the diversity of our skills and knowledge and spirit, are the most powerful community of action. We do this for each other and our children.

Dr. King’s call to serve is a powerful expression of this collective power. He once said that we all have to decide whether we “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

He said life’s most persistent and nagging question is, “what are you doing for others?”

And that is why he believed that we all had a responsibility to do our part and to serve.

He said: “If all you do is sweep the streets, then sweep them just as well as Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.”

None of us can do our work or fulfill the dreams of Dr. King without each other, for we “are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Thank you to those who live by Dr. King’s words every day and those who collectively work to serve in the noble act of providing care to others – whether you sweep, or cook, or nurse, or doctor.