Hackensack Meridian CEO on Technology's Impact on Healthcare

Steve Adubato goes on-location to Hackensack Meridian Health’s “Celebrating Life & Liberty” event to speak to Robert Garrett, CEO, Hackensack Meridian Health, about the current trends in healthcare and how technology has impacted the way patients and physicians communicate with each other.

11/27/19 #2262

Excerpt:

"Welcome folks to MetLife Stadium. This is the Celebrating Life & Liberty event here at MetLife, and we're going to be talking to all sorts of folks who are part of this event. Eleven years they've been doing this. There'll be about 6,000 people here in just a few minutes, believe it or not. There's a soundcheck going on with the band. And Bob Garrett, who is the CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health will not be singing with them. Neither will I. Really? I thought I was. No no! [laughter] They don't want us Bob. It's not my song anyway. Exactly. But here's the thing. Talk to us about this event and why it's so important. Well Steve, first of all, great to be with you again here at MetLife Stadium. Always. This is the 11th year of the cancer survivors symposium and the cancer survivors event. It's called Life & Liberty for good reason. It's about celebrating life. It's about being free of cancer. I go to a lot of events during the course of the year. But I have to tell you, this is the most special event that I go to. Because? Because it's inspirational. It really is. When you see patients, cancer survivors, with their families, with their friends, and then their caregivers really celebrating what they've been through, where they're going in the future, it's just unbelievably inspirational. And you know, if you don't get emotional at something like this, what do you get emotional at? And the great thing is, over the eleven years, we're seeing more and more cancer survivors here, which means more and more of them are surviving cancer, the treatments have gotten more sophisticated, we're seeing better outcomes, and to see these people celebrate as they're going to be in just about an hour from now, is going to be truly special. What's interesting, Bob, is beyond the clinical part...? Yes. The medicine, right? The human part of this. The families. The... what families need, what those who are dealing with cancer need, from a human point of view, talk about that. It's... it is so important. You know, the clinicians will tell you that the treatment is certainly a very very big, important event in terms of their journey through cancer and surviving it. But the camaraderie, the support that cancer patients get from their families and friends is so so important. It means... you know, they talk about a positive attitude in healthcare and that, you know, gives you a better chance to survive, it's truly... and you'll talk to any of the clinicians that will tell you that is absolutely true. So the support that these patients get from their loved ones is almost as..."