“Extraordinary dedication.” Felice Frankel uses these words to describe her late husband Dr. Ken Frankel, former Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Baystate Medical Center, and clinical professor of Cardio Thoracic Surgery at the former Tufts School of Medicine at Baystate. “Everything in his life was about his patients and about serving the whole community.”
“What he cared about most was his work as a clinical professor,” adds Dr. Frankel’s son, Matthew. “The notion of training the next generation and fostering a collaborative environment was a significant focus of his life.
To honor these values, Dr. Frankel’s family, friends, and colleagues established an endowed fund to carry on the work that meant so much. The Ken Frankel, MD Fund for Collaborative Surgical Education augments Baystate Health’s ability to provide surgical training through the Baystate Simulation Center and Goldberg Surgical Skills Laboratory.
Newly enhanced, the fund created in Dr. Frankel’s honor supports Baystate Health’s world-class simulation program in perpetuity by funding education, training, assessment, equipment and technology for the thousands of residents, nurses, doctors, and other medical providers who use it every year.
Founded in 2001, the Baystate Simulation Center and Goldberg Surgical Skills Laboratory was one of the first simulation centers in the world to be accredited by the American College of Surgeons. Located at Baystate Health’s main campus in Springfield, the 4,000-square-foot training facility provides more than 4,000 training hours to practitioners and residents annually The Center is a Level I Comprehensive Education Institute—the highest-level accreditation, only awarded to institutions that meet strict criteria and offer state-of-the-art surgical education.
Individuals and teams can undertake technical skills training—ranging from advanced laparoscopic techniques to lumbar puncture skills—as well as team macrosimulations. Macrosimulations are critical in identifying and correcting potential process and design flaws in new hospital units; running emergency preparedness drills; and training to rapidly evolving quality standards.
“The Sim Lab is here to ensure we have better performance in every single aspect of a patient’s care, from clinical decision-making to the way a room is set up,” says Dr. Gladys Fernandez, Assistant Program Director, Surgery Residency, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School - Baystate, and Director of Surgical Simulation, Baystate Simulation Center & Goldberg Surgical Skills Laboratory. “For instance, we were able to use our tools to identify some flaws in the way the new operating rooms were set up, and fix them, before they opened. This endowment is a goldmine for the health of our community in so many ways.”
In-situ simulations, which simulate the actual clinical setting a medical professional will practice in, also improve team-based patient management, inter-professional communication, and systems-based practice—values for which Dr. Frankel was a longtime advocate.
“My dad saw huge value in the exact mission of this entity we’re supporting,” says Matthew. “Creating an environment in the surgical unit that is collaborative, where everyone has a role, where every role is valued, and where everyone within that unit has a voice is not just a legacy project. In a lot of ways, he was an initial advocate for this system.”
“This endowment really embodies Dr. Frankel’s entire focus: education, teamwork, and collaboration,” says Dr. Fernandez, who trained under Dr. Frankel. She continues: “We were an extension of him when he was not there. He gave us his toolbox. And that is what we do in the simulation lab. We create real life situations in a safe and reproducible environment. He would have loved this—he would have been standing in the corner pushing to make it more challenging.”
Tearing up, Dr. Fernandez remembers Dr. Frankel’s dedication. “We had a very big case with a patient who required a significant surgery. We thought the patient was starting to recover but a morning later, we got called for an acute change. Dr. Frankel was offsite but guided us through what to do. Unfortunately, the patient went into cardiac arrest after a massive pulmonary embolism and did not recover. I made the call to Dr. Frankel, who said to me ‘I believe you have done everything you can. And I will call the family.’ I still remember the patient’s room to this day.”
“That’s who he was,” echoes Felice. “He was fiercely loyal to his patients, and he was loyal to western Massachusetts and to Baystate. To ensure that Baystate puts the patient first, and that it serves the whole community, would have been very important to him. He was deeply involved with social issues and that really informed our life together and how we raised our boys.”
And now, the enhancement of the fund honoring Dr. Frankel’s legacy will impact the community he cared so deeply about, for generations to come.
“I remember as a kid my dad taking me on his rounds at Baystate on the weekend,” said Matthew. “As a parent now, it was a real thrill to visit the Sim Center and see my 16-year-old son use the virtual surgery simulator to perform surgery; he was really enjoying it and learning. It gave me a lot of pride to see, and my dad would have been thrilled to have witnessed it, too.”
Want to create your own lasting tribute gift? Reach out to Kylie Johnson at 413.794.7789 or Kylie.Johnson@BaystateHealth.org to explore ideas or visit www.baystatehealth.org/giving/our-priorities/endowment.