THE PATIENT IS THE SUN
Michael S. Okun, M.D., shares his passion for the UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine program
PATIENTS HAVE GREATLY INFLUENCED MICHAEL S. OKUN, M.D., in his life and in his work.
As the executive director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health and a professor and chair of Neurology, Okun has seen the beauty of human interaction in medical care.
In 1993, Okun was a second-year medical student at UF who was passionate about helping people heal. His undergraduate degree was in history and he had written creative works prior to attending medical school.
“I was so hungry for patient care when I was stuck in the lecture halls viewing outdated dusty slides on an old-fashioned carousel,” Okun said. “I saw clinical medicine as a path to impacting lives and I could not wait to get in the units.”
Okun and a small group of undergraduate and medical students founded “Kaleidoscope,” which promoted the idea of spending time sharing the arts at a patient’s bedside. Around the same time, John Graham-Pole, M.D., a now retired UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital pediatric hematologist/oncologist, started a parallel group called “Brains behind Arts and Medicines.” Graham-Pole was also a researcher of psychology and a very influential mentor to Okun.
Nineteen years old but all grown up, he asks himself if he will ever leave this tiny room. Each moment, he wonders if he does leave what he will do and what it will mean. He ponders all of the tough questions and attempts to integrate his experience into his solutions. He looks to himself for the inspiration to go on.
THE BOX
The cuts in my throat throb,
My hands blistered and blood-stained,
Mucous coats my entire body,
Chemicals flow through my veins.
I must be alone,
My voice echoes with disdain,
One more day has passed,
I wonder if I am insane.
Two weeks until nineteen,
Sweat pours from my brow,
I cannot stop shaking,
I ask myself how.
I have no more blasts,
I have no cells at all,
I wait for forgiveness,
I stare at the barren walls.
This room I cannot leave,
Peace I cannot find,
My body cannot keep up,
As I fight for piece of mind.
My eyes are leaking,
My skin is shedding,
My heart is begging,
Where am I heading?
— Michael Scott Okun, M.D.
Michael Okun, M.D., began his interaction with AIM as a UF medical student volunteer. He wrote Lessons from the Bedside, which was given to all UF College of Medicine students by Lynn Romrell, Ph.D., the former associate dean of the UF Office of Educational Affairs from 1995 until 2008.
“Patient-centered care wasn’t widely accepted,” Okun said. “Hospital staff and patients were afraid of allowing artists and musicians to comfort sick patients for cultural and for health reasons.”
Eventually, Kaleidoscope and Brains behind Arts and Medicines merged and became UF Student Arts in Medicine.
Okun and Graham-Pole were change agents in the medical field. They saw the importance of human interaction with many forms of art having the potential to be used as healing and as therapy.
Now in 2021, fortunes have changed for the UF Health Shands Arts in Medicine program, or AIM, which has hospital funding and, more importantly, has been fully embraced by faculty, staff, families and patients.
Today, as a neurologist and clinical-researcher who works with patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Tourette syndrome and other neurological disorders, Okun sees firsthand the importance of programs like AIM.
“Human interactions have a profound effect on brain, behavior and immune system functions,” Okun said. “These artistic interactions help people.”
Okun openly discusses with his patients that one in five or six of them will develop demoralization from their disease. Demoralization can happen even in the absence of depression, and research supports the notion that human interaction can combat demoralization.
In addition to Okun’s other achievements, he is a poet who has written Lessons from the Bedside (1995) as well as 14 other books, including most recently co-authoring, Ending Parkinson’s Disease: A Prescription for Action (2020, Hachette). Many of the poems in his first book are drawn from the patients and caregivers he met during the Kaleidoscope program years.
What drives Okun isn’t the same thing that drives a lot of people. Humanity and compassion are a core part of who he is.
“My singular philosophy is that the patient is the sun, and the health care team should orbit around the patient’s needs,” Okun said. “Anyone who knows me is aware that I say this over and over again, as I believe that this core philosophy can change lives.”
