Prakash Chandran: One on One with Regional One Regional Health is your inside look at how we're building healthier tomorrows for our patients and our community. Join us for expert insight that empowers you to achieve a lifetime of better health. I'm your host, Prakash Chandran. And today, we're getting acquainted with Dr. Jeffrey Nelson. He's a Medical Director for Regional One Health's new Palliative Care Service.

Dr. Nelson, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate your time. So, I wanted to get started by maybe you telling us what palliative care offers and why you were drawn to this field of medicine.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Sure. And thank you for the chance to do this. Palliative care tends to be a misunderstood specialty. I think a lot of it's because of how new it is. What we really are is a specialized type of care for people that have a serious advanced illness, and often this is a terminal illness. So, one of the most understood fields for palliative care is people with an advanced malignancy that ultimately will be terminal.

What we do in palliative care is we augment all the other standard treatments that are available. So, we're in addition to standard medical care and we really focus on quality of life for patients and their loved ones. It might be treating physical symptoms. It might be helping with depression and anxiety. It might just be having that therapeutic alliance with people that helps them feel better and less alone as they battle this illness. In the hospital, we function a little differently often. Here at Regional One especially, we have people with life-changing traumatic events. Our job in the hospital often is to be an expert layer of support that helps patients and families understand what has happened, understand where they've been in their health journey, and understand what options they have in front of them.

Prakash Chandran: Okay. That is really helpful. Thank you for clarifying that because I also had some confusion around what palliative care was. And as a layperson, you know, the first part of what you were talking about sounds a lot like, I guess, the services that you get within hospice. Is there any correlation there or is it completely separate services?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Great question. And I distinctly or purposefully tried not to use the word hospice in my definition. But if you think of a pie, and you look at a, you know, 98% large slice, that's palliative care. That other 2%, that would be hospice care and we do help with that kind of care. The fundamental difference between palliative care and hospice care is that, with hospice care, you're not getting disease-directed therapies, you're not doing things that artificially prolong life. You are solely focusing on comfort, peace, and dignity in the moment. So again, going back to someone with a terminal cancer, once you elect hospice care, you're no longer going to get chemotherapy or radiation. You're going to focus on being where you're most comfortable with your loved ones until the end of life.

Prakash Chandran: Okay. Thank you so much. I understand the distinction now. So moving on, I wanted to ask, what's the most rewarding part about providing palliative care services to patients at Regional One Health?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: The most rewarding part for me in providing palliative care simply is the relationship with patients and families. It is such an honor as a physician or any member of the healthcare team to get to be able to so intimately know these people that are going through a tough time and try to help them. And back to the first question I didn't answer very well, that is what drew me into palliative care. It's I didn't find any other place in healthcare that, for me personally, with my skillset and my inclination towards relationships, was as rewarding as what I get to develop with palliative care.

Prakash Chandran: Yeah. And just expanding on that piece of it a little bit in terms of what drew you to the field, is this something that you realize or recognize pretty early on in medical school? Did you know beforehand?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Interestingly, I had never heard the term all through medical school. It wasn't until I started residency that I learned about palliative care and I did a rotation at Children's Hospital here with their palliative care team. And day one, said, "Yep, this is it. This is what I'm going to do."

Prakash Chandran: So, you know, it's clear, as I hear you talk, that compassion is an important piece of working with the patients that you see. Do you draw on any of your own experiences to bring empathy to what you do?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: That's a great question. Luckily, I don't have a lot of personal experience with the type of situations that we see in the hospital or even outside the hospital. I think really once you get a taste and see how powerful it is, not just for the patient, but for the whole healthcare team to be able to truly provide this compassion and help people when they're having a really tough time. It's just a undeniably wonderful feeling that you want to get back to.

Prakash Chandran: So, how about your life outside of work? Like tell us a little bit about family life and some of the things that you enjoy during your free time.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Sure, sure. Well, my wife and I both are from the west coast originally. And we came to Memphis about nine years ago for training to be close to my family, my brother's family here in Tennessee. So since that time, my life has changed quite a bit. Obviously, it's been very busy with career with trying to build this practice. We have two young children, age five and two. So, I would say that right now my life is pretty well dominated by family. You know, when I have free time, I'm with the kids, I'm with my wife. We have two dogs, two cats and a horse. So, those take up a lot of time.

Prakash Chandran: Oh, wow.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Really, family time. I like to play golf whenever I can, but that's few and far between most days, just with how busy we are with starting this program and young children.

Prakash Chandran: Yeah, I can understand that. I also have a three-year-old and a one-year-old without the two dogs, cats, and a horse. And it is a very hard to find time for myself, so I definitely get it.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: That's right. Well, you're in it. And just wait in a couple years, it's going to be more and more birthday parties to go to on the weekends.

Prakash Chandran: Yeah. Well, still though, you're saying that when you do find that time for yourself to clear your head, you're able to golf a little bit and that's what you enjoy doing on your own.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: That's a big thing, just being outside. For instance, this last weekend, we went to Shelby Farms Park with our dogs and hiked around for several hours.

Prakash Chandran: Yeah, that's great. Well listen, I just have maybe a quick fire round. I'll ask you a couple questions and then you can answer with the first answer that comes to your head. Does that sound okay?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Sounds like fun.

Prakash Chandran: Okay. Awesome. First question, what was your very first job?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Working in a pear orchard my family had growing up. First job outside that was Dairy Queen drive-through cash register.

Prakash Chandran: Nice. Who is a hero or someone that inspires you?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: One of my mentors is a guy named John Mulder. He's a palliative care doc in Nashville and Michigan, and he helped create the specialty years ago.

Prakash Chandran: What is your favorite food or drink?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Really good pizza and a really good IPA.

Prakash Chandran: Great. That sounds delicious. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go first?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Lately, I've been thinking about Scotland a lot. Partly, I think that's when it gets really hot in Memphis, I think of places where I might be able to wear a sweater.

Prakash Chandran: Well, also the birthplace of golf as well. And I'm sure that there's some beautiful courses that you can play while you're out there.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: There's that as well

Prakash Chandran: Favorite movie?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: The Big Lebowski.

Prakash Chandran: And your favorite genre of music to listen to?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Well, pre-medicine, I spent a lot of years trying to be a drummer in a punk rock band, so I'm going to have to say sort of that mid-'90's punk rock.

Prakash Chandran: Nice. And then, this is not necessarily a quick answered question, but I always like to ask, what would your current self teach or advise your younger self?

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: Buy Bitcoin and get out in 2017.

Prakash Chandran: That is fair. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate you spending a little time with us and sharing a little bit about yourself.

Dr. Jeffrey Nelson: No, I really appreciate your time. It's been a lot of fun.

Prakash Chandran: Awesome. That was Dr. Jeffrey Nelson, Medical Director for Regional One Health's new Palliative Care Service. For more information, you can visit regionalonehealth.org.

Thanks for making One on One with Regional One Regional Health a part of your journey to better health. Join us next time as we cover another topic to keep you on the path to a healthier tomorrow. My name's Prakash Chandran. Stay well.