Get to Know a Caregiver Johanna LaSala, MD

Transcript

• 00:08Hi everybody, yeah welcome to
• 00:10the get to know caregiver series
• 00:12and today we have doctor Joe
• 00:14Lasala from our orange office Joe,
• 00:16could you introduce yourself and your
• 00:19role? Yes hi, I'm jealous Allah
• 00:21and I'm a medical Oncologist.
• 00:23I've been in Connecticut for over 20 years.
• 00:26I'm in. This was my first job here in
• 00:29Connecticut as a medical oncologist
• 00:31at medical oncology and Hematology,
• 00:33which was a private practice and
• 00:36joined yell about odd nine years ago,
• 00:38almost nine years ago, wow.
• 00:42Where are you from originally?
• 00:43Where did you grow up?
• 00:45Stone Queens very close
• 00:47to the white stone bridge.
• 00:49I my parents were both first generation
• 00:53American and schoolteachers and so I went
• 00:56to public school through Elementary School.
• 00:58Junior High High School in
• 01:00New York City and in Queens.
• 01:03And then I went to St John's University,
• 01:07also in Queens and it was a
• 01:10commuter college so I was home,
• 01:12then two, and then I went on to.
• 01:17Johns Hopkins University for medical school.
• 01:19And so I was in Maryland for four years,
• 01:23which I really enjoyed and then
• 01:25did my internship and residency
• 01:27at Cornell in Manhattan,
• 01:29which is on the Upper East Side.
• 01:32It was New York Hospital,
• 01:34Cornell Medical Center.
• 01:37And so I lived in Manhattan,
• 01:39which was really a different
• 01:41experience and very exciting and
• 01:43really great when you're young person.
• 01:46When I was an intern,
• 01:48I met my husband and got married
• 01:51at the end of my residency.
• 01:54And during that time, um,
• 01:57had conversations with the
• 01:59chairman of Hematology Oncology,
• 02:00and at my program, that chief of Medison,
• 02:04the Chief Medical resident,
• 02:06were all hematologist oncologist.
• 02:08And so there was a lot of flavor of
• 02:11that throughout our entire residency,
• 02:14and it always seemed really
• 02:17great and wonderful.
• 02:18And so I found myself one day talking
• 02:22about it with the chief of oncology.
• 02:25And the next minute,
• 02:27accepting a job as a fellow.
• 02:28Wow, that time there wasn't a match.
• 02:31It was really just kind of applying
• 02:33and they really encouraged me to stay.
• 02:35And so I stayed on to do my fellowship there.
• 02:39I realize you know,
• 02:41thinking about it.
• 02:42My interest in Hematology Oncology
• 02:45went back really along time
• 02:49ago when I was in 8th grade.
• 02:51I did a science fair project that had
• 02:54to do with blood clotting and then,
• 02:57um, it Fast forward to medical school.
• 03:00You know that first summer after your
• 03:03first year of Medical School is really
• 03:06the only year summer you have off,
• 03:08but nobody was really off.
• 03:10Everybody looked for, really,
• 03:12you know, kind of resume building
• 03:14things to do connections.
• 03:16And my parents didn't have any connections,
• 03:19but I ended up working as a volunteer.
• 03:22At a local hospital and they
• 03:24just happen to put me with.
• 03:26A hematologist Oncologist,
• 03:27Wow, which was really amazing,
• 03:30and it was actually.
• 03:33Alright,
• 03:33from rice staging from CLL and Mark Citron,
• 03:36who is very interested guys,
• 03:38those
• 03:39are really big names. They are and
• 03:41so it was just and he had a physician
• 03:45assistant who I spent the whole summer
• 03:47with as well and she, you know,
• 03:50took me in every room with her.
• 03:53And really, you know,
• 03:54helped me understand hematology
• 03:56and oncology and get to really see
• 03:59you know cancer patients up close.
• 04:01And it wasn't scary and
• 04:03she was very talented so.
• 04:05You know it was just a really
• 04:08very positive experience,
• 04:09so then you know throughout that
• 04:12internship and residency with the,
• 04:14you know, really all the leadership
• 04:16being focused on that being the most
• 04:19important discipline medison which it is.
• 04:21It was no surprise then,
• 04:24so that I then stayed.
• 04:27At Cornell,
• 04:28to do my fellowship there and
• 04:30stayed for three years and my
• 04:32husband was from Connecticut and
• 04:34one of my very good friends is a
• 04:38gastroenterologist and she was here first.
• 04:40Their fellowship end sooner.
• 04:42So she was here a year ahead of
• 04:44me in Connecticut and new that
• 04:47Groupon new the other doctors and
• 04:50sort of encouraged me to apply for
• 04:52that job and so that was my first
• 04:55job and real job right after your.
• 04:58You've been a student in a trainee
• 05:01for so long. Yeah, just real job.
• 05:04And it was really a great,
• 05:06really the best kind of position
• 05:09for somebody coming out of training
• 05:11because I had all these great partners
• 05:14with a lot of expertise and it was
• 05:17not just learning the medical part
• 05:19of it because you learn all of that,
• 05:22you know school and in training.
• 05:24But really just how to take care
• 05:27of patients in a practical way.
• 05:29And in a way that that is caring
• 05:32and compassionate.
• 05:33And so I was just very fortunate.
• 05:35And they were all very hard working.
• 05:37And so it just was, you know,
• 05:40just reinforced invalidated that work ethic.
• 05:41And everybody was really like minded and
• 05:44it was really really a great experience.
• 05:46And then Interestingly,
• 05:47because it was a private practice
• 05:49and I became a partner.
• 05:51I you know it was a little bit
• 05:53of business learning as well,
• 05:55which is just a different part of your
• 05:57brain in a different understanding how to be.
• 06:00A business owner and and
• 06:02kind of what that means,
• 06:04you know?
• 06:06Most of us never get because if because
• 06:09we haven't owned our own business.
• 06:11Right, right? So it's just
• 06:13something just really different.
• 06:14So like oh, I'm a small business owner too,
• 06:17you know, and so you kind of understand
• 06:19a lot of different pieces of it.
• 06:21And also how much goes into
• 06:23that and how hard that is.
• 06:25And that you know it gives you the
• 06:28opportunity to work all the time.
• 06:30Yeah, off when you're a business owner,
• 06:33so which is fine, 'cause which
• 06:35probably helps you relate to your patients
• 06:37who also own their own businesses,
• 06:40an understanding their need for your
• 06:42flexibility and their work life. And then
• 06:45if you're not working,
• 06:46you know that's a problem.
• 06:48Yeah, out sick Kerry not working and
• 06:51that's really hard to do, you know.
• 06:53And so so that was really great experience.
• 06:56And then you know,
• 06:58during that time I had both my children.
• 07:01And how old are they now?
• 07:03So there are 20 and 16 going
• 07:06to be 21 and 17 this fall,
• 07:09which is just sort of strange,
• 07:11because then they're not little kids
• 07:14anymore and they're all grown up.
• 07:16So um, but I did have both
• 07:19of them while I was working.
• 07:21And so, um, it.
• 07:23It was really the best job for that as well,
• 07:27because my partners were all supportive and I
• 07:30really was able to control my dayan control.
• 07:33My schedule enough that I
• 07:35really was able to do it all.
• 07:38You know, not.
• 07:39You know,
• 07:39maybe I wasn't there for 100% of every event,
• 07:43but I really, really was there for.
• 07:45I really don't feel like I missed anything
• 07:48and so I was really able to be there
• 07:52for my kids and and I do remember my,
• 07:55you know it was my son was in
• 07:57kindergarten and they had their
• 07:59Thanksgiving parade or whatever,
• 08:01right?
• 08:01It like a 10 AM,
• 08:03which is probably like the
• 08:05worst time possible because
• 08:06you can write really before.
• 08:08Right in a busy time of year in a busy
• 08:11week warning, you know, out of the office,
• 08:14but I was able to get there in the teacher
• 08:16talk to the parents beforehand and said,
• 08:18you know, I made sure that the kids knew
• 08:21that it was difficult for parents to get here
• 08:24and that you know, if they weren't here,
• 08:26it's not 'cause they didn't want to be,
• 08:28but that all of them tried in that
• 08:31they wouldn't want to disappoint you,
• 08:32but that they really, you know,
• 08:34did their best and one of the kids
• 08:37that my mom never let's me down.
• 08:39It turns out it was my kitten.
• 08:42An and it always makes me well
• 08:43up when he said that because I,
• 08:46you know you, you always feel as a mom.
• 08:48Didn't you know?
• 08:49am I there enough?
• 08:51am I doing enough when you're a working mom?
• 08:53And so I was grateful for the
• 08:55teacher for telling this story and
• 08:57then letting me know it was my kid.
• 09:00I couldn't
• 09:00believe it. Yeah, speaks to your
• 09:02ability to be a super woman,
• 09:04you know, and to juggle all
• 09:06of that at the same time.
• 09:07It's really inspiring. As a young Mama,
• 09:10Mama of young children now.
• 09:12Uhm, I learn from you that
• 09:14you have to make time to
• 09:15be present, right?
• 09:16and I sometimes I like go in
• 09:19the office and say OK guys,
• 09:21it's a Cape and tights day meaning.
• 09:24Superhero with a Cape
• 09:26and tights to get through it,
• 09:27because otherwise it's not going
• 09:29to work today. Yeah, I have some
• 09:31days I say are protists, days
• 09:33like president, the United
• 09:34States, where you're
• 09:35scheduled every second
• 09:36or like a Cape in tight
• 09:38state that I don't know
• 09:39how we're going to do it.
• 09:41But we're gonna do it today.
• 09:43Yeah, never do you have a
• 09:44bonbon day where you sit around
• 09:46and just you know, chat and eat?
• 09:48Yeah no fun but days yet but I think
• 09:51one of those we should build those in.