FAMILY MEDICINE, SWEDISH COVENANT MEDICAL GROUP
During her tenure at Swedish Covenant, Dr. Kate Maxouris has treated babies, parents, grandparents, and everyone in between. For many patients, she’s practically part of the family!
When Dr. Maxouris first began practicing medicine 20 years ago, she knew one thing for sure: She wanted to treat patients, not problems. That led her to family medicine — a specialty that doesn’t treat just one organ system, but the whole person.
And after more than 13 years at Swedish Covenant Medical Group in Chicago, Illinois, whole families have come to know Dr. Maxouris for her meticulous approach to care and excellent bedside manner.
That’s because she treats every patient like she would a member of her own family.
Doctors work long hours, so they need to know their patients in order to care deeply about what they do.
“I need to have a relationship with my patient,” she says.
That means her treatment doesn’t stop when her patients leave the office. Every day, Dr. Maxouris sets aside time to personally call the patients in her care to share test results, discuss treatment, and — perhaps most importantly — make sure they are following through with their care plan.
“I want to hold them accountable if they are not following their treatment,” she says, emphasizing the importance of setting realistic, achievable health goals and sticking to them.
To help her patients stay the course, Dr. Maxouris makes a conscious effort to include them in the planning of their treatment. Her philosophy? “Unless a person is invested in something, they’re not going to do it.”
Dr. Maxouris’ intimate approach has earned her a loyal following, with some patients she saw as children coming back to her with children of their own!
Having worked with some families for multiple generations, Dr. Maxouris has cultivated a unique understanding of how a person’s family can affect their approach to treatment. For instance, she knows to be extra attentive to new parents, while more experienced moms and dads get more space.
That’s why she knew there was a problem when a veteran mom, whose older child Dr. Maxouris had treated years prior, called her and expressed concerns about her newborn baby.
“I knew this mother and given her experience, I knew she wouldn’t call if she wasn’t genuinely worried about something.” So she invited the mom and baby to come and see her without an appointment.
Her instincts proved to be life-saving. What presented itself as a common problem for newborns turned out to be a symptom of a potentially fatal heart defect, which doctors in the emergency room were able to catch and treat before it was too late.
While dramatic, that story is just one example of the difference Dr. Maxouris makes in her patients’ lives. And that’s why she says it’s all worth it.
“My job is my life,” she says.
“Whether it’s a small or big win, little pleasures come every single day.”