CMMC physician earns national honor‏

Lewiston, Maine - A Central Maine Medical Center physician who has been instrumental in developing a comprehensive palliative care service at CMMC has been recognized nationally for his work on behalf of those with serious illnesses in rural Maine.

Bruce E. Condit, M.D., medical director of palliative care and an attending physician at CMMC, is one of just five recipients of the 2015 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards.

The awards are cosponsored by The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute that has done groundbreaking work on end-of-life decision-making, and the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation, which strives to enrich the doctor-patient relationship near the end of life. Duke University Divinity School’s Program in Medicine, Theology, and Culture oversees the selection process.

The awards were made in three categories: a senior award, a mid-career award and three early-career awards. An award recipient must demonstrate exemplary performance in one or more of four areas: medical practice, teaching, research, and community.

The selection committee recommended Condit for the Mid-Career Physician Award for “creating
something from nothing” by establishing the first palliative care program in the region. Under his leadership, the program has grown from one full-time clinician to an interdisciplinary team that sees 678 patients a year.

Condit also serves as a medical director at Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, an outpatient hospice team headquartered in Lewiston with a care facility in Auburn.

Jacqueline P. Fournier, a certified palliative care nurse practitioner who nominated Condit for the award, said his “small town Maine roots laid the groundwork for the practitioner/healer he would become.” She continued, “He exudes competence in an inviting way and he listens, inspiring others. Bruce leads by encouragement and example.”

During his residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Condit learned about the importance of palliative care after he discovered that one of his clinic patients had died at home with hospice services. His interest in palliative care was sparked further when he met a physician ethicist who exemplified the ways that many clinicians practiced palliative care without a specific designation, and yet with great care and compassion.

Condit returned to his home state of Maine as the first hospitalist at CMMC. He then established the first palliative care program in the region.

He continues working as both a hospitalist and a palliative care provider, finding that each role informs the other “in wonderful ways.” “Unlike my patients in my Boston residency, rural Mainers were much more open to the reality that there are conditions that we can’t survive and that pursuing care at all costs and dignity in dying are sometimes at odds with each other,” he said. “I’m sure that in those early days I learned much more about end-of-life care from my patients than they did from me, and they helped me to recognize and develop the role that a hospitalist can play for patients dealing with progressive chronic conditions, especially as they approach dying. As a hospitalist, I continue to enjoy this challenge in helping patients decide for themselves when the burdens of treatment outweigh the benefits, and how to take comfort in deciding when enough is enough.”

 “These award winners share a commitment to reaching special populations, from children with cancer to veterans to underserved minority communities,” says Mildred Z. Solomon, Ed.D., president of The Hastings Center. “They are outstanding clinicians who provide exquisite patient care, but who also have the skill and commitment to create durable organizational structures that will ensure that the work succeeds over time.”

“This cohort of physicians demonstrates that compassion, competency, and a healing presence are cherished by patients and their families and admired and respected by their colleagues,” says Richard Payne, MD, chairman of the selection committee and the Esther Colliflower Professor of Medicine and Divinity at Duke University and the John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics at the Center for Practical Bioethics. “The awards will make a difference for their careers, and will assist them in building palliative care programs in their communities.”

The prize recipients were selected by a committee convened by The Hastings Center. In addition to Dr. Payne, the committee consisted of Thomas P. Duffy, M.D., of Yale University; Kathleen M. Foley, M.D., of Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and Diane E. Meier, M.D., of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital.