Steve and Marta Pate and family
ON THE WAY TO HEALING: FA M I LY ’S G I F T P R O M OT E S W E L L N E S S
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Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation
The Pate family was keen on supporting a new initiative that moved beyond the traditional aspects of health care to an allencompassing healing process. “Helping others is what life is all about,” says Marta Pate. “The HEAL initiative and our commitment to it represent our family helping other families in a tangible way that Steve and I can experience with our children and grandchildren. It is our gift to the community that we love.” This initiative, named the Cook Family Health Education and Learning (HEAL) program, merges medicine and wellness through a novel approach at Houston Methodist
The Woodlands Hospital. It aims to redefine health care delivery from diagnosis to treatment and from recovery to living a full life. Foundational to HEAL is the concept that patients and their loved ones are not powerless, whatever the diagnosis may be. Those patients and family members will have access to specialized programs and resources to cope with their new situation, ease their stress and navigate them through a challenging health journey. For Steve Pate, that journey hits close to home. “My dad was sick, but he wouldn’t let anybody take care of him but my mom,” says Pate. “She was the image of health but endured stress from caregiving.
