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Memories Live On at the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute
How the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute has inspired the Suquet family to raise awareness through their donations
By George Menz | Photo: Staci Brimer
José Suquet has led a distinguished career. As CEO and Chairman of the Board of Pan-American Life Insurance Group, he’s overseen a billion-dollar company for close to 18 years—and for 14 years, he’s also been on the board of directors of Ochsner Health.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see the hospital firsthand,” José said, “and how much progress we’ve made to improve the quality of outcomes for patients.”
Originally from New York, José has become a fixture of the New Orleans community. He and his wife, Ileana, love the city and the Gulf South region, and by joining the board at Ochsner, José has brought his family to the center of one of New Orleans’s most beloved institutions.
In the past six years, the Suquets have made notable contributions to one particular area of Ochsner’s work: the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute. The Institute offers care to patients of all ages suffering from neurological conditions— ranging from headaches and migraines to epilepsy and dementia. The expert doctors and nurses bring their education and experience to bear in treating patients, and they hope to do more in the future.
“They have a great mission, great leadership and some incredible plans,” José said. “Not only in terms of expanding the number of doctors and programs, but actually building an entirely new facility. We’re really proud to be a part of it.”
With the Suquet family’s contribution, Ochsner will build a state-of-the-art Neuro Rehabilitation Center, helping activities, speech therapy, pain management, community support groups, vocational counseling, and many more.
Rendering of the Suquet Family Therapy and Wellness Center.
Image courtesy of B|W|B|R Architects
Cutting-edge holistic care
When making their initial pledge, the Suquets were particularly impressed by the cutting-edge knowledge and research the Institute had on its side. “They came to us with a lot of information with regards to what was happening in the science at the time,” Ileana said. “That gave me great hope.”
The Ochsner Neuroscience Institute is the only facility of its kind in the Gulf South, and plays an essential role in serving the neurological issues that affect the community. As people live longer, certain neurological conditions, like dementia, become more common, and require treatment and long-term care. The Gulf South didn’t have a facility that could address this wide range of conditions before the Neuroscience Institute was established.
Especially important to the Suquets was the holistic approach Ochsner takes to providing care: offering support not only to patients, but to their families and caregivers. “I know how much it can take from the family and the caregiver,” Ileana said. “Getting that holistic approach was what sold us.”
A personal connection to neuroscience
The Suquet’s own experience with neurological and cognitive conditions car, she started talking to me. I asked her, ‘Who am I?’ She said, ‘My husband.’” gives them a personal stake in the Institute’s mission. In the final years of her life, José’s mother, Isabel, suffered from severe memory loss and cognitive decline.
— José Suquet
“I still vividly remember,” José said, “I went to visit her in Miami and see my aunt and uncle. She must have been about 84 at the time. We spent an hour visiting and talking. When we got in the car set started talking to me. I asked her, 'Who am I?' She said, 'My husband.'"
It was an immensely distressing moment when José realized that his mother would not be able to live on her own. It was at that time that his family helped her move into the Palace, a care facility in Miami. “They took very good care of her, but she lived a terrible last year and a half,” José said.
He regularly visited his mother, first flying from New York and then from New Orleans after he took on the role of CEO of Pan-American. Describing the final hours of her life, he chose to focus on the immense strength and unity that his family was able to find in the midst of their grief.
“I kept telling her that Ileana and our sons were going to be there, and she had to hold on,” José said. “Even though she didn’t recognize me, I was convinced she understood something. When they got there, she passed within an hour. I was holding her hand.”
Rendering of the Suquet Family Therapy and Wellness Center.
Image courtesy of B|W|B|R Architects
Building a legacy at Ochsner
Although it has been years, the memory of that moment is strong, and has strengthened the bonds in their family. The Suquets’ younger son and his wife are expecting a baby girl who they hope to name Isabel, after his grandmother.
Today, the Suquets hope that their contributions to the Neuroscience Institute will give Ochsner the capacity to give families and caregivers of patients suffering from cognitive decline the support they need to properly care for their loved ones.
“If we’d had that kind of support from the very beginning, I feel that we would have been able to better care for her,” Ileana said. “I would have known not to say things like, ‘You know this, you can remember.’ She would have been more at ease.”
In 2022, the Neuroscience Institute offered cutting-edge care, clinical trials and medical advances to patients from 44 different states and 31 countries around the world. Patients arrive at the Institute with a wide variety of conditions, and the team treats them with great care and sensitivity, all with the same goal of leading them towards positive outcomes—recovery when possible, and, in other cases, providing the highest quality of life.
“I believe that we will find betterment for the lives of people that suffer from this and the lives of their loved ones and caregivers,” José said. “I hope that our contribution helps accomplish that.”
