Why Is a Hospital Offering Tutoring and Job Programs? - Dr. Omar Lateef, President and CEO of Rush University Medical Center

“In life, I feel like you always know what the right thing to do is, it's just hard,” says Dr. Omar Lateef, who runs Rush University Medical Center in the Near West Side of Chicago. Lateef has embraced the challenging path necessitated by Rush’s community-based mission which involves providing services like tutoring, food subsidies and jobs programs in addition to acute care. In this episode of Raise the Line, you’ll find out how this mission shaped RUMC’s COVID response which involved overcoming bureaucratic hurdles to take in hundreds of transfers. Learn how Dr. Lateef went from studying theology, to specializing in pulmonary and critical care medicine, to his current role as a hospital leader. Plus, learn about the importance of having reliable, open-source data on healthcare quality, and hear Dr. Lateef's advice on both addressing the public health crisis of racism, and keeping up motivation when the adrenaline and sense of community support present earlier in the pandemic has diminished.

Raise the Line · Dr. Omar Lateef, Michael Carrese