Dr. Glen Komatsu a Compassionate Steward at Life’s End
By GWEN MURANAKA
Dr. Glen Komatsu brings quiet compassion to patients and their families at the most difficult, darkest time of life. As Regional Chief Medical Officer of palliative care and hospice and Medical Director of TrinityKids Care, Komatsu has developed one of the nation’s largest hospice programs for terminally ill children and highly regarded palliative care programs in hospitals for adults and children.
Dr. Komatsu is known for his ability to listen mindfully and walk with empathy and compassion alongside patients and families, many of whom he sees at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance.
“Sitting with them, showing you’re not afraid to walk with them on their journey and keep showing up,” he said. “It turns out, that’s a lot.”
Two years ago, he was the only clinician from California to be nominated for The Schwartz Center's 2018 National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year award. The award recognizes health care professionals who have shown extraordinary devotion and compassion in caring for patients and their families.
Komatsu was born and raised in Arizona where his parents, Ben and Mae, ran a farm. He recalled feeling a little isolated as the only Japanese American family in their neighborhood in north Phoenix. His parents felt it was important to preserve Japanese culture, instilling such traditions as making mochi.
The Komatsu family had a produce stand where they would sell corn, watermelon and cantaloupes that they had picked in the morning. Glen remembered the hot summers working the fields.
“I said OK, I don’t want to do this for a living,” he said.
Komatsu attended the University of Arizona, receiving a B.S. in biological sciences and his M.D. at the Arizona College of Medicine. It was in medical school that he found his calling in pediatrics.
After completing a pediatric residency at UC Irvine Affiliated Hospitals and a neonatology fellowship at Long Beach Memorial/Miller Children’s Hospital, he entered private practice.
His first job in neonatology was in Hawaii at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children. That’s where he met Joyce, then a student in social work.
The couple married in 1987 and have two children, Emi and Eric. Emi is in medical school at USC with an interest in obstetrics and gynecology. Eric is studying biology at Brown University and enjoys volunteering in the Japanese American community.
“We’re very fortunate that both kids are very kind and considerate individuals,” Komatsu said.
He served as medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance from 1985-2004. His work in the neonatal ICU unit informed the work he does today with palliative care and hospice patients.
“In neonatology, the focus was on saving every baby, which is a good thing but sometimes we did it at unbelievable cost,” he explained. “The amount of pain and suffering we were inflicting on the baby and their family didn’t seem to be a concern.”
Komatsu recalled fighting for pain management for infant boys during circumcision procedures.
“When I said just give them 2 injections of Lidocaine, obstetricians would laugh at me. In 1986, I introduced it, but it wasn’t until 2013 that it became a policy that every baby boy had to have it. What changed obstetricians’ behavior is that parents demanded it,” Komatsu said.
From those experiences, Komatsu became driven to change the ethos of medicine towards a more compassionate approach that centered on caring for the patient as a whole person.
In 2004, he uprooted his family and moved to Boston to pursue a 12-month fellowship in adult palliative care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His intent was to bring his palliative care back to Little Company of Mary.
“The Mission of the Sisters of Little Company of Mary is to provide preferential care for the poor and vulnerable, the sick and dying. I believe in that mission,” he said.
“I love working here because the sisters and the organization really supported the growth of palliative care and hospice, enabling our programs to become some of the most robust in the country.”
At TrinityKids Care, the walls are covered with photos of kids and their families who have been taken care of by Komatsu and his team. The office space, formerly the site of the Daily Breeze newspaper, is open and airy. Outside, Komatsu led the creation of a Zen healing garden for patients and staff to meditate and find quiet solace.
“There is a difference between healing and curing. There is always a hope for curing, but there are so many things we can’t cure,” Komatsu said. “The other process is healing, whereby the person becomes transformed by the illness experience, seeing it as a way to grow, to develop a new identity and come to accept, even embrace the experience.”
Tracey Doi’s sister Leslie Chikahisa Foley, who passed in March 2015 of cancer, was one of Komatsu’s patients. Doi recalls Komatsu’s calm, compassionate guidance during their darkest moments.
“Leslie really gave a courageous fight for a couple years. Glen helped my sister and our family recognize that her journey was a personal journey,” Doi said.
“Glen has the holistic view that we are trying to take care of the whole self — the spiritual self — the whole individual. It was important that Les was educated on her options for treatment and that she could make her own choices. Glen helped her understand the journey ahead, so she could live life to its fullest and be at peace. He also helped my parents and I anticipate each step, as well as her daughter.”
At TrinityCare there is a wall of origami cranes behind a glass frame. More than 2,000 cranes were folded by colleagues for Komatsu to support him through his personal cancer experience. He was diagnosed with tonsillar cancer in 2010.
Now cancer free, Dr. Komatsu understands what it means to cope with serious illness and recognizes the importance of human connection and relationships. In his honor, in 2017, TrinityCare created the Thousand Crane Endowed Chair which has raised more than $4.5 million to support innovation, training and caregiver well-being.
In 2017, Komatsu led the development of Iyashi Care, a partnership between Keiro and Providence to provide palliative care for Japanese American and Japanese older adults with serious illnesses. Other members of the Iyashi team are Dr. Yuichi Edwin Yamami, Kanako Fukuyama, clinical social worker; Joshua Northcutt, a registered nurse; and Miho Yoshikawa, administrative assistant. Iyashi Care has filled a gap in care for elderly Japanese Americans, providing a vital culturally-sensitive service to help age well wherever they call home.
“Dr. Komatsu’s vision of having a community-based palliative care program for our community, specifically those who are most vulnerable and facing difficult decisions, was creative, innovative and bold,” said Gene S. Kanamori, President and CEO of Keiro. “His compassion and desire to help people along these very difficult paths has been extraordinary and we are honored and proud to partner with him and his staff.”
For the past year, Komatsu has also been working in palliative care with patients at CHOC Children’s Hospital in Orange. Regardless of the setting, his mission is to help patients, families, colleagues and medical institutions move toward a “kinder, more compassionate model of care.”
When he sees a patient and family, Komatsu listens, mostly after asking open-ended questions. In the silence, patients and families often open up and feel more comfortable letting their feelings and true wishes be known.
“We listen and we don’t force them to talk about things that they don’t want to if at all possible,” he said.
“Hope is a big theme. Patients and families are always hoping for a cure, but we can’t cure many things. So we help them reframe hope: hope for more meaning, more connection, more time.”
Under Komatsu’s care, patients and families are able to embark on the final chapter of life, with a sense of support and knowledge of no matter what may come next they will not be alone and everything possible will be done to ease their physical, emotional and spiritual pain.
Doi said her family will be forever grateful to Komatsu.
“Les managed the major symptoms well enough to focus on the things that were most important to her. Six months before she passed, we were able to take a memorable trip to Japan to visit her daughter, who was teaching through the JET program.” Doi said.
In turn, Komatsu says he is inspired by his patients and their families.