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Dr. Cornett currently works as an independent physician with
two long-term care facilities and has a purposefully small group of
home care patients she visits. She classifies herself as a workaholic
but not negatively so.
“I enjoy practicing end-of-life care. It really fits my personality.
I’m lucky to have an evolution in my practice and be able to do
what I’m doing. The opportunity to really connect with patients
and families, to really help people with their health care decisions
is really wonderful,” she explained, “though the intensity of the
relationships can turn stressful.”
“It can wear on you. I’m not dull to that. I take every family and
patient as an individual seriously. But, my kids and husband allow
me to go home each night, laugh and clear my head. I exercise every
day. I read. Those things allow me to turn it off.”
Base near Alexandria in 1990, the majority of Dr. Cornett’s patients
were retirees. Those years would help form the basis of her future in
palliative care. Halfway through her Air Force internship, England
Air Force Base closed, and she was transferred to Scott Air Force
Base in southern Illinois near St. Louis.
Dr. Cornett visits museums with her children and concerts with
“Illinois was a wonderful experience. I consider it as almost an
extension of my residency. At that facility, I was in a multi-specialty
clinic with cardiologists, oncologists, all types of specialties from
all over the country. It was a great place to continue my training,”
Dr. Cornett said.
Dr. Cornett and her husband returned to Louisville in 1994 where
she joined the Fitzgerald Internal Medicine Practice which would
later be purchased by Norton and named Community Medical
Associates. Not long after, the couple had their first child, Savannah,
who is now 20. Their youngest, Ben, is 14.
In 2001, Dr. Cornett went to work for Hosparus of Louisville.
While it was certainly a change from internal medicine to some
degree, she couldn’t have imagined how it would impact the next
stage of her career.
“I started there thinking I was only staying one year, and it ended
up being eight. I just really loved palliative care, so I became a specialist while working for hospice,” Dr. Cornett said, before recalling
one of her patients that struck her the most.
“There was an elderly woman, who actually lived right across from
Showcase Cinemas, who was very independent. She was in her late
80s, had a lot of medical problems, but I really thought the world of
her. I remember she was so healthy but she was developing angina.
I remember thinking that she was otherwise doing well, we should
really pursue this. She ended up getting bypass surgery and never
leaving the hospital. That impacted me to do palliative care more
than anything else. It made me realize that when people start getting
very old, and we start trying to help their medical problems…we
aren’t always going to make it better.”
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her husband. She’s an avid reader and loves film. Together, the
Cornett family spends time at national parks, hiking whenever
possible. So far, Dr. Cornett’s favorite has been Glacier National Park.
“The hiking is magnificent. Most places, you hike up mountains.
In Glacier, you hike across mountains, from streams and forests to
mountains and ledges. It’s just wonderful.”
But when it’s time to get to work, Dr. Cornett is back on the grid,
helping patients and their families determine how best to handle
late in life illness. She already had the calling to practice medicine;
she sees the specialty of palliative care as an extra gift.
“I’m not on Facebook and I don’t have a website, but for reasons
unclear to me, people call me up,” she said. “I don’t have to do a
thing and people find me. That makes me think I must be doing
something right; I feel grateful and lucky in my work.”
Aaron Burch is the communications specialist for the Greater Louisville Medical Society.