Healing Begins with a Smile | Patient hearing inspires Emotional Connect | A Doctor with a Difference that makes all the difference | Global TV
NV Paulose, Chairman, Global TV +91 98441 82044
Patients who come to see Dr. Sr. Liveena MSJ often come with lot of pains to speak out. There must be more emotions than ailments to speak about. Patients wait patiently for their turn to come at the Out Patient Department at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kothamangalam. They are alright for a long waiting which tells about the time they get for themselves to tell all their stories. Some are anxious about test results. Some are worried about physical pains. All of them but carry silent stories they are not confident enough to share with anyone else.
What meets them first is a bright and broad smile of Dr. Liveena MSJ and the smile continued to be carried until closure of the consultation which may take over thirty minutes for sure. Her gentle smile, calm and steady, is filled with kindness. Dr. Sr. Liveena MSJ is not hurried to do a quick prescription. Her computer gives the health history and the patient’s whereabouts are stored in the Mindspace. As they begin to speak, their story slowly unfolds. That smile creates a feeling of safety. Many patients say they feel lighter even before the examination begins.
Medical visits are often felt rushed and mechanical. Dr. Sr. Liveena MSJ offers something rare. She offers her full presence and a Listening With her Heart, in a way that makes people feel truly seen. She does not look at the clock. She does not interrupt. Her eyes remain attentive. Her posture is open. Every word spoken by the patient is treated with respect. She listens not only to symptoms but also to the life behind them. She understands that pain does not live only in the body. Stress, grief, loneliness, fear, and exhaustion often shape illness in ways that medical tests cannot measure. For Dr. Sr. Liveena MSJ, patients’ stories are not distractions. They are essential for her healing process.
Presence Before Prescription
Only after listening fully does, she begins her medical examination. Her approach is calm and thoughtful. She speaks in words that patients understand. She invites questions and answers them patiently. Her prescriptions are careful and considered, but equally important is the way she speaks about them. She encourages rather than scolds. She guides rather than commands. Patients leave her room not only with medicines, but with relaxation and relief on all their worries. Many patients say that even difficult diagnoses feel easier to face because of the way Dr. Sr. Liveena explains them. She does not remove fear by giving false hope. She removes fear by giving clarity and compassion.
The Consultation Room is a Space of Trust
Dr. Sr. Liveena meets her patients in her consultation room on the first floor of the OPD at St. Joseph’s Hospital. It is a simple room. There is nothing grand about it. Yet, for many, it becomes a place of comfort.
Within those walls, stories are shared that go far beyond medical complaints. People speak of broken relationships, financial worries, long standing grief, and fear of the future. They speak because they feel safe. They speak because they know they will be heard.
Dr. Sr. Liveena respects the sacredness of these moments. Dignity is preserved. Each patient is treated as a person, never as a case.
Building Trust Over Time
She remembers faces and names. She remembers follow up visits. She asks about families, about children, about changes in life circumstances. This continuity builds trust. For every patient, her consultation room becomes a place where they feel valued.
For women, it becomes a space free of judgment. For young people, it becomes a place where they feel understood. This trust does not happen by accident. It grows from years of consistency, kindness, and integrity. For seniors, it is a place to share their concerns and to get assurances than advices about how well they had handled the situations already.
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kothamangalam | A Hospital Rooted in Compassion
St. Joseph’s Hospital stands in Kothamangalam as more than a medical institution. It stands as a place of healing in the deepest sense of the word. The hospital is managed by the Medical Sisters of St. Joseph. Their presence is felt everywhere. In the calm movement of nurses through the corridors. In the gentle reassurance offered to worried families. In the quiet discipline with which work is carried out.
Efficiency exists here, but it is never cold. Cleanliness exists, but it is never harsh. Everything is guided by care.
Why It Is Called Dharmagiri? | St. Joseph’s Hospital is rightly called Dharmagiri.
Not because it stands on a physical hill, but because it stands on the height of compassionate care. The word Dharma speaks of duty, righteousness, and moral responsibility. At Dharmagiri, this duty is lived every day. It is lived in the way the poor are treated with respect. It is lived in the way no patient is reduced to their financial capacity. It is lived in the belief that healing must reach both body and spirit.
Dharmagiri is not measured in meters above sea level. It is measured in the depth of empathy shown to those who suffer.
A Culture of Care
At St. Joseph’s Hospital, compassion is not limited to one department or one individual. It flows through the entire system.
Doctors work with dedication. Nurses serve with patience. Administrators strive to balance sustainability with mercy. Chaplains offer spiritual support while respecting all faiths. Support staff perform their duties with quiet dignity.
This shared culture allows doctors like Dr. Sr. Liveena to practice medicine the way it is meant to be practiced.
The Founder and His Vision | Servant of God Joseph C. Panjikaran
The compassionate spirit of Dharmagiri traces back to its founder, Servant of God Joseph C. Panjikaran. He was a priest who saw suffering not as something to observe from a distance, but as a call to action. In the early twentieth century, healthcare was beyond the reach of many people in this region. Poverty, illness, and lack of access caused silent suffering, especially among women and children.
Moved by this reality, Fr. Panjikaran founded the first hospital at Dharmagiri in 1934. His vision was clear. Healthcare should be accessible. Care should be compassionate. Service should be rooted in love.
Founding the Medical Sisters of St. Joseph
In 1944, he founded the Medical Sisters of St. Joseph. He believed that women religious could play a vital role in healthcare by combining professional skill with deep compassion. He trained the sisters not only in medical service, but in presence. They were taught to see Christ in every patient. To serve without discrimination. To remain gentle even in the face of exhaustion. This formation continues to shape the hospital today. Dr. Sr. Liveena as a Living Continuation of the Vision
Medicine With a Human Face
Dr. Sr. Liveena is a living expression of Fr. Panjikaran’s vision. Her medical qualification speaks of discipline and learning. Her practice speaks of humanity. She understands that healing does not always mean curing. Sometimes it means listening. Sometimes it means standing beside someone in pain. Sometimes it means offering dignity when cure is no longer possible. Her patients feel this difference.
