From Hospice to Homecoming: Tom Korn’s Remarkable Journey at Northgate

18 Jun 2025 Northgate News, Press Room

On Christmas Eve, the halls of Northgate Health Care Facility welcomed a new patient with a heavy story and little hope. Tom Korn, frail and unconscious, arrived on the hospice unit after being told by hospital doctors that nothing more could be done. His husband, Mark, was reeling — another unfamiliar corridor, another devastating prognosis. But what began as a somber chapter transformed into a testament to care, compassion, and the unexpected power of hope.

A New Beginning at Northgate

Tom’s arrival on the hospice unit marked what many believed would be his final stop. But Northgate’s partnership with Niagara Hospice opened a different kind of door — not just one of comfort in dying, but a chance, however slim, to live.

From day one, the care team at Northgate met Tom and Mark with a sense of calm and grace. “Turning that corner into his hospice ward for the first time, I bumped into Carla,” Mark recalls. “She was present with the calmness I needed. Her natural intuition ‘took me by the hand’ and guided me through that first horrible day.”

For the next 180 days, Carla and the entire team — nurses, CNAs, therapists, housekeepers, dietary aides, and maintenance workers — wrapped their arms around Tom and Mark, becoming a vital support system in the midst of uncertainty.

The Power of Compassionate Detail

One moment that stands out to Mark happened on Day 25. Tom, now conscious but navigating complex dietary needs, had one specific request: two cups of ice to chill his Ensure. A member of the dietary team took note — and without fail, three trays a day, for the next 150 days, each arrived with exactly two cups of ice. “That’s 900 cups of ice,” Mark marveled. “Someone in the kitchen managed to get 900 cups of ice to him without fail.”

To Mark, this consistency was symbolic of Northgate’s attention to even the smallest details — the quiet, daily acts of respect that buoyed Tom’s spirit and aided in his recovery.

A Shift Toward Hope

As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, something remarkable began to happen. Tom started responding. His medications, coordinated skillfully by charge nurse Shannon, were working. The staff didn’t just follow routine — they listened, adjusted, and cared. They answered Mark’s questions with patience and empathy, understanding the fears of a loving husband caught between grief and longing.

Around Day 90, Mark asked the question no one dares to ask in a hospice setting: “Is there room for hope?”

The answer — from every corner of the care team — was a resounding yes. “A door was opened,” Mark says. “Hope entered. Hope was contagious.”

With the help of Northgate’s continuous care model and Niagara Hospice’s deeply compassionate team — including Rene, Meghan and Colleen — Tom didn’t just stabilize. He improved. He laughed. He connected. And he healed.

The Unsung Heroes

The clinical care was exceptional — but so was the warmth that came from every staff member who crossed their threshold.

Housekeeping staff labeled and laundered Tom’s clothes with pride. Maintenance workers came to the rescue when a phone cord broke, restoring Tom’s link to the outside world in under an hour. Two young men spent an entire afternoon searching for the perfect mattress replacement. They succeeded.

Mark remembers them all.

“These acts of compassion, both large and small, made our experience miraculous,” he says. “This was not a perfect patient. He had a husband who bought worry by the bucket. But no one ever made me feel like I was a burden.”

A Bit of Magic, a Lot of Love

After five months, Tom Korn is doing the unthinkable: he’s going home.

At 64 years old, he and Mark — together since June 1980, when they met through mutual friends in Niagara Falls — are returning to their home in Youngstown, NY, a community they’ve loved since returning to Western New York in 1996. They’ve shared life in Tennessee, Texas, and Rhode Island. But now, they’re coming home together, after what Mark can only describe as a miracle.

“We will spend the rest of our time reflecting on our good fortune — the good fortune that brought us to Northgate,” he says. “Tom’s recovery is due in part to prayer and a touch of magic. But in large part, we blame his recovery on the many acts of compassion and skilled care by the countless — not infinite — staff at Northgate.”

A Testament to What’s Possible

Tom’s story is not just about survival. It’s about the impact of being seen, heard, and cared for — even in the darkest of times. Northgate Health Care Facility and Niagara Hospice didn’t just help a patient heal. They gave two husbands their lives back.

As Tom “graduates” from the hospice unit, his story becomes a powerful reminder that where there is love and compassionate care, there is always room for hope.

Northgate Health Care Facility provides 24-hour skilled nursing care, post-acute rehabilitation, memory care and in-house dialysis. In 2012, the facility partnered with Niagara Hospice on the opening of a specialized unit devoted to meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill residents requiring both 24-hour skilled nursing care and hospice services. The care on the unit is co-managed by both Northgate and Niagara Hospice and was the first of its kind in New York State when it opened more than a decade ago. To learn more, visit www.livinglegendshealth.com or call (716) 694-7700.

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