Service is paramount to New Lenox physician and veteran

Dr. Joseph Hindo, a Joliet board-certified internist and veteran, said medical service and military service are much alike.

“Both have a mission,” said Hindo, 71, who is currently Silver Cross’ chief of medical staff. “And interestingly, both missions are similar. The Army mission is to serve and protect. And the medical mission is really to serve and protect the health of people.”

It’s very satisfying when I’m able to help.”

—  Dr. Joseph Hindo, chief of medical staff at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox and U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps veteran

Hindo was 32 when he began his medical career at Silver Cross in July 1985. The following year, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps and served for eight years. Hindo is a veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

“I really felt it was my obligation,” Hindo said. “My four brothers served. My father was an Army man. So I decided that I should follow in their pathway, and I decided to join.”

Hindo said his father, Afram Paul Hindo, was an Army general, and his late older brother Walid Afram Hindo was a radiologist.

“So they had some influence on me,” Hindo said. “Once I got in, I never looked back. I enjoyed it and still enjoy working.”

Hindo completed an internal medicine residency at the Chicago Medical Schools-affiliated hospitals, which included the VA Medical Center in North Chicago, St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital, Great Lakes Naval Hospital and Jackson Park Hospital, according to Hindo’s biography on the Silver Cross website.

He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Society of Internal Medicine and Illinois Society of Internal Medicine, according to the Silver Cross website.

Because Hindo “firmly believes” in education, he also has established several internal scholarships for Silver Cross employees.

“There are two things people cannot take from you – your faith and your education,” Hindo said.

He was raised in a Catholic home, where a “strong faith” was instilled in his five brothers and one sister.

“As part of it, you learn to serve other people,” Hindo said, “and [are] always trying to be kind to people who are less fortunate than you are.”

Hindo also serves as medical director of the Silver Cross Managed Care Organization, which began in 1991.

“It started in the old hospital, the old Silver Cross,” Hindo said. “I wasn’t the first medical director for that. For the last four or five years, I have had another physician who helps me, so we became co-directors. But that keeps me out of trouble.”

Hindo has served as chair of professional education for the American Cancer Society’s Will County Division, as a member of the Will County Board of Health, as president of the Will Grundy Medical Society, medical director of Silver Cross Home Health and a decadelong volunteer at the Will Grundy Medical Clinic, according to the Silver Cross website.

Hindo doesn’t seem to have plans for slowing down soon, let alone planning retirement.

“I am not a patient person,” he said. “I like to do things. I cannot sit still. And so, I’ve always got to be busy. I wake up at 4 in the morning, and I’m in my office at 5:30 in the morning. My friends ask me why I still practice, why don’t I play golf, why don’t I travel. I tried those things, and I just don’t enjoy them. Work is therapy for me. It’s really trying to help people.”

Hindo said he considers practicing medicine “an honor and a privilege.”

“I am privileged that patients confide in me this and that they don’t confide to anyone else,” Hindo said. “And they share with me their problems, medical or otherwise. It’s very satisfying when I’m able to help, when patients get better. That’s why I’ll continue as long as I’m able, physically and mentally.”

In addition to “mission,” Hindo said he learned discipline from serving in the Army and through practicing medicine. He hopes all people find their unique service missions.

“I think everyone should try to be of service to others in one way or another,” Hindo said. “It is very satisfying, and this is part of us being human. You don’t have to be a doctor. Everybody has a way where they can help other people.”