Physicians Contemplate What They Can Learn From the Late Pearl Berg, Once Cedars-Sinai’s Oldest Patient

It was Pearl Berg’s birthday, and a TV reporter asked her what some might consider a rhetorical question.

“Mrs. Berg,” he said, “how did you get to be 107 years old?”

She looked up from her seat and with a twinkle in her eye, she answered.

“Well … first, you have to be 106.”

That was seven years ago, said Robert Berg after his mother’s recent death at 114. When she passed away, Pearl Berg was the third oldest person in the U.S., the ninth oldest person in the world, and the world’s oldest Jewish person, according to the Gerontology Research Group. She also was Cedars-Sinai’s oldest patient.

Although the medical center’s health professionals treat more people 80 and older than any other U.S. academic medical center, Berg was one of a kind, physicians say.

“Living as long as Pearl did, with good quality of life, is a blessing,” said Sonja Rosen, MD, chief, Section of Geriatric Medicine and a professor of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. “We celebrate that because it’s both amazing and unusual.”

But how did she do it? In observing his mother’s lifestyle over the years, Robert Berg said she had “uncommon common sense.”

“She never smoked, only had a sip of wine once a week at most, drank freshly squeezed OJ every morning, ate very few fatty foods and had only a modest amount of dessert,” he said. “Although, when she was 102, some of those constraints lifted—she wanted dessert every day—and by 106, she was asking for candy every morning and afternoon.”

Robert Berg learned much from his mother—how to take life less seriously and maintain a sense of humor are at the top of the list. He admired other qualities, too, like how she continued to make new generations of friends.

“As she aged, she lost many friends and family,” he said. “But she wasn’t stuck in the mourning phase—she mourned, remembered and then moved on. She did not live in the past.”

Pearl Berg was 80 when she lost her husband. She had been his caregiver for nearly a decade, and Robert Berg and his brother worried about what would become of her life.

They needn’t have.

“She joined a book club, bought season tickets for the theater and concerts, intensified her participation with her bridge groups, remained active in charities, volunteered, and got even more involved with her synagogue,” Robert Berg said. “She made a new life for herself.”

That new life was perhaps extended even further when Walter Kerwin, MD, a cardiac electrophysiologist in the Department of Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, replaced Pearl Berg’s pacemaker when she was 112. She had received her first pacemaker at 101.

“When Pearl needed a replacement pacemaker, there was much discussion with her family and careful consideration, taking into account that her advanced age invoked higher risks,” Kerwin said. “But Pearl’s condition and quality of life were the same as when the first pacemaker was installed, and she was lucid and had no evidence of dementia or disease. I undertook the procedure with a great deal of preparation.”

The procedure went flawlessly, and she was able to go home the following day.

“Good luck and good genetics obviously play a role in longevity,” Kerwin said. “Quality of life as we age is often self-determined, and people with disciplined habits and good attitudes often enjoy their senior lives. On the flip side, a lot of people succumb to degenerative diseases and other maladies, which is frustrating for them and their caregivers. We have a long way to go to better understand these diseases and better prevent and treat them.”

The Gerontology Research Group notes only nine “validated” supercentenarians—people who are 110 or older—in the world today, though other estimates place that number much higher, in the hundreds. Meanwhile, the number of Americans who are 100 or older is projected to more than quadruple over the next three decades, according to U.S. Census Bureau data reported by the Pew Research Center. The current average life expectancy is 77.5.

Cedars-Sinai has been designated an Age-Friendly Health System Committed to Care Excellence—a national movement representing health systems that integrate the “4Ms” of care: what matters most to each patient, medication safety, mobility and mentation (mental functioning).

Cedars-Sinai offers multiple age-friendly programs, including a Geriatric Fracture Program; an accredited Geriatric Emergency Department to care for patients 65 and older in private areas optimized for their wellbeing; the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders; an outpatient geriatrics program within the Cedars-Sinai Medical Network; and other healthy aging initiatives.

The medical center also is focused on improving health and wellness for older adults through innovative research, education and clinical care in its Center for Translational Geroscience, which identifies and tests novel therapies for older adults.

Rosen said that Cedars-Sinai’s age-friendly programs are all the more significant because by 2035, there will be more people over 65 than there are children—a first in the U.S.

She emphasized that being committed to age-friendly care takes into account that honoring what matters most to patients depends on the person.

“Some people might have a goal to live to 100, but not everyone does,” Rosen said. “Our greatest privilege is helping people live as healthy and high-functioning as possible for as long as possible, in keeping with their personal goals.”

Hematologist-oncologist Jeremy Lorber, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and a member of Pearl Berg’s care team, offered his own takeaways.

“What we can learn from Pearl is that successful aging depends not only on healthy habits and good medical care,” Lorber said, “but on discovery and fulfillment of purpose, no matter one’s stage in life.”

Regarding how Pearl Berg got to be 114, perhaps she was not being coy with the reporter all those years ago, as experts are still seeking to better understand the components of longevity.

As for the Berg family, although they are feeling the deep loss of their matriarch, they are grateful for her quality of life.  

“And of course, just amazed at the quantity,” Robert Berg said.