“We’ve got to be the CEOs of our bodies!” said Lucilia Prates, member of the Consumer Health Quality Council, who urged the audience at the Quality Care Saves Lives! event at the State House to take an active role in their health care. “When doctors are talking about my care, I should be in the room and be part of that discussion. I want to be informed on what’s happening.”
Lucilia was one of four members of the Consumer Council who shared stories about loved ones who received poor quality care in Massachusetts and the impact that had on their lives. In sharing their personal stories, they urged the public to become engaged in advocacy for better quality care.
“I share my story to urge others to trust their heart. If you feel something might be wrong, speak up.”
said, John McCormack of Pembroke, who’s 13 month daughter, Taylor, passed away at a hospital and never received care because the attending doctor never responded to his pager. John and Lucilia, joined Jen Tosca of Kingston and Robena Reid, who’s mother, Marie, was a resident of Acton, in sharing their stories.
Health Care For All and the Consumer Health Quality Council continue to bring consumers’ stories and their voices into the health care quality discussion. Below are four videos released at today’s State House event. More videos can be viewed on the HCFA website.
Kuong Ly
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Once again the team of consumers and staff of Health Care for All, and specifically John McCormack, Robena Reid, Jen Tosca, and Lucilia and Joe Prates, deserve our gratitude. These videos are sobering and effective tools for confronting the voice and face of adverse events and medical errors. HCFA’s growing library has become an impressive resource for individuals like me and organizations like IHI; we have shown them around the world. Others are doing the same. For many people today, when you talk about a hospital acquired infection, you see Ginny.
The partnership that must exist among patients, family members and staff in care is increasingly understood. From these videos we can see clearly that there is a shared goal; confronting the events that happen and working together to eliminate them in the future.
Jim Conway, SVP IHI