Leading the way
Council members spread the message of patient-centered care
By Christine Cleary
Two-time cancer survivor Kari Dudley (right) is organizing a speakers' bureau to manage speaking requests for survivors such as Martha Hayward.
When breast cancer survivor Martha Hayward gives talks at other organizations about Dana-Farber's patient-centered approach to care, her audience is often surprised when she steps up to the microphone. "They are not used to hearing from an actual patient," explains Hayward. "It's not until I go elsewhere that I realize how unusual our style is here."
Hayward is a member of the Adult Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC), which, along with the pediatric PFAC, is at the heart of the Institute's patient-centered philosophy. For the last 10 years, the adult council has addressed the care provided through DF/BWCC, while its pediatric counterpart, founded in 1999, focuses on patients of Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Care.
Together, the councils give patients and families the opportunity to be leaders and educators, spreading the message of patient-and family-centered care locally and internationally, and teaching staff members at all three partner hospitals what it means to be a patient. Advice from these groups is sought on nearly every important matter concerning patients and families, from shortening the time spent waiting to be seen by a clinician to helping plan clinics beyond the Longwood medical area.
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