The folks at Antioch University Midwest have some ideas.
“We’re aware of how difficult it us to get through the maze of heath care decisions for almost anyone who has to walk through it,” says Jane Brown, a former hospital administrator who serves as chair of Health and Wellness at Antioch University Midwest. She’s also the creator/director of the school’s new nine-month program for certification as a Healthcare Consumer Advocacy Professional.
If the subject sounds intriguing, you may want to attend a community program titled “Collaborating To Provide Excellent Healthcare in the Miami Valley,” slated for Aug. 23 at the Yellow Springs school.
Following networking and hors d’oeuvres, a panel of experts will explore the topic of health care collaboration, discussing both current successful collaborations and possibilities for the future. A town hall meeting will follow.
Featured panelists include:
Trisha Torrey, New York Times contributor and author of the book, “The Health Advocates Marketing Handbook.”
James Gebhart, Ph.D., president of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) and practicing clinical psychologist.
Mary Garman, COO/VP of operations at the Dayton Heart and Vascular Center at Good Samaritan Hospital and current lead of Premier Health Partners’ Patient Experience Program.
CJ Guarasci, director of patient and family experience at Kettering Health Network.
Brown, who six years ago developed an undergraduate completion program in health and wellness at Antioch, said the new certificate includes student placement opportunities in health care properties, ranging from community clinics and nursing homes to mental health facilities.
The program is open to those with a college degree who have some knowledge of the health care field. The idea is to prepare students to help patients navigate the system in order to make better health care decisions about their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.
“They might be social workers, nurses, caregivers, health care writers,” explains Brown who says the first group of students began studying in March and will obtain certification in November.
After studying subjects ranging from patients’ rights and mediation to physiology and disease, graduates of the program, says Brown, will know how to listen to an individual’s value system, and research that patient’s options.
Current students will also share their stories. Among them are Kathi Haugrud of Bellbrook, a health care writer and blogger on women’s health issues; Pegeen Laughlin of Yellow Springs, a caregiver for her aging parents and an ill partner, and Heidi Singer of Urbana, who says she hears daily stories from exhausted and ill patients trying to orchestrate their own health care options and frustrated by complicated insurance forms, phone loops and websites.
“It’s having an educated person in your corner,” says Brown of the role her students will play as certified patient advocates. “Institutions such as hospitals provide wonderful social workers who guide, however often after a patient leaves an organization, the guidance ends. A certified patient advocate can continue the journey with such a patient and their family.
She’s hoping that bringing together health care executives, health care professionals and Antioch students, the upcoming conference will serve to “inspire, empower, start some energy.”
“I’m really excited to see when we get these people together what might happen.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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