It was a process that took five months, many hours of work, a great deal of collaboration, a raft of agreement, a dash of disagreement, and a marvelous result: the Steering Committee for the Patient Advocacy Credential has been determined.
Hearty congratulations to the 9 members of the Steering Committee:
• Vicki Breitbart
• Jari Holland Buck
• Clinton Crews
• Maria DeGiglio
• Io Dolka
• Beth Droppert
• Susan Frampton
• Anne Llewellyn
• Debra O’Connell
Learn more about each of them here.
The process of selecting this talented group took a long time, but was very fair, equitable and professional. Truly, it was more like having too many trump cards to choose from, and not about more or less talent.
Some insight:
There were 58 people who applied for the Steering Committee. Of them, at least 50 were highly qualified. So the first tier of voting was difficult enough. Of the 16 in that top group – 14 people submitted their references, and all the reference phone calls were made. In a way, that made the choice even more difficult because it seemed that each applicant was the perfect candidate – so how to choose?
The only parameter given to the Selection Committee as voters was that we were looking for diversity of talent and interest – attempting to balance the many interests and skills involved in patient advocacy. We didn’t want the “9” to be too heavily skewed in one direction. And truth be told, the great majority of the 14 came from the education world. (As it is, 4 of the resulting Steering Committee represent education – almost half.)
For the final ballot, we simply listed the 14 candidates and asked the selection committee to vote for 9. Then, we set up a tie breaker where each of the voters selected their 3 “must haves.” Once again, because every applicant was an excellent choice, it was difficult to choose.
From here? The resulting “9” have their work cut out for them. In the coming months they will have many questions to consider, important answers to determine, and the future of the profession of patient advocacy in their hands.
We hope you will support their efforts.
This is the best news ever! Congratulations to all of you, and know that what you are embarking on is truly a colossal endeavor from which many will benefit from – esp. all those patients in need of our services
This is terrific and I am hoping for great and quick results. I also am hoping that consideration to grandfather those of us who has taken the course and completed/passed the certificate examination.
Thank you
Congratulations to all. Thank you for your dedication to this worthy project.
Looking foreward to great things from this group and so excited to see it’s development! Congratulations to each one selected and wish you all the best in personal & professional growth and development as result of this wonderful opportunity to be in the forefront of this endeavor! Those of us providing advocacy efforts will benefit greatly from your insight and input into this emerging and valuable field of healthcare!
This is great! I can’t wait to see what happens. Let me know if I can be of help.
Wow! What a wonderful group of talented professionals. Jan is correct, you have your work cut out for you but there are a large number of others standing by to help where needed. Looking forward to great things happening in Patient Advocacy.
Congratulations to you all! what a stellar committee!
Congratulations Steering Committee. This is such an important role required to promote and maintain high level Patient Advocacy.
You go, girls (and boy)!
Anything at all I can do from the Elder Care perspective, please do contact me. I can also offer 30 years of experience as a copy writer and editor, should you need that, when the time comes.
This is very good, important work you are doing for our profession. Thank you for taking it on!
Congratulations to you all – and now you have your work cut out for you! 🙂
Congratulation to all!!
Best wishes on this journey!!
Carol Ann