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Council News

Building Bridges

with a Patient & Family Advisory Council

“A medical center can serve an entire
region… a healthcare system can
blanket many states. But a community
hospital needs to remain firmly
anchored to its roots – the people it
serves.”
~ Becker’s Hospital Review

WhidbeyHealth’s Patient & Family
Advisory Council (PFAC) knows that
hospital and healthcare visits, even
for routine testing, can be physically
and emotionally draining. The PFAC
is dedicated to creating a better Members of the Patient and Family Advisory Council include from left, Wendy Gilbert,
community healthcare system by Linda Boatman, Robert Higbee, Renee Le Verrier, Marge Moore, Jill Usher, Nancy Hepp
providing feedback and addressing any and Renee’s service dog, Junior. Not pictured are council members Kimberly Ruck and
concerns from the patient perspective. Jaemee Witmer.
PFAC serves as the voice of patients
and families. With our wide range of
life experiences, backgrounds and n Attending Board of Commissioners meetings
ages, we are able to provide immediate n Acting as patient advocates for the hospital and clinics
and well-rounded recommendations
to staff. Some of our recent activities n Forwarding individual patient concerns to hospital staff for resolution
include: Though the Council has been active since 2015, few in the community are aware
n Providing input and feedback on of what we do. We are consciously working to improve our visibility both in the
the patient portal re-design hospital and in the community.
n Reviewing staff request for We are currently recruiting additional
mobile-device chargers in the members so that we can be the voice for
Emergency Department all patients of WhidbeyHealth, maintain
n Serving on several standing active participation on important To Learn More
committees, including the Nurse projects and be more responsive to Patient & Family
Practice Council, Rural Health requests for feedback from staff. Advisory Council
Committee, Quality Improvement Please consider joining our group if
Committee and Access to Care you are interested in improving patient whidbeyhealth.org
Work Group experiences. Click the blue PFAC link.