ImproveCareNow Parents
Keri's Story
Two years ago, in the summer of 2014, my once vibrant active little boy, Parker was very ill. Losing weight before our eyes. Every day, he was getting worse and we were in and out of the pediatrician's office and emergency room, until finally, the on call pediatrician suspected that he had Crohn's. He sent us to the Children's Hospital where we were introduced to the Pediatric GI and Surgery team at The University of Vermont. Two days later Parker had an Endoscopy and Colonoscopy, and we were given the diagnosis.
Deb's Story
I was diagnosed with Crohn’s in 1984. Very little was known about IBD. Hospitals were isolated...no one shared information. Now over 30 years later....I never thought I would be a part of a collaborative network that's main goal is to share information and data. When our son was diagnosed with Crohn's disease....I felt like it was time to step up and have a voice.
Guitar Chant
Most people have a connection with music. Music can calm us: think about the lullabies we sing to our children. It can excite us: think of the huge crowds that jump and cheer at concerts. And most certainly music can cause us to be nostalgic: think about how often we hear a song and think, "wow that brings back memories!" For those who play and create music it can be an emotional outlet. Music connects.
Music has always been an integral part of our family. Olivia plays the flute, sings and tap dances. Dominic plays the bass guitar and sings. And Jerome has made a living at being a musician, both as director of Liturgical music at Saint Michael's College and with various Jazz ensembles in the Burlington, Vermont area. My name is Claire and even though I don't play a musical instrument, I've dabbled in singing in our church choir and love to listen to live music, especially if the musicians are my husband or kids!
To many, a connection between Crohn’s disease (IBD), ImproveCareNow and music may seem unusual. To us it’s natural. We would like to share with you the story of how IBD has impacted our family and how it lead us to become passionately involved with ImproveCareNow. And, of course, how music is an integral part of our journey.
And the Crowd Goes Wild
Whether it’s a concert solo, home run, parade, or when a family member gets out of the hospital after a long stay, there’s no feeling like when the crowd goes wild with support and encouragement. In these moments, the town you live in begins to feel like a community.
Building its success together.
Just after the ImproveCareNow Spring Community Conference last month, I wrote about the anxiety and anticipation that can precede such events. As I explained, “what we really want is to have set a scene that will allow all to feel welcome, included, part of the community, free to share their ideas and expertise regardless of role, and that they will leave having felt both delight and full of the “human affections” that are (or should be) the hallmark of a truly collaborative improvement community.”
After the conference, we asked members of the community—from diverse roles and centers—to share their perspectives on how we did. We hope you’ll enjoy their words. I know we all feel the challenge to maintain our momentum and indeed do even better next time and hope you will join us in finding ways to make our next community gathering equally inclusive and participatory – the very best it can be!
Stacy’s EEN Story
My son was on EEN for about 5 weeks then switched to about 80% EN, 20% food. This was 4 years ago when he was 11 years old. We live in Los Angeles, and we did not have a lot of support when we started. I hope care teams realize how hard it is in the beginning but it does get easier. Patients and their families need a lot of support from figuring out where to get the supplies, how to work the equipment and most importantly help for the child in placing the NG tube. The best thing would be to have the family connect with another family who is already using EEN.
Parent Working Group Year in Review
As 2015 ends I can say the year was nothing short of remarkable. The Parent Working Group (PWG) grew, accomplished and got stronger. The fall Community Conference was a high point for parent participation. My first conference was in October 2012 where 18 parents attended. This year our numbers swelled to nearly 50. Participation on our monthly calls has increased 50% in six months. This growth speaks directly to the partnership between the ImproveCareNow Network and parents.
Curators, Bridge Builders, and Advocates
Much about Thanksgiving is the same year to year. People come together with friends and family and community, often enjoying a large meal together, and spending the day doing something meaningful—whether doing community service; watching football; or sitting around talking, telling stories, and recovering from the large meal. But while many things about this day of togetherness and gratitude remain constant each year, our personal roles may shift. Sometimes we host the meal at our home. We are the “leaders” for the day, developing the menu, doing most of the cooking, deciding when the group will eat, assigning tasks in the kitchen, and choosing which football game will be on. Other times, we are a guest in someone’s home, often traveling some distance, we are told which side dish to bring, when to arrive, and which activities are planned for the day. Sometimes we are grateful to play a supporting role in the production, and other times it can be hard to sit back and watch events unfold differently than they would if we were in charge. Maybe the mashed potatoes don’t taste just like our Thanksgiving memories, maybe our family always took a walk after eating and we’re antsy to do the same, and maybe the wrong football game is on TV (or we just can’t stand watching football at all). Or maybe it’s just perfect—just the break we needed from running the show – and we bask in the glow of learning new ways of doing things and watching others shine.
Project WOW (Wear an Ostomy for the Weekend)
Project WOW (Wear an Ostomy for the Weekend) was created to help the ImproveCareNow Community learn more about what patients wearing ostomies go through on a daily basis. The Parent Working Group (PWG) and Patient Advisory Council (PAC) wanted to create a learning opportunity where we could work together. We knew this project would only give a snapshot of what patients go through because participants wouldn't have had surgery and the ostomy wouldn't be functional. But we still believed it would be powerful because participants would be learning from perspective, spending some time "walking in patients' shoes", which is something often times difficult to accomplish and not easily seen.
Notes from the Field: Front Desk Staff Key to Patient Partnership
This experience was shared during an ImproveCareNow webinar by Cindy Gessouroun. I enjoyed her story so much, I asked her to share it here on LOOP. It's a simple, yet powerful example of how much we can accomplish together when we involve every person across the spectrum of care. I hope Cindy and Kim's story will be an inspiration, and that others will share their lessons about how best to identify and build relationships with patient and parent improvement partners!
The IBD team at Oklahoma University GI clinic was trying to identify parents to join our team. We asked providers for suggestions. We invited a few parents. We had an education day hoping to identify “interested’ parents at that event…however we continued to be without a parent partner. Kim, our front desk receptionist, attended her first Community Conference (CC) in Spring 2015. At our QI TEAM meeting after the CC she said, “I can find you parents!” She identified and invited 3 parents with whom she had formed a relationship throughout the years and who stood out to her as “potential involved partners”. After her phone calls she notified the research coordinator that ALL 3 parents said YES and showed up at the next meeting. Since then, they have stayed engaged and are slowly becoming partners with our TEAM. She had wonderful insight and her personal invitation must have been a good one!