Thank you to everyone who attended the October 22nd Open Meeting. We engaged in valuable discussion on a wide range of topics related to our health care system.
The intention of the open meetings is to offer a place to voice your concerns, ideas, and questions regarding issues facing providers, patients and their families today. There are very few guidelines for the meetings in the hope that conversation is led organically and each person can have the opportunity to share. We typically offer an activity or workshop so to facilitate discussion and, as per usual, the attendees were ready and eager for discussion. This time we used a method called 'Appreciate Inquiry' and applied it to a member's narrative. The method is based on the assumption 'that the questions we ask tend to focus our attention in a particular direction.' Instead of asking 'what's the problem?', we focused on positive moments for a broader, deeper understanding of how the health care system could change for the better.
The discussion was lively and reflective. As a group, we dove into the narrative of one member who generously shared his aunt's story on her end of life care and how it affected his perspective of the healthcare system. This led to a lively discussion on end of life care and the decisions that families face in palliative care, among other things.
Find the narrative that was shared for the Appreciative Inquiry here.
For the next meeting we are hoping to bring in an Art Therapist who will guide us in different ways and mediums of sharing stories.