patient and family advisers

Yesterday, the first ever meeting of Patient and Family Advisers (PFAs) was held at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto. Patient and Family Advisers from Thunder Bay to Halifax were there to get to know each other and work on issues that they felt strongly about. Everyone there wanted to build a strong national network of advisers in order to bring a helpful patient and family voice to healthcare.

The Family and Patient Advisory Council at Sudbury's Health Sciences North have suggested a novel idea toward improving the patient experience in their emergency room. They've likened the idea to having "Wal-Mart greeters" in their emergency room. A staff member from Health Sciences explains the idea for the new role:

“It would be someone who would talk to you and say 'Can I get you a glass of water?' or 'You're cold. Can I get you a blanket? or 'Your situation seems to have worsened. Let me get the nurse, and she'll come and check you.' ”

The Patients’ Association of Canada is here to make your experience count. Since our inception, we have been gathering patient and family stories about the experiences that you’ve had with the Canadian health care system. These stories have come from Canadians of all walks of life: those with severe medical and mental health problems, caregivers, to prominent health care leaders - both pro-active and frustrated with the current state of our system.