To: The Society of Participatory Medicine
Please accept this blog post as my application for a travel scholarship to attend the upcoming Partnership with Patients Summit in Kansas City, MO on September 21st.
I would be honored to attend this powerhouse event in Kansas City. To me, this is the event of the year that I need to attend. With the incredible speakers on tap to present, I simply cannot miss this event. The opportunity to learn from the leaders of the epatient movement, including Regina Holliday, Dave deBronkhart, Casey Quinlan, and Trisha Torrey all at the same time is a dream come true! I have followed so many of these key pople for so long on twitter or Facebook.
While I've had the chance to meet some of the folks that will be attending, the chance to finally meet so many of them at once and have the chance to network with other members of the Society for Participatory Medicine is truly a once in a life time chance. I know I'll come away from this event, with a renewed passion and drive that will allow me to take my work to the next level for these wonderful organizations.
As a three time, 20+ year cancer survivor, I'm truly a "professional patient." As a member of the Patient Family Advisory Council at Tufts Medical Center, I'm working hard to make sure the patient voice is heard, recognized, and respected as a key person in a healthcare team.
With my work in social media to develop virtual support communities like #BCSM (Breast Cancer Social Media) with a fellow breast cancer surivor, Jody Schoger, and Dr. Deanna Attai, I can certinaly share everything I've learned on how to build vibrant communities working to solve critical healthcare issues from the patient perspective.
As Community Manager at the HIT Community, I'll also use my enginering background to help make sense of the work currently under way in the health information technology industry. My goal is to make sure that patients understand how health infomation technology can ultimately improve their health outcome. Understanding the importance of electronic health reacords is very important to me. Networking with individuals while in Kansas will help me expand on a successful series I've started collecting EHR Journeys Stories from physicians and healthcare providers. Meeting more people that are willing to share their stories is main reason why I'd be honored to attend.
Everything I learn at the Partnerships with Patients event will be put to immedidate use, throughing blogging about the experience, to telling my fellow PFAC council members about the journey. While some might think this is "just a travel scholoarship," I say it's a grant to attend, meet, hug, and connect with some of the most influential patient advocates working very hard to improve healthcare for patients around the world. I'd be honored to be included in this once-in-a-lifetime summit.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit an entry for your spconsideration.
Sincerely,
Alicia C. Staley