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Partnering with patients

My healthcare journey began on August 17th 2002 at the age of six. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, that night suffered a massive stroke and on the third day underwent open heart surgery to remove blood clots.

For a long time after, I was seen and treated according to my medical file. As a condition/disease, a blood result or a brain scan. The care I received was excellent, but primarily focused on the disease portion and not on the human level. No one took the time to ask me, What matters to you Maya? to see what I thought.

It wasn't until a doctor took that extra five minutes to ask me what mattered to me – to get to know me beyond the file. Beyond the scans, the charts, the labels that changed the way I saw the healthcare system.

The What Matters to You? campaign not only aligns perfectly with AHS' Patient First Strategy, but it allows the provider and the patient to come from a place of mutual understanding and respect. Where building a transparent and trusting relationship comes naturally. It allows me, the lived experience expert to be the central driver of my care and partner equally with my healthcare team to deliver care that comes from shared decision making.

What matters to me may not be what matters to another diabetic, another stroke survivor or another heart surgery individual. What matters to me is to have a healthcare system that works and adapts around my life schedule. Where telehealth is the primary way I communicate and receive information, and where my healthcare team knows me as a person first and a patient second.

Let's ask today and everyday What matters to you? to continue to not only deliver care that is clinically outstanding but also provides exceptional patient experience.