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Everyone has a story

Tuesday, June 6, 2017 12:52 PM

Hello – my name is Sheila Smith. I am an Occupational Therapist and consultant with Quality & Healthcare Improvement (QHI) and have worked for Alberta Health Services (AHS) for 30 years. I love playing golf, yoga, reading and relaxing at the cabin.

Engagement and Patient Experience is part of QHI. We work with staff, programs, units, and teams throughout the organization to support AHS staff and physicians in understanding patient experience, and improving patient and family centred care.

What Matters to You? Day is important because medicine is very contextual - what my hopes and aspirations are for healing and rehabilitation will be based on who I am as a person. Like all of us - I am a patient and my family members are patients - and I want the best care possible that makes sense for me. I spent most of my career in home care – and one of the best parts of working in people’s homes is truly being able to see what matters to folks - often a pet, or going to church, or looking nice for when family came over.

I had to give up my notion of 'safety' as top priority – realizing it was only my top priority – not our clients. And it was always great fun to get to know clients and families and what motivated and mattered to them.

What matters to me is to get lots of information so I can make the best decision possible.

Tagged as

What Matters to You? Day

This day encourages meaningful conversations between patients, families and their healthcare providers. It's part of an international movement to keep the patient and family voice at the centre of care.

Help us continue to improve the care we deliver to Albertans.

If you are a patient or have a loved one in care, we want to hear what matters most to you when it comes to care.

If you are a healthcare provider, ask your patients and clients the simple question, "What matters to you?" and tell us what you heard.

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Comments on this blog are MODERATED. Please focus your comments on what matters most to you when it comes to care, or if you are a frontline clinician, what your patients and their families have told you matters most to them. If you have specific concerns about care you or your loved one has received, AHS PATIENT RELATIONS is best able to respond to your concern.

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