This report covers the activities of Suburban Hospital’s Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) during the hospital’s 2021 fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. The PFAC is composed of volunteer members, referred to as patient and family advisors (PFAs), hospital clinical and administrative staff members, and hospital executives. The structure of the PFAC is intentional; it models the partnership of patients, families, clinicians and hospital leaders that is the essence of patient- and family-centered care.

All PFAs have prior experience with the hospital, as either a patient, care partner or volunteer. The PFAs participate in more than 40 Suburban councils, committees and workgroups to provide the patient and family voice to hospital activities. This widespread participation by PFAs provides the patient, family and community perspective on virtually everything the hospital does. The work of PFAs ranges from testing day beds to be installed in new patient rooms to reviewing the text of patient handbooks and other publications to ensure they are understandable and contain all needed information.

The PFAC works closely with the Community Health and Wellness team, whose mission is to be a bridge between the community and the hospital. A member of the Community Health and Wellness team attends every PFAC meeting.

For the second year, the COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect upon Suburban and its PFAC. Our PFAs, like other hospital volunteers, were generally not allowed in the hospital. This restriction curtailed many PFA and PFAC activities. In-person interactions in the hospital between PFAs and patients and families, as well as between PFAs and clinicians and staff members, could not take place. However, the PFAC continued its involvement in hospital affairs using modern communication tools such as Zoom. The PFAC provided critical vaccine information for the community by staffing a call center, and joined other Johns Hopkins Medicine PFACs in urging that families and care partners be given maximum access to patients, consistent with COVID safety protocols. Paradoxically, COVID demonstrated the critical importance of the PFAC’s voice, as the virus limited family and care partners’ access to patients and clinicians.

The virus imposed a tremendous burden on the staff, the community, patients and their care partners. Staff members worked extraordinarily long hours while having to change in and out of unwieldy personal protective equipment. Patients were isolated from friends and family, and were unable to have the assistance of care partners. While the staff went to extraordinary lengths to provide electronic tools to allow patients to communicate with their family and care partners, it was not, of course, the same as having them present. The availability of a vaccine in early 2021 was a huge relief.

In September 2020, Suburban president and PFAC member Jacky Schultz retired. LeighAnn Sidone, chief nursing officer/vice president of nursing and PFAC co-chair, added acting president to her title, a role she filled until the naming of Jessica Melton as Suburban’s president and chief operating officer. (See “Welcome Jessica Melton” to learn more). The PFAC played a role in Jessica’s selection; Steve Bokat, the PFA co-chair at the time, joined Suburban senior staff members in interviewing several candidates for the position. Jessica is now an active member of the PFAC. She brings rich experience in hospital management to her position, including working with PFACs and PFAs in the hospitals in which she previously held leadership positions.

Any community member interested in the work of the PFAC is encouraged to contact us. If you have questions or comments, or would like to submit an application to join the PFAC, contact Jean Hochron, co-chair, at [email protected].

Interested community members may also wish to review the PFAC website.

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