The Patient and Family Advisory Council is composed of volunteer patient and family advisors, hospital clinical and administrative staff members, and hospital executives focused on maintaining a culture of patient- and family-centered care.
The PFAC’s dedicated team of volunteers and professionals spent many hours during the past year bringing the patient and family voice to every aspect of hospital operations.
The PFAC is delighted to welcome Jessica Melton, M.H.A., as Suburban’s new president and chief operating officer, and as a member of the PFAC. Jessica brings a rich history of experience with PFACs and PFAs from her prior work.
In June 2021, the PFAC selected Jean Hochron as the volunteer PFA co-chair. “A passion for health care equity and access has always been in my blood,” Jean noted.
In January 2021, patient and family advisors helped to staff a phone bank providing accurate vaccination information. Over the ensuing several months, the team fielded more than 1,900 phone calls from the community.
Suburban’s Multidisciplinary Rounds Committee is working to integrate patients and their loved ones into the medical decision-making process.
The 2021 Patient- and Family-Centered Care Leadership Award was presented to the leadership of the COVID Vaccine Clinic, the leaders of the COVID Garage Testing Program and former PFAC co-chair Steve Bokat.
The PFAC worked with the Pharmacy & Therapeutics and Education Committees to develop a new patient handout about medication safety.
CUSP teams work to improve the culture of safety among front-line caregivers. Suburban patient and family advisors serve on CUSP teams in Suburban’s emergency department as well as the perioperative and intermediate care units.
