The 15-person Family Partners Council (FPC) is providing an organized approach to gathering feedback from some of the people most vested in the hospital. They are advising the hospital administration on issues related to patient safety and satisfaction, providing education for health care professionals and how to assist patient families in forming and accessing support groups.

Members of the FPC represent diff erent backgrounds and varied patient experiences. Council members include the parents of a 3-yearold brain tumor patient, the custodial aunt of a teenaged transplant patient and the father of a young sickle cell patient. Other members are dealing with the complex health care regimens that follow a diagnosis of spina bifida, congenital heart defects and cerebral palsy. Their collective experiences cover inpatient stays and outpatient visits and off er valuable insight on how Le Bonheur can continually develop and enhance the services offered.

“As medical professionals, we understand that parents are by far the most knowledgeable care givers for their children,” explained Janet Phillips, liaison between the Council and hospital administration. “The world of health care is extremely specialized. Parents are the one constant in a child’s life when he or she is navigating the complex web of health care services and providers.”

“We will look to them to guide our improvement processes, to advise us on how to provide better clinical care and to improve upon Le Bonheur’s patient- and family-centered culture,” Phillips continued. “By engaging families at all levels in the hospital, we can count on them as partners in making sure that their children have the very best medical outcomes.”

As hospital leaders looked for ways to make the new Le Bonheur Children’s the best place for kids, members of the FPC shared their thoughts which resulted in the redesign of patient rooms and new programs for patients’ siblings.

“We put our families to work last fall by asking them to preview our mock patient rooms and make recommendations about how to make the rooms more patient and family friendly. Th eir input was carefully considered into the plans for the new Le Bonheur,” Phillips explained.

“When the new Le Bonheur opens in 2010, it will refl ect the voice and the vision of not only our Associates and physicians, but also of those for whom we are caring.”