In December 2003, we asked for 15 volunteers from the community who would be willing to meet and discuss how to improve the clinic’s ability to deliver “exceptional medicine and compassionate care” to the Siuslaw region. The response to our request was overwhelming with over 40 citizens participating and the Patient Advocacy Group was born. We immediately scheduled monthly meetings to begin to identify areas of improvement needed. We were also anxious to give more information about Health Associates from its origins until the present time. Our hope was that the patient advocates would take the information from our meetings and talk to others in the community, as well as listen and learn from the community about areas of concern and bring that information back to us.

These patient advocates continue to meet monthly to discuss clinic issues that are problematic. The group has been extremely helpful in identifying areas where improvement is needed. They have been asked and are willing to listen to others in the community and to bring these issues to the meetings for discussion, since the best way for us to continually improve is to have honest feedback from the community we serve. Their questions and perspectives on our clinic and health care services have raised issues for us that we may not have been aware of without our meetings. Their input has helped us to prioritize improvements and given us a perspective that has been honest and has represented the community we serve. Jim Barnhart and the rest of the executive team are ready to extend the focus of this group beyond the clinic. We will include information and feedback on Peace Harbor Hospital as well as Health Associates. Our group and the work we have done has been widely recognized as a model process for patients to become involved in improvements and develop a deeper understanding of complicated health care processes.

Return to previous page