In 2015, a forum was held to engage Albertans around the idea that our healthcare system needed to fundamentally transform to be more patient-centred.
Focusing on a healthcare culture where people come first, the forum was a catalyst for Albertans to imagine a different kind of healthcare system for our province.
Patient Stories
Sharing healthcare experiences, both the good and the bad, can help us learn and better understand what works and what needs to improve. The forum included a series of patient stories.
Speakers & Panelists
The forum featured guest speakers Brian Goldman – a well-known CBC radio show host, author and physician, Dave Price – a concerned Alberta citizen who is an advocate for patient and family centred care, Art Frank – Professor Emeritus of Sociology with a long-time interest in patient experience, and Jim Conway – former COO of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, who helped to lead the transformation of a healthcare system’s culture to be centred around the patient and family experience.
Thank you to our early supporters
At the HQCA, our mission and values focus on improving the quality and safety of health services for Albertans. This work involves engaging Albertans and listening to their experiences and voices, and we do this through a variety of means, including patient satisfaction and experience surveys, supportive living family and residents survey, and our Patient/Family Safety Advisory Panel.
The HQCA is proud to support the Imagine Citizens Network because of its grassroots, citizen-led focus on patient-first healthcare culture. This adds to the understanding of patient needs, experiences, and will enhance how we connect with Albertans.
Although the aim of The IMAGINE Project was to change the culture of the health professions and health system as they relate to the patient, it was always intended to be a grassroots initiative.
Following the launch of the project on January 22, 2015, the O’Brien Institute handed over the project reins to a new citizen-led committee, IMAGINE Citizens Collaborating for Health.
As part of this evolution, the O’Brien Institute continues to support Imagine Citizens Network through some financial administration, research opportunities and health policy discussions. Imagine is also engaged with the O’Brien Institute to provide a “citizen lens” on their ongoing work. Many of the network’s members, such as Judy Birdsell, Dr. Ward Flemons and Adjunct Professor Gail McKean PhD, are also O’Brien Institute members.
Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) provides leadership for Alberta’s health research and innovation enterprise and aims to work with partners in the health system to ensure innovation in care, policy and practice and that the needs of patients and clinicians influence research in the province. AIHS’s vision is to transform the health, health system and wellbeing of Albertans through research and innovation. Patient centred care and citizen engagement are important drivers of research and innovation and are supported by AIHS through Alberta SPOR (Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research) SUPPORT Unit’s Patient Engagement Platform and other initiatives.
AIHS is pleased to support the work of ICN to effectively engage individual Albertans and citizen groups from around the province, and through that bring the patient perspective toward improving health care.
