Health Care Design Conference - 2013 Boston

Ensure that illness not be a limiting factor in reaching one’s highest aspirations, and cultivating a life that is meaningful and worthwhile.

Monte Grande, a film by Franz Reichle

For me, this film offers an alternative way of inhabiting my body, my life. So often with serious illness, one’s focus becomes singular, anxious:  the pursuit of a diagnosis, treatment plan, and answer. This film gave me my first glimpse of how I might begin to loosen my relentless grip on needing an answer, and focus instead on finding patience and even delight with the questions.  

My first experience with being a patient came in childhood when I developed severe allergies to food, medication, and the environment.  Years later in graduate school, mysterious fatigue and nerve symptoms launched a series of investigations with doctors from different specialties. After many false diagnoses, we have arrived at the likely answers to some of my main symptoms and challenges. Because answers have been slow to come, the larger story of my managing my health has been one of managing unknowns, and learning how to care for myself and find comfort in the face of significant uncertainty.

I’m delighted to participate with a group who asks such important, relevant, and humane questions. I believe that the questions you ask, and solutions you propose, will save lives and improve our world.

You want to learn about the patient as a whole person; someone who has all the aspirations, passions, and responsibilities of a healthy person. Managing a health condition is a full-time job in itself; let's talk about how to make healthcare a positive force to support a patient's whole life.