The Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) serves as a focus group that previews hospital programs/initiatives and gives feedback to make them better. They also serve as an intentional community to connect caregivers with each other in order to provide solidarity and support. Last month, PFAC announced their Champion of Family Centered Care, Lizzie White!
Lizzie has served as an outpatient speech language pathologist at Ranken Jordan since April of 2021. When she first heard that she won the award, she was surprised yet immensely grateful. According to Lizzie, her surprise came from her mindset that the patient/family-first treatment style she offers is the norm at Ranken Jordan and, therefore non-exemplary. After the initial surprise, she expressed how validating it felt to be affirmed for her work, and how humbling it was to be selected among a list of such incredible nominees.
According to Lizzie, a great deal of her perspective comes from her upbringing. Lizzie was raised by a mother who taught special education and constantly navigated her own personal health issues throughout much of Lizzie’s adolescence. In addition to that, Lizzie also worked hard to support her younger brother, who lives with an anoxic brain injury. She explains, “When families come in, I feel like I understand them a little differently because I’ve sat on the other side of the table a lot.” With these experiences, she explains how she’s a bit more steadfast in going above and beyond when searching for solutions and resources for our patients and their families.
“It's funny because we try to make the kids' day, but a very consistent piece is that the kids make MY day.” – Lizzie W.
Lizzie also emphasizes the support that she regularly receives from her fellow outpatient therapists. She celebrates their compassion and collaborative teamwork, speaking to moments in which they affirmed her for advocating for her personal needs in addition to her patient’s.
When looking forward, Lizzie hopes that more people come to know the amazing place that she sees Ranken Jordan to be and the excellence of the services that it provides. “We’re growing this outpatient department to hopefully fill in the gaps of other programs that aren’t in St. Louis right now.” she says. Her dream is that Ranken Jordan no longer feels like “the coolest hospital that no one has ever heard of.” In spreading the word about the crucial work being done within these walls, Lizzie desires for the hospital to grow to care for even more families and help even more patients.
Congratulations Lizzie! Thank you for your service to Ranken Jordan and the lives the hospital touches each and every day.
Lizzie’s nominators identified that she exemplifies all of these five core concepts.
Collaboration and Information Sharing
Lizzie’s nominators indicated she understands that family is integral to the child’s healing process and welcomes parents as essential members of the healthcare team, provides timely information regarding treatment plan, and supports parents/caregivers as they learn their child’s care.
Lizzie’s nominator stated, “With Miss Lizzie’s unique training and loving care, we learned Addie’s facial muscles were causing her speech difficulties and after a few weeks, Addie could smile. We didn’t realize the same muscles affecting her smile also delayed her speech. Miss Lizzie gave our little girl her smile, and it continues to get better and better. She has made so much process on her speech and even though there is more to go, she is on the correct path.”
Respect and Dignity and Participation
Lizzie’s nominators indicated she uses language that the patient and family can understand, has high levels of patience and dedication, is passionate about what she does, and learns and uses parent/caregiver names rather than “mom and dad.”
Lizzie’s nominator stated, “Miss Lizzie is an amazing caregiver! She is smart, optimistic, hardworking, inspiring, motivating and our entire family loves her and the work she does. Miss Lizzie goes above and beyond in her sessions to provide innovative and thoughtful care. We have had great providers in the past, but no one has been like Miss Lizzie she is a one in a million! We are so thankful for her training and amazing work she does!
Innovation
“We started working with Miss Lizzie about six months ago through outpatient speech services after years of traditional speech services made little impact in Addie speech development. Miss Lizzie is one of the few therapists in the St. Louis area who is trained in developing the facial muscles that affect speech.”
