- National Survey Shows Advocates are Earning Enough to Continue Working

- Free Safe and Sound in the Hospital Community Talk (March 7, 2017 in Seattle)

- Advocate Research Opportunity from George Washington University

- WASHAA Receives $500 Grant

- WASHAA in the News (KOMO Radio)

- Recent Alzheimer's Webinar with Dr. Kris Rhoads

Have You Read the National Health and Patient Advocate Survey Results?

WASHAA contributed to fielding and publishing the Second Annual National Health and Patient Advocate Survey here.

Among the key findings:

• Advocates are highly educated. Although there is no one specific path to a career in advocacy, almost half (48%) have a Master's Degree.
• Advocates continue to report being optimistic, with the vast majority (92%) reporting they believe that the advocacy field will grow in the next five years.
• The vast majority (90%) of advocates are hired independent of the health care system

Read WASHAA's press release here.

Free Community Talk: Safe & Sound In the Hospital

Tuesday,  March 7th @ 1 pm

You are invited to join the Seattle School Retirees' Association for 'Safe & Sound in the Hospital: A Short Course in Patient Safety' taking place on March 7, 2017 at 1:00 pm at the Canal Restaurant. This session is free and open to the public.  To register and for more information contact Pat Cygan at:  206.521.5170/ [email protected] .

 

About this session: Medical errors in the hospital are the third leading cause of death in our country.  A successful hospital experience includes knowing what actions patients and their families should take.  Learn about some of the opportunities and challenges that hospitals face and what patients and their families can do to help.  Bring a notebook and pen to write down specific tips and tools that you can use when you or a loved one is in the hospital.  This content was compiled and is presented with permission by Campaign Zero, a non-profit organization dedicated to zeroing out preventable medical errors.  For more information visit: www.campaignzero.org.

Attention Advocates:  Opportunity to Participate in Research Study

The George Washington University (GW) Cancer Center is developing resources to promote effective interactions between patients and providers throughout cancer care. We will create an interdisciplinary team-based training for providers on how to meaningfully improve engagement of cancer patients of diverse backgrounds in their cancer care.

 

We invite you to participate in our  national survey   to help us develop the most useful and relevant training possible. To be eligible to take the survey, you must:

The survey is part of a research project and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Participation is completely voluntary and information will be kept confidential. The potential risk to participants is minimal. Interested participants have the option to provide their contact information after the survey to enter a drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card. 

 

You can access the survey here:  bit.ly/PfizerPNSurveyPNandSurvNews . Please feel free to share widely with your networks.

WASHAA Receives IT Grant from 501 Commons

After completing a three month Plan IT program through 501 Commons, WASHAA was awarded a $500 grant to be used towards upgrading our technology.  We are grateful our three consultants Andrew Stetzler, Prabita Chandran and Kamesh Naidoo.

• "Think about it like this: Would you to go court without a lawyer?" - Combs
• "In times like these, you might want someone in your corner, someone who understands what's going on and can translate often difficult concepts into plain English. You might want a healthcare advocate." - Combs
• "Health advocacy...is the act of helping patients assert their choices and rights when they are navigating the healthcare system." - Shapiro

Medical Update on Alzheimer's Disease: Prevention to Palliation

WASHAA had a recent webinar on Feb. 15th about Alzheimer's and Dementia. Please take a moment to listen to the webinar via our website at www.washaa.org. 

Alzheimer's is on the rise !  The number of Americans living with Alzheimer's disease is growing and is expected to escalate rapidly in coming years, as baby boomers turn  65 and older-- the age range of greatest risk of Alzheimer's.  Dr. Kristoffer Rhoads, a clinical neuropsychologist, who is specialized in the evaluation and treatment of dementia and neurodegenerative disorders recently presented a webinar for WASHAA providing a Medical Update on Alzheimer's Disease: from Prevention to Palliation. 

Dr. Rhoads described the magnitude of the problem and helped us understand how to advocate for early and accurate diagnosis. He described new prevention techniques and early stage treatment. He described lifestyle interventions such as exercise, diet, cognitive stimulation and meditation that are showing promising results and provided an excellent list of resources (see below).

WASHAA is pleased to provide an uploaded version of our recent webinar here.