As a cancer patient, Nettie Engels remembers laying flat on her back, isolated, for four days so that necessary radiation treatments could fight the disease within her body. The experience, which had to be repeated two more times, nearly made her jump out of her skin, but allowed her to provide valuable information to hospital staff about how to help other patients going through the same experience.

And now, over the next three months, Engels and six other MCG Health System patients will be traveling North America to help talk to other physicians and hospital staff about what it means to listen and involve patients and families in health care.

“When patients talk, hospitals and health care providers need to listen. This belief is at the heart of our philosophy of patient- and family-centered care,” said Pat Sodomka, Senior Vice President for Patient- and Family-Centered Care at MCG Health System. “Through their stories and insights, our patients have given us valuable information to help us define care. Now they’ll be able to teach others these same valuable lessons.”

Six patients and family members will travel to the Conference on Patient- and Family-Centered Care, hosted by the Institute for Family-Centered Care, July 30 to August 1, in Seattle, Wash., to discuss far-ranging topics, including partnerships with patients and families, web-based communication tools, patient advisors in mental health, how a model patient- and family-centered care unit was created (and sustained) and patient satisfaction. Another patient will participate in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Annual Conference in Winnipeg, Canada, September 27 to 29, to discuss the future of specialty medicine.

Engels will participate in the July conference as well as a second meeting, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation Forum in Montreal, Canada, August 4 to 7, where she will present a patient’s reaction to the forum proceedings.

“Because I received such excellent care, I wanted to give back,” said Engels, the assistant principal at Stevens Creek Elementary. “We are in the position to know the practical stuff that can make care better because that’s what patients do. And we want to make it better, for ourselves, our family members and other patients and families.”

MCG Health System is composed of three organizations - MCG Health Inc. and the clinical services offered by the faculty of the Medical College of Georgia and the members of the MCG Physicians Practice Group.  MCG Health, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCG Medical Center, MCG Children’s Medical Center, the MCG Sports Medicine Center, MCG Ambulatory Care Center, the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center and related clinical facilities and services.  MCG Health, Inc. was formed to support the research and education mission of the Medical College of Georgia, and to build the economic growth of the CSRA, the state of Georgia and the Southeast by providing an environment for delivering the highest level of primary and specialty health care.  For more information, please visit www.MCGHealth.org.