Storyteller, World Sepsis Day Collaboration and Campaign

For World Sepsis Day on September 13, the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council will be promoting early recognition and treatment of sepsis in hospitals. We invite you to share your story of surviving sepsis as part of the global movement to raise awareness of sepsis.

Open to: Patient partners across the province

Lead Organization or Department

BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, Health System Improvement

Aim

This initiative will help raise awareness of sepsis through storytelling from patients who have survived sepsis and the impact sepsis has on their lives. We recognize that many people have had very personal encounters with sepsis and believe that shared experiences contribute to valuable education for other patients, families and health care providers. Your role will be to write about your story for it to be shared online - what happened and where you are now. We understand that some stories end on a positive note, and some paint a picture of the difficult road that many sepsis survivors face.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.

Eligibility

We are looking for patient partners who:

• survived sepsis - diagnosed with sepsis and/or septic shock post discharge from hospital
• are 18 years and older
• are comfortable telling their story
• consent to posting their name and story to the BC Sepsis Network, a public website and platform that is viewed nationally and internationally
• consent to adding an image to their story that will be viewed on a public network

If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 5
• World Sepsis Day is September 13. During the week leading up to it, we would like to release stories from five patients, one sepsis survivor story a day that will be shared through newsletters and social media.
• We plan to have the stories prepared by August 30, two weeks prior to World Sepsis Day.
• If there are more than five stories, the BC Sepsis Network would like to share these via their newsletter and social media platform.
• Patient partners will be supported to create the written narrative. We anticipate that pieces will be 800-1,000 words long and include an image.

Reimbursement

No expenses are anticipated for this opportunity.

Background

Since 2012 the BC Sepsis Network has promoted early recognition and treatment of sepsis, with special recognition on World Sepsis Day. We believe that sharing stories of those who have survived sepsis leads to meaningful patient involvement in our work and adds to additional education for other patients, families and healthcare providers. We understand that although some stories end on a positive note, many others have experienced and continue to experience difficult life journeys that have severely impacted their quality of life. We recognize that sharing this kind of story and re-living a possibly painful and/or blank moment could re-traumatize people. We therefore request that prior to sending us your story, you discuss with someone trusted and close to you on why you want to share your story and what details you want to share on a public network. There is no right or wrong message as this is your lived experience, and therefore, you get to decide what information you think is important and valuable for others to read.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Karen Estrin
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Lower Mainland & Sunshine Coast
604.668.8245
kestrin@bcpsqc.ca