Patient & Family Partner Program: Heart Transplant

The Heart Transplant Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) seeks to enhance the patient care experience by ensuring that the voices of patients and families are represented.  The PFAC is committed to providing support and guidance to Stanford Health Care’s Heart Transplant Program, its patients, and their families.

Fall 2022 Newsletter

Accomplishments

• Planned and executed the 2nd Annual Virtual Symposium – temporarily replacing the annual in-person Symposium, Reunion & Celebration event that was canceled during the pandemic. Virtual breakout rooms featured special interests like mindfulness and wellness, MyHealth instruction, and social gathering.
• Published and distributed a semi-annual Heart Transplant newsletter in English and Spanish.
• Continued to promote the Peer2Peer Mentor Program, naming a formal liaison from the PFAC to work with P2P director and social workers.
• Recruited five new PFAC members (four heart transplant recipients and one caregiver).  
• Continued to email COVID-19 updates written by a heart transplant nurse manager to keep patients and their families informed.
• Addressed patient frustration regarding long wait times in Blood Draw Lab by publishing a listing of local lab facilities in the semi-annual newsletter. 
• To offer more location options for those requiring Allomap/Allosure blood draws, the PFAC successfully advocated for an additional location at the Hoover Pavilion Blood Draw Lab.