Dianne Parker, patient safety advocate extraordinaire, hosted a July 4th barbeque in honor of those lost to preventable medical errors, drawing fellow advocates and friends – and the Cover America Tour – to her home in Aiken, SC.

Almost a year to the day of her husband Willie’s death, the event featured a special presentation by South Carolina State Senator Ralph Anderson, reports from several experts and authors in the area of patient safety, and enough barbeque for a small army.

Senator Ralph Anderson presents a resolution by the South Carolina General Assembly designating July 4th as Patient Safety Day in Willie Parker's honor. Willie died from a combination of medical errors and a hospital-acquired MRSA infection.

Posters in the background display pictures of those lost to medical errors, poor care and hospital-acquired infections.

“Hello, my name is….” The sign-in table displays a picture of Dianne and the late Willie Parker.

Guests were treated to a South Carolina-style BBQ with all the fixins… cooks had been manning the barbeque pits since 6am cooking pork and chicken. Rounded out with potato salad, mac salad, coleslaw, baked beans, watermelon & sweet tea, no one left empty stomached.

They are friends and colleagues in the fight for safer medical care and, perhaps even more importantly, they are each other's support group. Patient safety advocates from around the country traveled long distances to be together for one special day. Left to right: Curtis Lindell, Lisa Lindell, Helen Haskell, Kim Sandstrom, Dianne Parker, Lorin Jones, Christine Jones, Ira Williams.

The South Carolina Patient Safety Day was sponsored by Patient Safety Advocates and Mothers Against Medical Errors, and supported by a number of other patient safety organizations across the US.

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comments (4)

Comments

1 Posted by Dianne Parker at 07/07/08 03:09 PM

This is great

Thank you,

dianne

2 Posted by Nancy Garvin MAMA.Org at 07/07/08 09:33 PM

This was an event I will remember for many years as it allowed me to meet both Dianne Parker and Helen Haskell in person after months of chatting on the internet and phone. Through a tragic event in their life they have found the strength to help others and are an asset to so many. This felt more like a family event even among those you did not know.
A special thank to Consumers Union for taking the time to care about the issues at hand that plague our country. You help make our voice just a little louder.

Mothers Against Medical Abuse. Org
Help Stop Rx, Methdadone Deaths and Abuse

3 Posted by Lori Nerbonne at 07/09/08 02:35 AM

I hope this will be an annual event, with the goal to have it hosted in each of our 50 states by a respective pt. safety advocate.

What a wonderful way to honor all those who've been harmed or died and those who continue to be their outspoken voices.

Wish I could have been there; I certainly was in mind and spirit.

Thank you Dianne Parker!

Lori Nerbonne

4 Posted by sam at 08/25/08 12:23 PM

The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki,produced a bizarre endorsement of his national emblem saying: "Not only the Kurds were slaughtered under this flag, but many Iraqis were slain under this flag.
sam
South Carolina Drug Addiction

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