UBC Health works to advance excellence in collaborative health education, interdisciplinary health research, and improvements in health systems – work which wouldn’t be possible without the involvement of patients and community members.
Long-time community partner Darren Lauscher shares his experience and vision for patient engagement at UBC Health. Lauscher is an advocate for people and families living with HIV/AIDS and is actively involved at the local, provincial, and national levels. He has been a mentor and course facilitator with UBC since 2010 and has served on numerous planning and advisory committees. He has been involved with UBC Health for many years—he is co-chair of the Patient and Community Advisory Committee, a member of Health Council, and a mentor with the Health Mentors Program. More recently, he joined the Health Systems Advisory Committee and was a member of the 2021 Health Innovation Funding Investment Awards review committee.
“Engaging patients is a process of collaboration, respect, and trust building,” says Lauscher. “It’s about recognizing the expertise of all the individuals around the table and harnessing our strengths to craft the final result. Understanding the end goal and working together to achieve that goal will enable all parties to walk away feeling they have accomplished something together and the product is better than it would have been without that collaboration.”
Read the full story at the UBC Health news site.
Through Strategy 20: Co-ordinated Engagement, UBC is working with our community partners to listen, learn and develop shared values for effective engagement. We are better aligning our structures, processes, funding and incentives to reinforce effective practices consistent with these values, and to reinforce a culture of reciprocity.