In life, there are times when your heart almost literally explodes with pride. For me, it’s been tied to the kids and their accomplishments. Last week, it happened again and it is definitely tied to Andrew and our accomplishments. The Ontario College of Pharmacists had an official recognition ceremony of the work that I have done with them, across the country and around the world. I was pleased to be able to thank them publicly for the dedication that they have put towards this important program. My message to them was, “I brought you a mountain and you climbed to the summit.”
Here’s the article:
At the September 17 Council meeting, on World Patient Safety Day, Council recognized patient safety advocate Melissa Sheldrick as an Honourary Member for her work on the College’s Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety (AIMS) Program and for her outstanding contributions to advancing medication safety in Ontario.
After the tragic loss of Melissa`s eight year old son Andrew due to a medication error in a pharmacy, Melissa became a true champion for medication safety in Ontario and around the world. From the very beginning in the College`s journey toward the development of AIMS, Melissa provided the voice and perspective needed to guide our work and ground our efforts in doing what is best for patients.
She was instrumental in shaping the program that we have today – one focused on the principles of a safety culture that includes anonymous medication incident reporting, effective documentation and analysis and the sharing of learnings.
And as the College moved forward, Melissa remained an invaluable supporter, from the moment that Council approved the program, through to the Ambassador phase, and through to where we are now with full province wide roll out in 4,500+ community pharmacies in sight.
Melissa continues to share her story and her perspectives as a patient advocate with health professionals, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across the province and the rest of the country, and is able to do so in a way that is compelling, informing, engaging and most importantly inspiring.
Thank you for being a patient safety champion – our health system is better for it.