Through this pandemic, I have found great solace in the garden. As we move into November, I am watching my winter garden of broccoli, kale, and cabbage grow and am tucking my soil away for a period of winter dormancy. Winter can encourage (or force) us all to turn inward, especially as we are barred…

I have been thinking a lot about grief recently.  How grief is deeply personal, is nonlinear in its stages, how it pervades every aspect of our lives regardless of our conscious awareness of the emotions in real time.  I have been thinking about all the things there are to grief right now – the incomprehensible…

This first day of October I will be stepping into the role of interim CEO here at the Foundation for Health Care Quality. I am approaching this change with a deep appreciation for the work that we do at the Foundation and the humility appropriate to moving into a new space. In this role, I…

Your feedback is requested on our draft Colorectal Cancer Screening Report and Recommendations, Oncology Care Report and Recommendations, and Reproductive and Sexual Health Report and Recommendations. For all of these, we have created an online survey for your public comments that we estimate will take 10-15 minutes to complete. Comments must be received by 5pm…

The air is feeling heavy this month. Fires burning from my home county in California through the woods in Oregon and into our Washington backyard. I worry about the long-term effects of this air on my daughter’s young lungs, on the health of people who are pregnant and their babies, as yet another negative health…

We have hard time understanding how it feels to live inside a body that is not our own. This difficulty contributes to our human tendency toward being selfish. We also depend on the collective efforts and intentions of our diverse community. This became clear to many as we have struggled with the impact of the…

As we move to the end of summer, further into this pandemic, and through the various healthcare topics Bree is addressing this year, I continue to return to the intertwined ideas of trauma and stigma. I think about how denial is a huge coping strategy for many people. I also think about the power of…

On day two of our Implementation Summit in June, I referenced a Radiolab podcast episode I heard in the beginning days of physical distancing that continues to stick with me. The reporter had come across a list of items that Cold War era planners would preserve in the event of a nuclear event- items that could be used to…

Our healthcare system serves as a trusted source of information; a safe space to discuss stigmatizing aspects of our lives; a place to be immunized against deadly viruses, have broken bones repaired, find and treat cancer. BUT while this is so important and so obviously make us healthier – we are not spending our health…

I find myself returning again and again to James Baldwin’s quote that Amy Etzel used to open day one of our Behavioral Health Summit – “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” This rings true for a person, an organization, and for our country. We…