TakeCHARGE Campaign Moves to Step 5: “Choose an Advocate for Yourself, Be an Advocate for Others”
- dhalperin1
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
Every sick or injured patient needs a well person to safeguard their interests.
The 2025 TakeCHARGE Campaign (5 Steps to Safer Health Care) has moved to the fifth and final step of its 5-stage public awareness drive: “Choose an Advocate and Be an Advocate for Others.”
Following five months of social media, and online seminars and presentations encouraging the public to take four basic steps that will raise the chances of successful treatment outcomes, the campaign now asks everyone to take on its final assignment: advocacy.
What is a patient advocate and who needs one? The second question is easy: everyone who is receiving treatment or services from the health care system needs an advocate — that is, someone (whether family, friend or a professional) to provide support to the patient and family, and to guard against any of the many mishaps that make medical error one of the leading causes of preventable death in this country.
Ilene Corina, BCPA, president of the nonprofit Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy which originated the TakeCHARGE Campaign notes that, “Patient advocates may play different roles in different situations, but in the most basic sense, an advocate is a helper. They help the patient to be more involved in their health care, and hopefully, receive better outcomes.”
Corina, with more than 25 years as an advocate, has seen firsthand why patients need advocates, and has published the second edition of her “Rants of a Patient Safety Advocate”, a book of her stories from the front lines of the fight for safer care.
Selecting an advocate — or offering to be one for someone else — isn’t a formal, complicated process, especially when choosing a family member or friend. It’s a question of agreeing ahead of time what role the patient-to-be wants the advocate to fulfil. The TakeCHARGE Campaign has detailed information on how to go about it.
The Campaign’s social media platforms too offer hints, tips and encouragement.
Corina concludes, “The TakeCHARGE Campaign runs actively from March through August annually, but anyone can take the 5 Steps to Safer Health Care at any time of the year.”
For more information, and to host a presentation for your business, organization, faith community or even your family and friends, please call (516) 579-4711.
Comments