Anne Pato Chosen For The AHA's Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship!!

Message from Miles....

It is my honor to recognize the exceptional efforts of Anne Pato offer her my fondest congratulations on her selection!! One of a leader's proudest moments is to witness the growth and success of nearby talent. During a period where I desperately needed some help, a friend in personnel services mentioned to me a highly talented colleague of hers was looking for a change of pace and a growth opportunity. I was up to my ears in the alligators of a struggling system with some serious surplus of regulatory problems and a serious shortage of analytical horsepower. I interviewed Anne and despite her lack of experience in health care, her can-do attitude and wealth of real life experience made her just the sort of stabilizing presence I was looking for!

Anne joined the department of psychiatry and began helping with the myriad of quality and compliance challenges we were facing at the time. After about three weeks, I remember distinctly looking at my medical director after a meeting and saying, "Can you believe we were stupid enough to try and run this place without her?" We both had a laugh and marveled at our previous foolishness.

Since then, Anne has showed repeatedly her flexibility, work ethic and strength of character. This year when I was given the opportunity to appoint an internal fellow to assist the organization implement our LEAN health care grant, and lead innovation throughout the organization, Anne was the obvious choice. Some two years after I somehow convinced her to get involved with health care quality, I'm thrilled that she has been accepted into the Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship for the 2009-2010 program!!!

This fellowship is sponsored by the American Hospital Association and the National Patient Safety Foundation to develop the next generation of leaders in quality care and safe practice.

I have no doubt that the additional experience of the Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship will position Anne to take a leadership role in the coming years of rapid innovation and improvement. These are truly exciting times in American Health Care. The current financial crisis coupled with the tremendous attention in Washington makes this the time to innovate . . . I'm so proud that Contra Costa will have Anne to help us along the way. We as a leadership group will all soon know how foolish we were to try and run this place without her!