More than 400,000 patients a year lose their lives to accidental cracks in our health care system. Karen Curtiss’s father , Bill Aydt, was one such fatality. She is determined to transform the tragedy of his death from lapses in patient safety into tangible tools other families can use to help ensure their loved ones have the best possible outcomes. To do this, she gave up a marketing career, consulting to Fortune 500 companies, to scour nursing textbooks, slog through medical studies, and speak with patient safety experts all over the globe to study how hospital care is managed; where cracks in care occur, and best clinical practices to prevent them.

Then she distilled a lot of complex medical information into quick, simple checklists all families can use to safeguard hospital care for their loved ones and support recovery at home. TheCarePartnerProject.org. offers these checklists and more as free e-guides. Karen has also built a nationwide network of community speakers for grass roots education on how to navigate the healthcare system with the know-how and confidence to ensure safe care.: (TheCarePartnerProject.org/community-education.) For those who are uninsured and don’t have any personal support during a health care crisis, The Care Partner Project provides funding for assistance from professional patient advocates.