We are on our way back from the Compassion in Action Healthcare Conference, organized by the Schwartz Center in Boston, MA. This year’s theme – “Compassion: Transforming the Future of Healthcare” – brought 600 leaders from around the globe to address urgent challenges in the healthcare system and collaborate on solutions by putting compassion at the core of practice for patients, providers, systems and institutions.
We should never forget the importance of how the single intention of one person can ripple outward and change the world. This conference is one of the many educational efforts of the Schwartz Center, which was founded in 1995 by Ken Schwartz, days before his death of lung cancer. His vision was that all patients and families would be treated with compassion. Today, the Schwartz Center provides education and training to its members in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, ultimately supporting more than 301,000 healthcare professionals each year.
We had the great privilege of meeting Ellen Cohen, Ken’s widow, and the president of the Schwartz Center’s Board of Directors. She shared her inspiring story of building and growing Ken’s seed of a vision into a global organization with far-reaching impact.
Compassion in Action: Marjorie Stanzler, Laura Berland, and Ellen Cohen. Photo Credit: Evan Harrel.
The stellar program highlighted best practices and research in a multitude of healthcare settings. Conference keynoters included Tim Cunningham, Amy Edmondson, Susan Hassmiller, Abby Karlsson, Shekinah Elmore, Michael Hebb, Beth Lown, and Helen Riess. In addition to the keynote addresses, four panels provided valuable conversations about compassion in care. The many workshop and abstract presentations engaged conference attendees with practical, real-life tools and practices for spreading compassion in their own settings.
Conference organizers created a remarkable environment of deep connection and sharing, unusual for a gathering of this size. The peer-to-peer conversations helped deepen our understanding of all the good work being done in the sector. And at one of the many round tables we had the pleasure of meeting and being warmly welcomed by Matt Herndon, CEO and Dr. Beth Lown, Chief Medical Officer of the Schwartz Center.
You can visit our conference postings from the last few days on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts @beingcompassion, and on LinkedIn please follow the Center for Compassionate Leadership. Look forward to future blog posts with more extensive conference highlights.