Children’s Advisory Board PFAC

Children ages 12 through 18 who have been patients (or whose siblings have been patients) at Phoenix Children’s can make a difference in the lives of other patients and families by sharing their experiences and perspective on the Children’s Advisory Board, a Patient and Family Advisory Council just for kids.

Layla discussing The Children's Advisory Board

The Children’s Advisory Board (CAB) includes a combination of patients and siblings (of patients) who make a commitment to be the voice of the journey. CAB is unique to the Phoenix Children’s experience in that it truly provides children the opportunity to directly impact the health system. The members serve to regularly remind both leadership and staff members of the needs of children and teens. CAB members make suggestions about the clinic, hospital and overall Phoenix Children’s environment to make it more child- and family-friendly. This PFAC ensures that patient and family centered care is at the core of everything Phoenix Children’s aims to accomplish.

Application

Recent Accomplishments

Participated in Phoenix Children’s Quality Day and Poster Review, working with the presenter to identify issues most relevant to a patient experience
Provided feedback to Sonora Quest to improve “poke experiences” for patients in the Outpatient Lab
Provided ideas and recommendations to the wellness manager for parents and patients to find ways to help decrease stress and increase exercise opportunities for the entire family during any length stay

Helping Future Leaders Find Their Voice

“I’ve worked with the Children’s Advisory Board twice in my 18-year career at Phoenix Children’s. The first time was when I was a recreation therapist working in Child Life and more recently, I joined on as Volunteer Coordinator. This is my second year helping CAB as a stakeholder and it is outside of my traditional role, but has been a nice way to share opportunities for CAB members and their families to be more involved in Phoenix Children’s. It also gives me the opportunity to work directly with patients, which is something I miss. I enjoy being a mentor to our future leaders and enjoy finding opportunities to have their voices be heard.”