Susan Carter

Executive Director & Patient Family Member
WCA Foundation, Allina Health

Susan Carter is the Executive Director of the WCA Foundation located in Minnetonka, MN. Susan received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS and her Master of Nonprofit Management from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. She has been working in philanthropy for more than 15 years, most recently at Valspar as its Foundation Manager.

Susan currently resides in Minnetonka, MN with her husband Matt, their two children Justin (13) and Hilary (8) and their rescue Beagle, Nola.

She has served as a Patient/Family Advisor for Allina Health since 2012. In addition to her advisor role, she has served at the executive level as a liaison and is currently serving on the Allina Quality Council which establishes the Allina Health Quality plan.

Susan is compelled to represent the patient voice after a life changing health event claimed her sister and best friend, Pam Taylor.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Susan.

Download The Latest Agenda

Patient Experience Culture

Thursday, March 12th, 2015

13:35 Presentation: Nothing About Me Without Me: A Patient And Family Partnership Program

Patient experience staff and a member of the Patient and Family Partnership Program will share our journey of developing a program that incorporates the patient and family voice in planning and decision-making across our health system, and the ongoing process of cultural shift towards comfort with patient and family involvement in operational and strategic work. We will describe our Partner recruitment process and model of tiered participation levels that allow patients and family members various ways to engage in the Partnership Program. Key to the program’s success is our defined road map for incorporation of the patient and family voice, which includes a readiness assessment of those requesting patient and family Partner involvement in their work, screening and orientation of Partners, orientation of stakeholders, stakeholder interaction with the patient and family Partners, and follow-up with Partners on outcomes from their involvement. We will share tools we have developed to facilitate patient and family involvement and videos about the program and our patient and family Partners.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand key elements of a road map to make a patient and family advisory program successful from both the patient/family and organizational perspectives
• Receive examples of forms and tools to facilitate a patient and family advisory program
• Learn about a tiered model that allows patients and families options for how they participate and can enable inclusion of patient and family voice across an organization with varying levels of readiness