It was ANOTHER year of surges and quarantines, of losses and learnings.
I am grateful that we had the chance to get together again in our newer, more beautiful virtual space for this year’s Summit (and to think, there was that wink of a moment in May when we contemplated an in-person gathering). We published our most recent research, advanced the work of our Medical Schools’ Collaborative, Nursing Schools Taskforce, MOLST to POLST Advisory Group, as well as that of our wide-ranging, off-piste Public Policy Working Group. And we did it all through the increasingly clear lens of what it means to truly center equity in serious illness care. There will be a lot more of that in 2022 as we continue to reframe, redefine and refocus our equity-first strategy.
The big takeaway from a lot of this work is deceptively simple: it’s about connection, trust, and relationships. It’s about seeing, respecting and honoring our collective integrity and humanity. Be it medical students needing time to debrief; clinicians needing time to rest and be cared for; patients needing to be heard and understood; caregivers needing support with the impossible work-life-life balance; or 5-year-olds who, nearly two years on, still need the freedom to wear shorts year round in Boston.
Which is why I am the MOST grateful to all of you. You, who read these newsletters; who trust us enough to spend the time emailing and asking to engage in this work; who come to our meetings even when you're Zoomed out; who devote time to our shared efforts. Without all of you, continuing to be here, we could not BE HERE. So thank you.
Special thank yous to Jill Terrell-Ouazzani and Kennya Cabrera, who were part-time interns helping with the Coalition’s communications this year. Thank you also to Ben Schnell, who has managed our website for the last five years. In case you haven't seen, our website has a fresh look and we couldn't have done it without Ben!
Sending all of you my warmest, squishiest hopes for a winter break.
– Anna
And super duper big thank yous to our sponsors!
We are so honored we get to do this work and grateful for their trust in all of us.
