Putting Patients First

The second edition of Putting Patients First showcases what Planetree facilities and the Planetree organization have learned about the commitments, conditions, practices, and policies that are needed to do more than give lip service to being--patient-centered.--It should be read by every student, nurse, physician, administrator, trustee, policy maker, and lay person who is committed to creating healing environments, holding facilities accountable for their rhetoric, and truly reforming health care.

Susan Frampton, Ph.D.  is President of Planetree Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes and provides education in patient-centered care, Frampton works with a growing alliance of hospitals and health centers around the country and in Europe that have implemented Planetree’s unique patient-centered model of care. Prior to her work with Planetree, she spent over twenty years at several hospitals in the New England area. Her work focused on community education, wellness and prevention, planning, and development of integrative medicine service lines. Frampton serves on the Connecticut Healthcare Research and Education Foundation’s Patient Safety Organization, and is an invited member of the Institute of Medicine panel on reducing medical error and improving patient safety.

Patrick Charmel is  President and Chief Executive Officer of Griffin Hospital and its parent corporation Griffin Health Services Corporation. Among the positions he has held at Griffin are Assistant to the Administrator, Assistant Administrator, Clinical Services and Vice President, Hospital Operations. He became President and CEO in 1998. During his tenure he has positioned Griffin Hospital as an award-winning, innovative organization, recognized as an industry leader in providing personalized, humanistic, consumer-driven health care in a healing environment. Since adopting the Planetree philosophy in 1991, over 550 hospitals have visited and toured Griffin and its award-winning patient-care building. Under Charmel’s leadership, Griffin Hospital was named one of fifteen Hospitals With Heart” by AARP’s Modern Maturity Magazine, was featured on the CNBC produced “Wall Street Journal Report” and was spotlighted, along with Planetree, in a PBS special “Hospitals With a Heart” that aired in 2004.

Planetree is an international affiliation of hospitals utilizing the Planetree model of patient centered care that seeks to humanize and demystify the health care experience for patients and families.