I am the Member Mentor and Partnership Coordinator for Person and Family Centered Care for Kaiser Permanente NW region. My passion is to help our patient partners have a high impact and our leaders and staff find new ways to embed the patient voice in everything we do.
I was a machinist for 30 years; it was a good place for a transgender woman to hide. In 1994 I went back to graduate school and earned a graduate certificate in conflict resolution. I spent the next 14 years as a facilitator, mediator and organizational development consultant. After I came out as a transgender woman I was pushed out of the field and transitioned to transgender health care advocacy, writing poetry and developing art and writing workshops for LGBTQ elders. Through my advocacy work I became a patient partner for KPNW and now work part time bringing the patient voice into the KP world.