Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Great Debate

I had my first Parent Advisory Board (PAB) meeting tonight. It was a "test" meeting to see if it would be something I would like to participate on. I was excited and a bit nervous about going and was REALLY hopeful that I would love it. I didn't....but I don't know how I feel about it. I see the potential for great things to happen with that group, but I also felt like there were some very overpowering personalities and that some people did not get heard because of that. It was just odd to me....one woman went on for at least 10 minutes about parents advocating for themselves and how she came with a "warning sign" that if a nurse ever did anything to hurt her child they better watch out. I was like, "um, huh?" It seemed so odd to me to be talking about that while we were brainstorming for goals or plans for the PAB. It didn't apply.

I think there were a lot of very strong personalities there and I felt like some of the parents were used to being the only ones who talked. That bothered me, because there were things I wanted to say and that others wanted to say that couldn't happen because we had a limited amount of time and those people were talking so much.

My main issue is I want to be an advocate for Emmy and other families that have to go through hospitalizations, but I don't know if I would have the opportunity to do that there.

I'm very conflicted right now.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

yikes...when is the next meeting? Maybe the 2nd will be better...

Carol E. said...

Sometimes something is a great idea, but it doesn't work so well in reality because of certain personalities. So.. you'll have to decide how much you are willing to put up with and if you think there is any chance for change so your input can be heard. I know what you have to say will be valuable!