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Looking back, it all seems so surreal. Fourteen years ago, on March 1st 2006, my wife and I had to make the absolute worst decision of our lives. After multiple EEG’s showed little, to no, brain activity, we took my beautiful baby girl, off life support. I will always remember that day, like it was yesterday, the day the doctor said Emily’s heart had stopped and mine somehow kept beating. On that horrific day, I never thought in a million years, anything good could ever come from such an unimaginable tragedy! Now, 14 years later, I truly believe that Emily’s short life here on earth was truly meant to save, quite possibly thousands, by affecting positive change in how we respond and learn from preventable medical error.

A few short years after her tragic passing, only by God’s grace, was I able to establish the Emily Jerry Foundation (www.emilyjerryfoundation.org), in my daughter’s memory. My sole intention with EJF was to help be a catalyst for positive change in patient and medication safety, finding solutions that would prevent, what happened to Emily, from ever happening again to others. I never would have chosen this very unconventional career path for myself, I truly believe it was chosen for me. Looking back over the past decade, in addition to many of my friends and family being supportive of EJF, it’s very humbling for me to think about what a great privilege it’s been to also have had the opportunity to work with so many amazing clinician/caregivers, some of the brightest minds in healthcare, who are just as passionate about patient safety as I am! This is precisely why I would like to thank everyone for all of your ongoing support, and most importantly, for helping to keep Emily’s legacy alive!

In the next few months, I also really look forward to formally announcing the details about the Emily Jerry Foundation’s new Scholarship Initiative for Future Leaders in Healthcare!

Happy Birthday my sweet Emily! Even though it seems like I just took these pictures of you a few short years ago, today you would be 16 years old! As your daddy, you will always be my baby girl, so I just can’t even comprehend the fact that you would have actually been driving this year! I want you to know that I still miss you dearly, but I take so much comfort in knowing that you are with our Lord and that I will get to see you one day, when we are reunited again in heaven!

Your short life here on earth is continuing to have such a profound impact on so many people around the globe, especially the clinician/caregivers in healthcare, who all know you by name! Your legacy continues to live on in so many amazing ways and has been such a catalyst for positive change in the world of patient and medication safety…helping to stop tragedies before they happen and ultimately saving countless lives!!
Again, Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
Love,
Dad

Another Annual ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting has come and gone and this year seemed like a whirlwind trip jam packed with exciting info and activities. Every year the American Society for Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) hosts this incredible event, which has been deemed the largest pharmacy meeting in the world, with typically over 25,000 registered hospital pharmacists from around the globe in attendance! This year’s event was hosted in none other than Las Vegas, Nevada.

After a very productive and busy day at the Annual ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful event hosted by PiplineRx, at the Foundation Room on the 63rd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel. What an incredible view!!

To finish the trip off after the conference had concluded its final meeting I had the opportunity to go on a trail ride with some of my good friends from Allegheny Health Network. I really can’t think of a better way to round out, yet another, successful and very productive ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting!! 

I felt very privileged to be invited to participate in a panel discussion today, at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, titled “The Far Reaching Impact of a Medication Error.” The event took place on Friday, December 6th, 2019. Below are some pictures I took during my short stay in Columbus, Ohio.

So I have to admit, from time to time, naturally, I question wether or not the Emily Jerry Foundation, and this very unconventional career path that I have been on for the past 13 years, is really making a difference in healthcare? Is this work my true calling and should I really continue? These are the types of questions that came to the forefront of my mind yesterday, while I was reading the horrific story about the multiple medication errors, 54 to be exact, that occurred with a little baby named Finn Mummert, over only a three week period!

After reading the very upsetting news about what happened to Finn and sharing a few of my initial thoughts about his story on FB, I began to dig in to my email for the day. One of the first emails I opened included my program evaluation for a medication safety CE I did at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, last month. Shortly after every lecture or presentation I give that is CE, or CME accredited, I receive a program evaluation from the facility or organization where I spoke. The program evaluation is done by every clinician who was in attendance and it’s kind of like my “report card” on how I did overall. The following are some of the extremely kind reviews and comments that I received from the clinician/caregivers in attendance that day, they really helped me put things back into perspective…

“Strong understanding of pharmacy workflow. Made a big and lasting impact on the staff.”

“Engaging speaker with an impactful and emotional message. Mr. Jerry’s support of health care providers, given his experience, is humbling and his activism is greatly appreciated.”

“I whole-heartedly support and endorse your diligent efforts to reverse the astounding statistics on medication errors. I especially commend your efforts after experiencing such a great personal loss. I share your vision for eliminating preventable medication errors and hope you live to see your goal met. Your tireless work has undoubtedly saved many lives. Even though you cannot bring Emily back, know that she lives on in all the others that you have saved through your mission. I hope that can bring at least some comfort to you. I wish you all the best going forward and be assured that when you see Emily again in the next life, she will be quite proud of you for bringing something so good out of something so bad. It takes quite a human being to do what you’ve done in both forgiving and persevering in what has become your life’s work. God truly does work in mysterious ways and He will wipe away every tear.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jerry, for the work you have done and continue to do to promote medication safety and a just culture. You are making a difference and your daughter will not be forgotten. Emily’s life continues to be a force for positive change in the world of medicine.”

“Excellent speaker and presentation! Thankful he has found the strength and courage to work towards eradicating preventable medical errors!”

“Compelling speaker appreciated the focus on just culture and tone of the presentation despite a tragic situation.”

“Such amazing bravery and strength! Thank you for sharing your story to help others.”

“Very powerful presentation! I was hanging on every word. What courage the speaker has to continue to fight for change after a traumatic experience!”

“Excellent program! Very insightful, and I appreciated Mr. Jerry’s perspective and how he turned the most unimaginable tragedy into a force for change!”

I received this update via Facebook on October 26th from my friend Leigh Ann Briscoe-Dwyer, Former Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Pharmedium Services, LLC and I just had to share the news of this great win for patient safety(!)…

“Seven years ago, I had the honor of representing NY at the ASHP House of Delegates. Our delegation met with Christopher Jerry, the father of Emily Jerry who tragically died as the result of a medication error. His question on that day was: “When is NY going to do something about pharmacy technicians?” We didn’t have an answer.

Today we do.

Yesterday Governor Cuomo signed a bill recognizing pharmacy technicians, requiring certification and baseline qualifications and outlining the specific duties that technicians may perform. It’s not a perfect bill but it’s what we have.

We made a promise to Chris that day over seven years ago. Finally we can say we made good on that promise.”

This is a huge step in the right direction and I applaud the efforts of the state of New York and all of the patient and caregiver advocates that helped bring this to fruition.

I was honored to give a talk to help kick off the University Hospitals Quality & Patient Experience Medical Staff Summit, yesterday evening, at Fowler’s Mill in Chesterland, Ohio. It was also great to see my friend Dr. Peter Pronovost (to my left) in attendance. Peter is a critical care physician who is world renowned for his work in patient safety. Very early on, when I was first establishing the Emily Jerry Foundation, and just learning about patient & medication safety, high reliability organizations, clinical workflow, etc., he was one of the very first clinical experts to actually pick up the phone and take my call, providing much needed advice and direction with the work I am so passionate about today! Hard to believe that it was over ten years ago, when he was still at Johns Hopkins! Now, I am very pleased to say that Peter is the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals in my hometown of Cleveland!

I just arrived in Houston, Texas for the TSHP Neonatal & Pediatric Pharmacy Symposium, where I will be giving the Keynote Address titled, “From Heartbreak to Victory – Saving Lives by Preventing Errors Before They Happen!”

I had the great privilege of being invited to give a CE accredited lecture today, on medication safety, to the amazing pharmacy team at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Next week, I’m really looking forward to heading to Houston, to give the Keynote at the Texas Society for Health System Pharmacists (TSHP) Neonatal & Pediatrics Symposium!

Really looking forward to giving the keynote address tomorrow morning with Eric Cropp, at the Northeastern Regional Hematology Oncology Pharmacists Symposium (NEHOPS). Right after Eric and I did an interview together in May of 2011, for a Discovery Channel patient safety documentary, we had the opportunity to give a number of CE accredited lectures & presentations, all over the United States, that were very well received. However, tomorrow’s keynote, will be the first time we will have had the opportunity to present together in the past five years.