Together, We Can Prevent the Preventable!

Over the past 16+ years, I’ve had the immense privilege of sharing Emily’s story and speaking across the nation on behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation. From hospitals and universities to national conferences, I’ve devoted my life to a singular mission, ensuring that what happened to my beautiful daughter Emily never happens to another patient… or family.

Preventable medication errors continue to claim far too many lives, lives that could and should be saved. And while these tragedies are heartbreaking, they are not inevitable. They are preventable. I truly believe we can save countless lives together by staying laser-focused on what I’ve always understood to be the primary cause of virtually every one of these tragedies: the inherent “human error” component in medicine. The reality is, God made us all fallible, no matter how well-intended, how thoroughly educated, or how experienced we may be. It doesn’t matter how many times a physician has successfully performed a procedure, how many times a nurse has administered a patient’s medication regimen, or how often a pharmacy team has compounded a treatment for a patient…every person remains capable of making a “human” mistake. That’s the bad news I always feel compelled to share. But here’s the good news: we can definitely fix this going forward. By acknowledging our human fallibility and intentionally designing our systems, processes, and protocols around that fact—and by fully embracing the High Reliability Organization (HRO) journey and the proven methodologies that drive continuous improvement in healthcare—we can truly begin saving countless lives.

That’s why I’m reaching out humbly to all my friends and healthcare colleagues, who are just as passionate as I am about improving patient and medication safety. If you believe your hospital, health system, pharmacy team, nursing staff, physician specialists, university, or medical conference, could benefit from a powerful, deeply personal message on why medication safety matters now more than ever, I would be honored to speak and collaborate with your teams.
Because this isn’t just a “healthcare issue”…it affects all of us. Every one of us will receive healthcare in our lifetime. So will every one of our loved ones. Let’s work together to build systems that are worthy of that trust!

If you’d like to connect or explore the possibility of bringing this message to your organization, please don’t hesitate to reach out and send me an email at chris@emilyjerryfoundation.org.