Earlier tonight the Jefferson School of Population Health, in conjunction with our IHI Open School Chapter, sponsored a special preview of ESCAPE FIRE, the soon to be released award winning film.
Called Dinner and a Movie, we hosted nearly 100 persons from across the Jefferson campus in downtown Philadelphia. Following the screening, we had a panel discussion with myself, a physician student in our graduate program in quality and safety, and a resident physician in Physical Medicine and Rehab. The movie made me laugh and cry. I laughed at some of the absurdities of our system and the way some patients approached their interaction with us as caregivers. It made me cry with scenes from on board a military rescue plane bringing wounded soldiers directly from far away battlefields all the way to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in suburban Washington DC.
It featured in depth interviews and "on air" conversations with the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, with Don Berwick, and with real caregivers on the frontlines of medicine as well. It had drama, pathos, irony, and the graphics were good too!! One personal highlight for me occured in the darkened auditorium. About half way through the film I thought "I have to reach out to Dr. Berwick and share the experience we were all having together." Sure enough, in less than five minutes, Don answered my quick email, all the way from his current trip to New Zealand and Singapore, applauding our efforts at educating more persons about the need for an ESCAPE FIRE, a new way of thinking about our broken system.
I hope you will all watch ESCAPE FIRE when it comes to a theater near you and I also hope you will join us in the ongoing conversation about how to fix the jam we are all in!! And be sure to visit the Escape Fire web site.
Special thanks to our IHI Open School Chapter lead by Valerie Pracilio. Once again, our team at the JSPH is at the forefront and we will ask you...."What is your ESCAPE FIRE for our system??" DAVID NASH
