We all will be at the receiving end of critical illness for ourselves or our loved ones. It is almost guaranteed. A family’s needs are the blind spot of the overstretched and dysfunctional health care system that needs to be addressed. Here, Kristin Flanary, also known as Lady Glaucomflecken, shares her experience, hoping to highlight the challenges of the families who are at the revived end of critical illness for their loved one.

Take-home lessons for health care professionals: While clinical excellence and focus on the patient is an absolute given, what sets a great HCP apart is clear and frequent communication, empathy and kindness. Let’s do better.

• Intro :00
• The interview :39
• Tell me a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? What was life like before and now? 3:40
• Having to do CPR on your loved one 13:01
• Can you share with me what exactly happened when your husband went into cardiac arrest? And what can we do better? 20:47
• The experience of being in the hospital 28:42
• How did you manage being kicked out of the hospital? How long was he in the ICU and in the hospital for? 47:25
• The struggle starts for patients and families when they come home because now they don't have the same support system. Can you share some of those struggles? 55:10
• We are almost 21 months out from the cardiac arrest at this point. How are you both doing now? 1:02:14
• Spreading the message about sudden cardiac arrest and learning to do bystander CPR. 1:05:32
• Can you share a happy moment or memory since the cardiac arrest event? 1:11:15
• Flanary’s message to listeners 1:16:15
• Thank you, Kristin Flanary 1:18:32

Kristin Flanary, MA, is administrator and communications manager at Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education & Talent Development at the University of Iowa.

To read Flanary’s article in Journal of Cardiac Failure, click here: https://www.onlinejcf.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1071-9164%2821%2900403-6.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Bhardwaj at podcast@healio.com. Follow us on Twitter @HealioPulm @abhi_bhardwaj99. You can follow Kristin Flanary on Twitter @LGlaucomflecken.

Disclosures: Bhardwaj and Flanary report no relevant financial disclosures.