Cheryl Van Epps

Hi, I am Cheryl Van Epps and I suffer from chronic nerve pain, sensory function impairments, and PTSD after I sustained a complex head injury in August 2012 and experienced poor quality of care. I'm mostly healed now, but I've lost all trust and faith in our US Health System- to the point I've dropped my health insurance. I do not wish to be touched, poked, or prodded again within a health system prioritizing business practices over patient safety and quality patient care.

Since my accident, my protective instincts as a mother, teacher, and coach kicked in and led me to become active in helping improve care at my local hospital and to fight for a federally funded, national health program- so that no one else experiences what I went through.

I fight for greater protections for patients, patient choice of an independent Patient Advocate, greater accountability of our health system and to redefine "Quality Patient Care" -according to the perspective of patients, not of the administrators of our system.

Besides my graduate-level education in Pathology and other biomedical sciences, my healthcare knowledge base is also informed by who I am: raised in a family of three generations of physicians. I know that our health system can perform better.

The fight to establish Patient Safety and Quality Patient Care will not be a sprint, nor a marathon, but a Movement that could take decades to accomplish. We must raise public awareness, organize, work efficiently and effectively, pace ourselves, and take the time to do self-care when needed. And most of all we must educate and train the next generations to continue this fight. I'm ready to join you in this fight- I'm living it.