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A Message from our Founder
Dear Reader:
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MITSS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Janet Bean,
MBA
James B.
Conway
Frank
Federico, R.Ph.
John A.
Fromson, MD
G. Eric
Knox, MD
Lucian
Leape, MD
Susan
LaFarge, Psy.D.
Jane Martin
Dorothy
Upson McCabe, RN, MS, M.Ed.
Karen
Moore, RN, MS, CHE
Paul R.
Mordarski, Esq.
Martin van Pelt
Frederick
A. van Pelt, MD, MBA - Board Chairman
Linda K.
Kenney - President, Executive Director
MITSS STAFF
Winifred N.
Tobin - Communications Director |
My name
is Linda Kenney and I am a survivor of a
medically
induced trauma. In November of 1999, at the age of
thirty seven, I underwent surgery for a total ankle
replacement at a major medical facility in Boston,
Massachusetts. Instead of waking up with a new ankle, I
awoke several days later to find out the nerve block had
been accidentally delivered to my heart and I had gone
into full cardiac arrest. Emergency open heart
surgery was performed to restart my heart and at that
point there was a 50/50 chance I would make it through
the night. This incident has had a profound effect on
myself, my family and all those involved.
The
anesthesiologist reached out to me right away and in
time we came to an understanding, a peace and a
friendship. The hospital itself was another
matter. I made several attempts to contact the
hospital seeking support or other patients with similar
circumstances and my calls were never returned. I am
committed to ensure that support exists for other
patients.
I am committed to alerting hospital
administrators and staff of the need to follow up and
support patients, families and hospital staff after a
trauma occurs. Support is crucial to facilitate
recovery. MITSS has been founded
specifically to provide a network that links those
involved with resources that provide and promote healing
through a variety of media.
If you are the
survivor of a medically induced trauma or know of
someone who is I ask you to give us a call, or contact us here and begin the journey of healing.
Sincerely,
Linda Kenney
MITSS Board of Directors
 Janet Bean, MBA
Janet Bean is a Finance and Compliance manager for a division of Bank of America. She has been employed in various management positions within Bank of America and its predecessors for more than 10 years. Prior to that Janet was a Management Information Systems manager with a technology company.
Janet graduated with a BA in Math & Economics from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and earned an MBA from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Janet resides in Walpole, Massachusetts, with her husband, Garry and is active as a volunteer for the Walpole Community Food Pantry.
 James B. Conway
Jim Conway is Senior
Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement [IHI]
and Senior Consultant at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute [DFCI]. From 1995-2005, he served as Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of DFCI.
Prior to joining Dana-Farber, he had a 27-year career at
Children’s Hospital, Boston in Radiology Administration,
Finance, and as Assistant Hospital Director for Patient
Care Services. His areas of expertise and interest
include executive leadership, patient safety, change
management, and patient-/ family-centered care.
He holds a Master of
Science degree from Lesley College, Cambridge, MA and
has received their Community Service Award. An Adjunct
Faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health,
Jim is the 2001 winner of the first Individual
Leadership Award in Patient Safety by the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
(JCAHO) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance
(NCQA). A Diplomat of the American College of Healthcare
Executives, he received their 1999 Massachusetts Regents
Award as Healthcare Executive of the Year. He is a
member of the IOM Committee on Identifying and
Preventing Medication Errors, is an Advisor to the
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical
Errors, a Distinguished Advisor to the National Patient
Safety Foundation, and a member of the JCAHO Sentinel
Event Alert Advisory Group. Conway is Chairman of the
Board of the Health Care Dimensions Hospice, a member of
the Clinical Issues Advisory Council of the
Massachusetts Hospital Association, a member of the
executive committee of the Medical, Academic and
Scientific Community Organization (MASCO), a board
member of Medically Induced Trauma Support Services
(MITSS), and a longtime member of the board of the
Ronald McDonald House in Boston.
 Frank Federico, R.Ph.
Frank Federico, R.Ph. is a Director at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He focuses on patient safety, reliability in the office setting and reducing peri-natal harm. Prior to joining IHI, Mr. Federico was the Program Director of the Office Practice Evaluation Program and a Loss Prevention/Patient Safety Specialist at Risk Management Foundation (RMF) of the Harvard Affiliated Institutions in Cambridge, MA. He, along with a team of nurse surveyors, developed a compendium of effective practices to reduce risk and harm in the office setting. Mr. Federico is one of the Executive Producers of First, Do No Harm, Part 2: Taking the Lead. He served as Director of Pharmacy at Children's Hospital, Boston. While in that position, he was co-chair of a quality improvement team charged with revamping the medication system and chaired the Adverse Drug Event Subcommittee. Mr. Federico has worked with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston since 1996 as a faculty member and Co-chair of a number of Adverse Drug Event Collaboratives.
 John A. Fromson, MD
John A. Fromson is
chairman of the department of psychiatry at MetroWest
Medical Center, the largest full-service community
teaching hospital system between Worcester and Boston,
Massachusetts. He is also the physician editor of the
New England Journal of Medicine’s online CareerCenter
Resource Center. His primary clinical and research
activities have centered on issues relating to physician
and medical student health and patient safety. He was
the founding director and served as president of
Physician Health Services, the primary program in
Massachusetts that aids in the prevention,
identification, referral to treatment, and monitoring of
physicians and medical students with substance use
disorders, mental health issues, and physical illness.
He currently chairs the American Psychiatric
Association’s Committee on Physician Health, Illness and
Impairment, is co-chair of the American Academy of
Addiction Psychiatry’s Committee on Physician Health,
and is a past president of the Federation of State
Physician Health Programs.
Dr. Fromson is also
president of the Massachusetts Coalition for the
Prevention of Medical Errors. Initiated in 1997 as one
of the first coalitions of its kind in the country, it
is a statewide collaborative effort to improve patient
safety and minimize medical errors. The Coalition’s 54
members include professional, consumer, and advocacy
groups, policymakers, hospitals, state and federal
agencies, health plans, and insurers. Dr. Fromson
chaired its Restraint Consensus Group that developed the
first statewide best practices for creating restraint
free environments in hospitals, long term care, and
psychiatric facilities.
He is a member of the
board of the Massachusetts Peer Review Organization
(MassPRO), the Boston Medical Library, Medically Induced
Trauma Support Services (MITSS), and serves on the
Massachusetts Governor’s Task Force on Prison Reform
Medical Review Panel. He is also a trained facilitator
of the Stanford Faculty Development Center’s End-of-Life
Care Program and served on the Executive Committee of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts End-of-Life Commission
and on the board of the Massachusetts Compassionate Care
Coalition.
A graduate of New York
Medical College, he interned in the Departments of
Medicine and Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, at
the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He completed a
residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in child and
adolescent psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School, at the Massachusetts Mental
Health Center. There he also served as a chief resident.
Doctor Fromson is certified by the American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology in psychiatry, child
psychiatry, and has added qualifications in addiction
psychiatry. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American
Psychiatric Association and Fellow of the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Doctor Fromson is an
Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard
Medical School.
G. Eric Knox, MD
 Dr. Eric Knox is the former Director of Patient Safety and Risk Management, Children's Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis and St. Paul. While at Children's he led the developmental team that created and implemented the organization's anonymous patient safety reporting, knowledge-management and story based learning network. Under his leadership, Children's Hospitals and Clinics was a finalist for the AHA McKesson award for building a culture of safety in 2002.
Prior to joining Children's, Dr. Knox was President and Chief Medical Officer of Obstetrix Medical Group, Inc., a for-profit publicly traded national group practice of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialists. Before Obstetrix, he founded Minnesota Perinatal Specialists and actively practiced Maternal-Fetal Medicine for 22 years.
Dr. Knox is a professor of OB-GYN at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. His research and consulting has focused on High Reliability and Teamwork in preventing Perinatal Injury and malpractice claims. He has published over 100 articles concerning clinical practice and management of clinical risk. Currently, he is doing multidisciplinary qualitative research on patterns of nurse-physician communication and their effect on patient injury in obstetrics.
From 1985-1997, Dr. Knox served as the Medical Director of MMI Companies, Inc., a medical malpractice insurer and clinical risk management group that served hospital, physician and health plan clients throughout the United States, the UK, Germany and Australia. He has given over 200 lectures and seminars to nurses, physicians and governing boards on all aspects of managing clinical risk and creating patient safety. He was a founding board member of the National Patient Safety Foundation and currently is a member of advisory boards of the St. Paul Companies and Farmer's Insurance Group and consults actively with TIG, MCIC Vermont (a university based medical malpractice insurance captive) and healthcare organizations throughout the United States.
Susan LaFarge, Psy.D.
Susan LaFarge (slafarge@mitss.org) received her Doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in June of 2004. Dr. LaFarge attended The University of Massachusetts at Amherst for her B.S. in Psychology. Throughout her graduate training she worked with a variety of populations including chronic mentally adults, underprivileged children and families in a community mental health center, and with adolescents in an urban middle school. Dr. LaFarge has worked with adolescents in a court clinic setting. Prior to graduate school, Dr. LaFarge worked for many years with abused and neglected infants and toddlers and their families as a direct caregiver. She later served as Assistant Director of the Parents' Center at Saltonstall House in Boston. Throughout her life, both personally and professionally, Dr. LaFarge has had an increasing interest in two main areas: the strength of mind-body connection and the empowerment of the disenfranchised. Dr. LaFarge serves as a clinical consultant to MITSS, and she provides the intake coordination and facilitates the patient and family educational support groups.
Lucian L. Leape, MD
 Lucian Leape is an Adjunct Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard in 1988, he was Professor of Surgery and Chief of Pediatric Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine. He has been an outspoken advocate of the nonpunitive systems approach to the prevention of medical errors and the need to make patient safety a national priority. Dr. Leape was one of the founders of the National Patient Safety Foundation, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Error, and the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Session on Medical Error. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine's Quality of Care in America Committee, which published
'To Err is Human' in 1999 and 'Crossing the Quality Chasm' in 2001. He has published over 100 papers on quality of care and patient safety. In 2004, he received the John Eisenberg Patient Safety Award from the JCAHO and National Quality Forum, and Modern Healthcare named him as one of the 100 most powerful people in health care.
 Jane Martin
Jane comes to MITSS with a unique perspective on patient safety as she experienced first hand, through the loss of her unborn child, the inherent trauma associated with a medical error. She was a member of the first MITSS Support Group and her dedication and interest in this area have since become focused on advocating for changes that improve patient safety and providing support for those who have had similar experiences.
Jane's career has encompassed many varied positions; beginning as a Court Officer in Concord District Court. She then left the workforce to stay at home and raise her 2 daughters. While her children were young she volunteered her time with the Concord Public Schools, Girl Scouts, Buddy Dog Humane Society, and the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry. Jane returned to college full-time in 1993 to obtain a Computer Specialist Certificate while also holding a part-time job in the retail sector. She then began her own company Helping Hands that provided Word Processing and Mass Mailing services. Jane's latest endeavor is an internet based business selling antiques and collectibles as well as teaching classes to others on marketing their items. She is also in the process of writing a cookbook specialized in baking. Jane lives in Concord with her husband Joseph, and their 2 daughters Heather and Sarah.
 Dorothy Upson McCabe, RN, MS,
M.Ed.
Dorothy currently serves as the Director of Nursing and Career Services at the Massachusetts Nurses' Association. In this capacity, she acts as a consultant in the areas of practice, standards of care, guidelines for safe nursing practice, career advisement, and regulatory issues that impact the nurse in the workplace. Dorothy is an experienced nurse educator and manager, having worked for many years in the areas of quality improvement and education of registered nurses in the acute care setting.
Dorothy received a Masters Degree in Medical-Surgical Nursing from Boston University, a Masters of Education in Counseling from Rhode Island College, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Boston College. She is a board member for the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, Advisory Board for Boston Works.com, and Quinsigamond Community College. Dorothy is also a member of the Massachusetts Nurses' Association and Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society for Nurses.
Dorothy is an accomplished speaker, having presented nationally on a variety of subjects in the field of staff education, quality improvement, and management. Between 1998 and 1999 alone, she delivered 58 presentations on Medication Errors with a focus toward prevention.
 Karen Moore, RN, MS, FACHE
Karen Moore
currently is the Vice President of Hospital Operations
for Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, MA, which is
part of the Baystate Health. Her previous experience
also includes the role of Vice President of Patient Care
Services at FMC as well as interim President at FMC.
Previous positions include Vice President of Patient
Care Services at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital,
Brattleboro, VT, and Vice President of Nursing and
Clinical Support Services at Fairlawn Rehabilitation
Hospital in Worcester, MA. Ms. Moore has been in Nursing
for 27 years, including 19 years in senior Hospital
Administration. She has a long-term interest in clinical
and administrative decision- making models, Healing
Environments, labor relations and staffing resource
strategies. Ms. Moore was the recent recipient of the
Extraordinary Service Award given out by the
Massachusetts Hospital Association in recognition of her
leadership in developing “Patients First” a voluntary
initiative to promote transparency, cooperation and
supportive work environments by Massachusetts hospitals.
Karen recently stepped down as President of the
Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives (MONE)
and continues to serve on the board. Ms Moore is a
Fellow with the American College of Health Care
Executives.
 Paul R. Mordarski, Esq.
Paul R. Mordarski is a partner with the Boston
law firm of Morrissey, Hawkins & Lynch. Paul received
his law degree from the New England School of Law,
graduating cum laude in 1992. He obtained two Bachelor
of Science degrees from Boston College in 1989, one in
Physics and a second in Mathematics. While at New
England, Paul was awarded the New England Scholar Award
for superior academic achievement. He joined Morrissey,
Hawkins & Lynch in 1992, and he has served as President
of the Mansfield Chapter of the Business Network
International. Paul's areas of expertise include civil
litigation, business planning, and construction law. He
has been with MITSS since its inception and served as
MITSS counsel in planning and setting up the non-profit
corporation. Paul is the father of four children, and
currently resides with his wife Kalana, in Mansfield,
Massachusetts.
 Marten van Pelt
Marten van Pelt is currently Marketing Director for the
Communications & High Tech practice of Accenture, a $17B
global business and technology consulting firm. As a
member of the C&HT marketing leadership team, Marten is
responsible for several areas including
opportunity-centric marketing, where he focuses on
working with the sales team in driving marketing efforts
to help win major, $100M+ outsourcing relationships. In
addition, Marten leads a team in developing and driving
the C&HT practice’s client-centric marketing efforts.
Finally, Marten is also responsible for the interactive
and outsourcing marketing teams.
Marten has enjoyed a distinguished and multi-faceted
career in marketing, advertising, product and business
development, working with various Fortune 500 companies.
He holds an MBA from the London Business School and a
B.A. from Syracuse University.
 Frederick A. van Pelt, MD, MBA
Board Chairman
Dr. van Pelt attended Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. After spending a year as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health, he spent two years as a surgical resident before transitioning into and finishing a residency and fellowship in anesthesiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Throughout his medical training, Dr. van Pelt developed an interest improving patient care and service. Dr. van Pelt went on to attend Harvard Business School to develop further the skills necessary to serve as an effective leader at the institutional and industry levels. Since completing his MBA in 1999, Dr. van Pelt has been actively involved in healthcare improvement initiatives, including patient safety, in academic and private healthcare settings as well as in the healthcare industry. He is currently on staff at the Brigham and Women's Hospital serving both clinical and administrative functions.
MITSS Executive
Committee
 Linda K. Kenney
President/Executive Director
Linda Kenney (lkenney@mitss.org)is an activist for patient, family and clinician rights, an educator and a public speaker on patient safety. Linda founded MITSS as the result of a personal experience with medical trauma, when she identified the need for support services in cases of adverse events and outlined agenda for change. She is currently involved in extensive outreach regarding the need for and availability of MITSS services, speaking at various forums on the topic, providing therapeutic groups for patients and family members, and enlisting the participation of various medical disciplines. She also oversees the day-to-day operation of the non-profit corporation in an administrative capacity.
Ms. Kenney serves on the Boards of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors and Consumers Advancing Patient Safety, and is a member of the Planning Committee for 2006 NPSF Congress. Her article, "To Err is Human; The Need for Trauma Support Is, Too; A Story of the Power of Patient/Physician Partnership After a Sentinel Event", co-written with colleague Frederick van Pelt, was published in the January/February 2005 edition of the Journal of Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare.
 Winifred N. Tobin
Communications Director
Winifred N. Tobin (wtobin@mitss.org) joined MITSS in the winter of 2003 as the Director of Fundraising, concentrating her efforts on marketing and event planning. Winnie received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree, with a Concentration in Marketing, Magna Cum Laude from the Suffolk University School of Management in Boston, Massachusetts. She also received a Certificate in Paralegal Studies from Northeastern University. She was employed for ten years as a paralegal at the law firm of Snyder and Sweeney among whose specialties included health care law. She was also employed by the law firm of Powers and Hall as the assistant to a senior trial attorney specializing in medical malpractice defense litigation. More recently, she worked as a paralegal with the law firm of Tobin & Tobin, P.C. Winnie is a strong advocate for patient safety and is passionately committed to furthering the MITSS mission of "Supporting Healing and Restoring Hope" to all those impacted by medical errors and adverse outcomes.
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