From Talking the Talk to Walking the Walk: Reflection on Dartmouth Health's Care Experience Week

Authors

• Rosie Bartel, Patient PartnerFollow
• Corey Kimpson, Patient PartnerFollow
• Tanya Lord, Patient PartnerFollow
• Victoria Lyons, Care Partner & StudentFollow
• Tony Serge, Patient PartnerFollow
• Brant Oliver, System Vice President for Care Experience, The Value Institute, Dartmouth HealthFollow

ORCID

Rosie Bartel: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6747-3393

Abstract

This article explores the participation of expert members from the Beryl Institute's Global Patient and Family Advisory Board (GPFAB) during Dartmouth Health's Care Experience Week, under the theme ``From Talking the Talk to Walking the Walk.'' This week aligns with the national Patient Experience Week. The Patient Family Advisor (PFA) presenters and authors of this article have shared their lived experience locally, nationally, and internationally through conferences, webinars, podcasts, videos, blogs, white papers, journal articles, books, and in many other ways for and as PFA members of a multitude of healthcare organizations co-create change that improves outcomes for all human beings. During this event, they emphasized the applications of co-design and coproduction in healthcare, not as theoretical ideals but as embedded operational practices. Drawing on powerful storytelling, structured sessions, and hands-on collaboration between leadership, staff, and patients, families, and care partners, the week advanced a model of human-centered care rooted in action. This article reflects on the insights gained, both affirming and challenging, and it offers practical pathways for embedding patient voice and lived experience at every level of the health system from the boardroom to the valet stand. In doing so, it underscores how the power of purposeful storytelling, inclusive patient and family advisory councils, and systemic co-design and coproduction can lead to real transformation in the patient and human experience.

Recommended Citation

Bartel R, Kimpson C, Lord T, Lyons V, Serge T, Oliver B. From Talking the Talk to Walking the Walk: Reflection on Dartmouth Health's Care Experience Week. Patient Experience Journal. 2026; 13(1):420-428. doi: 10.35680/2372-0247.2095.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.