Rosie Bartel

Wisconsin

Rosie Bartel is a wife, mother, grandmother and an educator. With degrees in elementary education, K- 12 Special Education, school leadership and theology, she has been a teacher, a public and Catholic school principal, parish and diocesan religious education director and an area manager for KinderCare. Today, Rosie is a patient advisor and advocate.

She first became a patient advocate in 1978 when her daughter was born two months premature. She developed patient advocate and advisor skills at that time but never thought those skills would someday be used to advocate for herself and others. But in August of 2009 she underwent a total right knee replacement that developed into a MRSA staph infection. This healthcare acquired infection has led to 55 surgeries, over 150 hospitalizations, 100 blood transfusions, a right leg amputation six inches above the knee, then two years later a total hip amputation with the removal of some of her pelvic bone.

As she continues to battle this infection in her body, her spirit of giving drives her to share her story of survival. Everyday she uses the story of her journey to advise or advocate for others. She believes in helping patients and caregivers find their voices. As a educator, she used stories to teach children and adults. Today, she uses her story to teach medical professionals and researchers and to advise and advocate for patients and their caregivers.

One of the areas Rosie was very involved in as an educator was data driven outcomes. Her background in data and metrics has led her to be interested in the use of data in the medical profession. She is especially interested in patient portals and Open Notes. She believes that the quality and use of data collected in these areas will lead to better outcomes for patients and their families. If you think about it, Rosie’s background is a good match in this area. As an educator her students and their families were her patients and their families, and the teaching staff members were her medical professionals and researchers. Good outcomes in both cases are driven by the quality of the data and how it is used by the relative professionals.

Rosie has taken her situation and uses it to help patients and families. She wants a world without serious infections. She feels the best way to accomplish that is to do what she does best, which is to teach medical professionals, researchers, patients and families. She also believes that this cannot be accomplished without excellent data that can drive patient and family outcomes.