Patient Safety Summit – Dave Dravecky speaker spotlight



The DFW Hospital Council (DFWHC) Foundation’s 11th Annual Patient Safety Summit is less than a month away on August 13-14 at the Arlington Convention Center.

Opening the second day of the event on August 14 is Dave Dravecky, the former MLB pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. At the peak of his career, Dave was sadly diagnosed with cancer, his successful rookie season cut short by the removal of half of the deltoid muscle in his pitching arm.

After battling cancer, Dave came back a year later to defy the odds and pitch once again in the major leagues. Despite being told by his doctors he would never play again, he pitched a 4-3 win for San Francisco that day.

Sadly, his comeback was short-lived as five days later he threw “the pitch that could be heard round the world,” suffering a devastating injury causing his arm to split in two. Cancer had returned, yet again. Following retirement, the arm along with his shoulder blade and the left side of his collarbone had to be amputated for fear the cancer would spread. The devastating loss of his childhood dream would become a platform to share hope with the suffering around the world.

Today, Dave details the challenges he’s faced and discusses his lessons learned on how to navigate loss and suffering, and how to experience hope. He will talk about his months of treatment and the significance of relationships with co-workers, family members and anyone else on ‘your team.’

The Patient Safety Summit serves as an opportunity for hospital employees to discuss past errors and to make strategic plans to keep them from happening again. More than 350 attendees are expected to participate, including healthcare employees, nurses, patient safety advocates, chief nursing officers and hospital executives.

The agenda can be found here.

You can register here.

Sponsorships can be found here.

For information, contact Patti Taylor at ptaylor@dfwhcfoundation.org or 972-719-4900.