Cover Image: The Upside Down by Regina Holliday

This painting was created during a live conference session at the Telluride Patient Safety Summer Camp for medical and nursing students and resident physicians held in Turf Valley, Maryland, in July 2019. It reflects the importance of the secondary narrative that is often representative of the harmed patient’s perspective in health care. The hot-air balloons inspired by the first speaker’s slide are mirrored in the water by light bulbs symbolizing the progression of medical treatment. The visual of the forest reminds the viewer of the idea of not seeing the forest for the trees. The pins and needles in the trees are lost objects from surgery sites. The burning match refers to the thought that the best way to find a needle in a haystack is to burn the hay. The trees are reflected in the water as patient hands with hospital ID bracelets and wedding rings. This is representative of boiling down an identity to its essence. These items are all that remain on the bedridden patient. The birthdate on the center light bulb is a tribute to Lewis Blackman, the son of patient advocate Helen Haskell, and reminds us of what could have been.

Regina Holliday is an activist, artist, speaker and author who paints and speaks at health conferences from the patient point of view. She is part of the movement known as participatory medicine, a group that believes patients are partners with their provider, and that both should work together as a team.

Regina is a mother and a widow; she speaks about the benefits of health information technology and timely data access for patients due to her family loss. In 2009, she painted a series of murals depicting the need for clarity and transparency in medical records. This advocacy mission was inspired by her late husband, Frederick Allen Holliday II, and his struggle to get appropriate care during 11 weeks of continuous hospitalization at 5 facilities. Her paintings became part of the national debate on health care reform and helped guide public policy.

She also began an advocacy movement called The Walking Gallery. The gallery consists of medical providers and advocates who wear patient story paintings on the backs of business suits. Paint and patients, pills and policy all come together within The Walking Gallery of Healthcare. This “walking wall’ of 400+ individuals who wear personal patient narrative paintings on their backs is changing minds and opening hearts. They are attending medical conferences where often there isn’t a patient speaker on the dais or in the audience. They are providing a patient voice, and by doing so are changing the conversation. Her art studio, Salt & Pepper Studios LLC: Home of the Walking Gallery, is located in Western Maryland.

Regina’s speaker profile can be found at www.apbspeakers.com/speaker/regina-holliday. Her blog is at reginaholliday.blogspot.com, and she can be found on Facebook (www.facebook.com/regina.holliday) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/ReginaHolliday) as well.