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About Us
The
Empowered Patient™ Infection Defense Kits is dedicated to
empowering consumers with the finest, easiest to use and most
cost-effective available products and information so they can
team with their caregivers to protect themselves from
hospital-acquired infections, such as
MRSA, C-diff, and VRE.
These kits are meant to provide protection to consumers and
patients supplemental and complementary to that provided in
the health care setting, given that occasional deviations
from infection control practices happen in even the finest
hospitals, and that standards of cleanliness vary widely among
health-care settings nationwide.
Pat Mastors,
Company Founder and President
Pat has
spent more than 20 years as a news anchor, broadcast journalist
and medical reporter in Providence, Massachusetts and Maine.
In
August
of 2005 Pat’s father entered the hospital suddenly, for repair
of fractured vertebrae from a fall down the stairs.
He spent the
better part of the next sixth months there being treated for
various complications, including burst intestines. Pat was at
his bedside when he died in the hospital.
Pat began
investigating and researching the problem of infection in
hospitals. She found what she learned alarming on several
fronts: these infections prove fatal to some 100,000 people a
year; the problem is getting worse, not better; and most
patients and their families, like hers, seemed unaware of the
risk. She launched an informational website and approached her
local lawmakers about passing a state law mandating the public
reporting of hospital-acquired infections. Rhode Island’s
Hospital Infection Reporting Bill was signed by Governor Donald
Carcieri on July 1, 2008.
Pat serves
as consumer advisor on the steering committee that will guide
the implementation of RI’s infection reporting bill. She
continues to work to empower patients to help limit their
personal risk of contracting hospital-acquired infections.
Joseph F.
Amaral, MD, Medical Director
In his 25-year academic,
clinical and managerial career, Dr. Joseph Amaral has become
known for improving existing systems, processes and technologies
through a combination of innovative thinking, leadership and
collaboration. He has made significant and enduring achievements
in revitalizing a major regional healthcare institution,
exploring and developing new medical technologies, educating
international communities in new surgical procedures, and
creating environments where people realize their potential and
succeed. He is renowned as the pioneer
developer of ultrasound
technologies for cutting and coagulating tissue, a safer
alternative to electrosurgery. He is enthusiastic about
his leadership role in the “Empowered Patient” initiative of
engaging patients to partner responsibly with their hospital
caregivers to maximize healthy outcomes.
From 2000 to 2007, Dr. Amaral
was President and CEO of Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) and its
pediatric division Hasbro Children’s Hospital. This is the
state’s largest private employer, Brown University’s largest teaching
affiliate, and the third largest hospital in New England. His
focus on quality and safety garnered external recognition from
peer reviewers for RIH. The hospital was the recipient of The
Consumer Choice Award for six consecutive years.
Dr. Amaral is Professor of
Surgery at Brown University School of Medicine, member of 25+
professional societies, author of 80+ papers and book chapters
and has delivered 250+ national and international presentations.
Prior to becoming RIH President and CEO, Dr. Amaral was Chairman
of the Department of Surgery at Brown University School of
Medicine, Chief of Surgery at Rhode Island Hospital, President
of University Surgical Associates and Executive Chief of Surgery
at Lifespan Affiliated Hospitals.
Dr. Amaral is internationally
recognized as a pioneer in laparoscopic (minimally invasive)
surgery. He introduced these approaches to Rhode Island and New
England in 1990. He has performed approximately 3,000
laparoscopic procedures and trained hundreds of practicing
surgeons in these techniques throughout New England, broadly
across the U.S., and around the world. He has operated in 20
countries and on five continents.
Secretary Tommy Thompson,
Business Associate
One of the
finest products to hit Mastors’ “radar” was a revolutionary new
antimicrobial spray called
STAPHACIDE™. It is a
colorless, odorless, patented silver-based hard surface
antimicrobial disinfectant with
24-hour residual protection on applied surfaces against
MRSA and other infectious agents, yet it is safe enough to use
on children’s toys. Mastors approached Staphacide ™ TMM
Director, former US Health and Human Services Director Tommy G.
Thompson about putting this product in the kits. Thompson, whose
company’s goal is “…eradicating Staph, VRE, and MRSA”, saw
synergy between the goals of his company and Mastors’. The two
companies agreed to work together, so as to further their reach
in informing the public and eradicating health care infections.
Secretary Thompson has
enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public service.
Elected governor of Wisconsin in 1986, he was reelected in 1990,
and in 1994 became the first governor in the state’s history to
be elected to a third four-year term. In 1998, he was elected to
a fourth term, and served in that position until his appointment
as Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2001. As the Health
and Human Services Secretary, Thompson served as the nation’s
leading advocate for the health and welfare of all Americans. He
worked to modernize and add prescription drug coverage to
Medicare for the first time in the program’s history.
Additionally, Secretary Thompson is recognized for his
contributions to the U.S. response to the threat of bioterrorism
and other public health threats, as well as for his leadership
in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the United States and abroad as
chairman of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria.
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