When Knowledge Isn't Enough: Speaker Biographies

Sheila Brune is a registered nurse with over 40 years of experience in healthcare.  She is currently Director of Service Excellence at CGH Medical Center in Sterling, Illinois.  Sheila is certified in Case Management and Healthcare Quality, and is a recent graduate of the University of St. Francis with a master’s degree in health services administration. 

In 2001 following the death of her father as a result of a sentinel event, Sheila discovered a need to be an advocate for patients and their families.  She worked as a Quality Director for several years following her father’s death.  She approached risk management and patient advocacy with compassion and empathy.  She absolutely believes in being honest and saying “I’m sorry” after bad things happen. 

In 2007 Illinois Provider Trust presented Sheila with the Sidney A. Gross Risk Management Award for her dedication to education of nurses, students, physicians and healthcare leaders.  Sheila shares a painful story of her father’s death, and the lessons learned, in hopes that others will never have to go through what she and her family did. 

Sherry Worsham is a 2009 graduate of Harvard University with a Master of Liberal Arts Degree in Extension Studies and a Psychology Concentration.  Sherry’s mother was the victim of medical error.  Unable to find practical information related to the tragedy of medical error or helpful strategies for coping with the aftermath of medical error injury, she sought to understand this overwhelming event.

Harvard’s world-renown faculty and vast resources supported her investigation of the complex issues embedded in the delivery of medical care, the complex nature of medical error, and the even more complex response of human beings to traumatic events.  The focal point of her research was an exploratory investigation of the impact of medical error from the perspective of the family members of the injured. 

Sherry is a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves as a gifted education consultant for a Nashville area school district.  She and her best friend, Gary Worsham, have been married for thirty-two years.