Darlene lives in the Bloomington area with her husband, and they have one daughter and 2 grandchildren. Darlene is a retired Early Childhood Special Ed teacher. In 2003 during a simple procedure, a surgeon error occurred, and Darlene was left with a permanent colostomy. Since then, she has become a strong advocate in patient safety, hospital transparency, patient/ provider interactions, care team communication and being proactive in one’s health care.  Darlene is active on her local hospital patient/family committee and shares her story with new nurses advocating safety and stressing the critical importance of “if you see something, say something.”

 Darlene says "being a member of MAPS has given me an opportunity to share my story, advocate for others and hopefully change the process how hospitals and physicians deal with unplanned events. Patient safety and advocacy are priorities for me as well as patients and their families having positive experiences in both clinic and hospital settings".