Inaugural Nancy Griffin Award Presented to Parent Advocate Angela Young

Nancy Minnick-Griffin was a beloved longtime QI specialist for PR-COIN at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital before losing her life to cancer in 2022.Nancy was well known and loved for her joyful and positive attitude, her ability to improve the mood in any environment, her expansive knowledge, and her generosity with her time. Nancy was a nurse by training and widely recognized as a leader in QI at Cincinnati Children’s, where she educated, coached, and mentored many individuals and teams. She encouraged teams to always focus on the outcome of improving care and the lives of patients and families.

Many others in the PR-COIN family have shared about the impact of Nancy’s life and work. Close friend and colleague Janalee Taylor remembers Nancy “was always willing to take on a challenge and provide alternative points of view or reflections. This was always done in a constructive and positive manner… She had a unique ability to combine her improvement expertise with the human touch, caring, and compassion to all.”

Esi Morgan MD, MSCE, founding member and Principal Investigator for the PR-COIN network, said that because of Nancy, “the course of illness for many children was changed and their arthritis under better control, experiencing less pain and better function due to her work supporting the quality improvement work of so many teams.”

Longtime PR-COIN member Ron Laxer, MD enjoined PR-COIN Leadership in developing an award in Nancy’s name to honor her contributions and to recognize a PR-COIN member making an important impact. A founding PR-COIN Parent Advocate, Angela Young (read her son’s story here) of Cincinnati Children’s, was named the first recipient of the PR-COIN Nancy Griffin Award at the Fall 2023 Learning Session.

Angela was nominated for her important contributions to JIA patients and families through her work with PR-COIN. As the first parent involved, she began recruitment of other parents into the network. Angela contributed abundantly to parent engagement in PR-COIN and research projects, from participation in development of Shared Decision-Making cards and the Helping Hands Handbook, to designing and conducting parent surveys, and creating inspirational videos. Angela will be stepping down as her JIA child transitions to adult care and we are so grateful for her.

Angela remembers when she first started with PR-COIN, that Nancy offered for her to stay at her home for the night even though they had never met. “Throughout my time with PR-COIN, Nancy was always very encouraging and tried to always encourage parents and patients and make us feel our involvement was vital to the work that was being done.“

Esi Morgan said the award is meant to recognize someone who really embodied the spirit of Nancy’s joyful work for quality improvement and who has also contributed to the network. Angela came right to mind as she stepped right in and contributed to shared decision-making cards. She was also involved in developing the Helping Hands Handbook, championing health literacy.

Parent Working Group leader Kerry Ferraro said that without Angela, there wouldn’t be a parent group. “She was the first parent, and she brought all the parents together. She found all of them and connected them together and encouraged them to attend learning sessions. She is really the most deserving in the network.

PR-COIN is so much richer because of both Nancy’s and Angela’s contributions, and they have and will continue to inspire many more.