Last Wednesday, our patient and caregiver community was fortunate to participate in an exclusive, online chat with Dr. Marc Gillinov ^[1], one of the leading heart valve surgeons from The Cleveland Clinic.

As this was our first, interactive chat with The Cleveland Clinic, I was curious (and a bit nervous) to receive feedback from their team following the event.

Well, I have some great news to report…

The Cleveland Clinic was very excited about your active participation in the live webchat titled, “Advancements in Heart Valve Surgery”.

Ethan (my son) says, “Great Job Everybody!”

According to The Cleveland Clinic team:

• The online chat was very well attended by our community of patients and caregivers. In fact, I learned that our chat was one of the most popular Health Chats held by The Cleveland Clinic this year.
• The Cleveland Clinic team was also impressed by the volume of questions you submitted before-and-during the chat. So you know, Dr. Gillinov did not have enough time to answer all of your questions during the chat. When the session ended, Dr. Gillinov still had 45+ questions to address.
• And, the TCC team was also impressed the detailed nature of your questions – which illustrated your research, your awareness and your acute sensitivity to the various, heart valve surgery topics discussed.

As a direct result of your interest and your incredible participation in this event, I think there is a great possibility that we may schedule similar chats in the future.

I want to thank you, The Cleveland Clinic’s Patient Education Team, its Information Technology Group and, of course, Dr. Gillinov!

In closing, the TCC team informed me that the chat transcript will be available in the next 2-3 weeks. When I receive a copy of the transcript, I will post an announcement here at my blog.

Again… Great, great, great job everybody!!!

Keep on tickin!