David Spero, RN
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About David Spero, R.N.Anna Satenstein, Education coordinator, Evergreen Hospital Medical Center, Kirkland, WA "David Spero is a dynamic speaker who engages his audience through theory, practice, and storytelling. His workshops are inspiring and practical." Denise Daniello, Alaska Fairbanks Education Center David Spero, RN is a 55-year-old nurse, journalist, activist and health educator living in San Francisco. He has taken care of people in a wide variety of settings, from hospitals to community health centers to home care. In 1989, as a father of two young children, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He had to learn something harder than taking care of other people: how to take care of himself. David became a health coach, working successfully with chronically ill people to maximize their health and their lives. He gives workshops for health care providers on building patients’ capacity for self-care. In this practice, he soon realized that health and illness are socially created – they come from the quality and difficulties of people’s lives. Working with people as individuals to change habits and behaviors is not nearly as effective as bringing people together to support each other, to change behaviors, lives, and environments. Teaching self-care led David to diabetes, the only condition in which Western medicine recognizes the importance of self-care. He has given talks and led workshops at diabetes clinics, hospitals, and community centers all over the country. He researched, read, and studied with great teachers. He discovered some important truths about diabetes, especially who gets it and why, who profits from it, and what we can do about it. He writes and speaks with anger about the people causing chronic illness, and with hope and inspiration about new approaches that can prevent it and treat it. In his book, classes and coaching, David provides paths over the obstacles that keep so many of us from taking care of ourselves. He counsels healthcare providers on more effective, social ways to help their patients – especially by working with them as equal and empowered partners. He leads wellness groups and support groups, and has co-written educational programs for people with arthritis, asthma, allergies, chronic pain, insomnia, and other conditions. David is currently on the faculty of New Health Partnerships: Improving Care by Involving Patients, a project of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He presented on "Activating Patients, Families and Community" at IHI's 2006 annual conference and has addressed three of the last four annual meetings of the American Association of Diabetes Educators. |
