We are Women’s offers the WCH community a chance to get to know each other and share our stories.
Name: Milo McAlister
Pronouns: They/them
Title & Department: Experience Advisor
On the WCH team for: About 6 months
1. What excites you the most about being an Experience Advisor at WCH?
The biggest thing that excites me about being an Experience Advisor at WCH is knowing that I’m making a difference in the lives of patients and prospective patients alike, and being able to represent marginalized folks like me and many others on these important projects and committees.
2. How does your work contribute to creating a positive patient experience?
My work contributes to a positive patient experience because it’s very important to have trans and queer voices at the table when discussing aspects of healthcare because the way the healthcare system and healthcare professionals engage with 2SLGBTQIA+ and transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming patients affects us in very specific ways that can be different to the rest of the population, so having folks who can offer their lived experience in these areas is very valuable, especially since WCH accepts patients of all genders! It’s awesome that WCH is doing so much good work with folks with lived experience of being marginalized, as these are the folks that are often most underrepresented in terms of sharing their lived experience at levels of engagement with higher levels of healthcare, so it’s so exciting to be a part of it here!
3. Describe an Experience Advisor opportunity you really enjoyed participating in and explain why it was important for you to participate.
One Experience Advisor opportunity that I really enjoyed participating in was studying how patients perceived and felt compassion/received compassionate care from their practitioners when receiving their appointment(s) via the computer (such as via Zoom or other videoconferencing). Since I live in Thunder Bay and rely on a lot of video-conferencing to reach certain doctors I have in Toronto and specifically at WCH, I definitely found that I had a lot of experience there! I also have a degree in psychology, so I found the whole concept and idea very interesting! It was an awesome experience!
4. Tell us one (or three) thing(s) that others would be surprised to learn about you?
- I’m Metis!
- I am married to my husband Ian, and we have a long-haired Chihuahua named Yoda!
- I have flown alone three separate times to the United Kingdom (Cardiff, Wales and London, England, plus one time I visited both in the same trip!) to attend Doctor Who conventions/events, and I got to meet a lot of the cast and see a lot of behinds the scenes stuff! I also have three Doctor Who tattoos!