Laura Batz Townsend and her family have turned heartbreak and loss into the promise of improved safety for hospital patients in San Antonio and across the country. Laura grew up in the medical community of San Antonio, with five physicians in her family. Laura entered the sports marketing and sports grant management field, where she has worked for 13 years. That family medical background combined with Laura’s organizational and development skills equipped her family to create the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation in the hope that others could avoid the family tragedy they experienced upon the untimely loss of their mother.
On April 14, 2009, my mother, Louise Batz, went to the hospital to have routine knee replacement surgery. Sadly, the night following her surgery, a preventable medical error caused her to sustain an injury from which she could not recover. In her memory, Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation was established with the mission to help prevent medical errors by ensuring that patients and families have the knowledge they need to promote a safe hospital experience for their loved ones, and to support innovative advancements in patient safety.
Laura’s hope is that families, patients, and caregivers will work together as a Team to improve safety in our hospitals. The Foundation has worked with major hospitals in San Antonio and medical systems from across the country to successfully develop safety initiatives to reduce preventable medication errors.