"The Other Side of the Chart: Lived Experience as Clinical Intelligence" with guest speaker Erica Olenski, BCPA, CPXP, eFACHDM
On September 30, the 2026 Sr. Charles Marie Frank Endowed Lecture welcomed over 500 aspiring healthcare practitioners, students, faculty and guests to the UIW McCombs Center Rosenberg Sky Room. Hosted by the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions (SNHP), the event provided an opportunity for current SNHP and UIW health professions students and faculty to showcase their healthcare-related research through poster presentations. Attendees also heard from this year's distinguished guest speaker, Erica Olenski BCPA, CPXP, eFACHDM who delivered the keynote lecture "The Other Side of the Chart: Lived Experience as Clinical Intelligence.”
What happens when we look beyond the diagnosis, the data and the documentation and consider what healthcare actually feels like to the person experiencing it?
Erica Olenski brought a rare perspective to that question. A nationally recognized healthcare strategist, patient advocate and nonprofit leader, Erica has spent her career working at the intersection of healthcare innovation, patient experience, communications, technology, policy and system design. Her perspective is also deeply personal. For seven years, she served as the primary caregiver and care coordinator for her son, August, navigating recurrent metastatic brain cancer, stroke, multi-system disability, hospital care, home health, hospice and the complexities of coordinating care across numerous healthcare professionals and systems.
Olenski's topic extended well beyond nursing, providing a highly valuable insight for professionals across the healthcare spectrum. Drawing from her experience as her son's caregiver, she offered a deeply personal perspective on navigating the healthcare system while caring for a child with complex medical needs. She beautifully illustrated the responsibilities, challenges, and emotional realities of being a caregiver.
“Ms. Olenski described the Monarch Model of healthcare as a system that places the lived experience at the center to guide how healthcare organizations can deploy technology and systems to create solutions that truly work for real patients and caregiver,” shared Ruben Flores III admissions coordinator for SNHP.
Ms. Olenski delivered a powerful message that challenges healthcare professions across different disciplines to recognize the human experience as an essential part of healthcare and to create systems that not only treat illness, but also support dignity, connection, healing and hope.
This annual event is held in honor of Sr. Charles Marie Frank, CCVI, who earned one of the first Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees in the late 1930s. Founded in 1931, the Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions (SNHP) became the first accredited school west of the Mississippi River to offer a baccalaureate degree in nursing and the first in the region to confer degrees to women. Since its founding, SNHP has remained committed to its mission of extending the healing ministry of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, through the education and preparation of healthcare professionals, continuing to equip future generations of nurses to serve their communities with compassion and excellence.