“Within the unique story of each individual we find the answers," shared Bonnie Wesorick.  “To help patients achieve their highest quality of health, care providers must know their story."   

The first person in her extended family to attend college, Wesorick said her mother taught her to serve with compassion and encouraged her to go into the world to study and share her gifts. During the senior rotation of her nursing diploma program, Wesorick began to fully understand the importance of interprofessional collaboration in order create the best places to give and receive care.  As she further developed her belief that all care begins with doing what is best for the patient, she knew no one person, discipline, profession, setting, researcher, scientist or payer could assure quality care alone. 

“It is all of us working together," said Wesorick. “I decided to take what was in my heart, and in the hearts of so many others, and build my life’s work around it.”

Wesorick started her own health care solutions business to change the way health care is given and received.  Her strong connection to nursing education and practice eventually led Wesorick to Cynthia McCurren, dean and professor with the Kirkhof College of Nursing. Together, their efforts lead to establishing a center dedicated to sustaining Wesorick’s legacy as a health care transformation expert.   

“Bonnie recognized and acted upon the need for health care teams to come together to truly serve the patient. Establishing a center to continue this work in her honor was an incredible opportunity," shared McCurren.

Generous donors came forward, and the center opened its doors in 2012. Today, executive director, Evelyn Clingerman, leads the scholarly center where all professions come together to conduct and disseminate research and scholarly projects. Clingerman’s leadership has resulted in a remarkably unique center on the cutting edge.  Her vision is to become the most relevant center out there working to improve every aspect of person-centered care through interprofessional collaborations with students, faculty and the practice community.

“To connect academia and practice in this way is important for society and the future of health care,” shared Clingerman. “Basing care upon the patient’s story and the best evidence available for the situation stems from Bonnie’s wisdom. We need to do what is best for the person behind the chart.”

The Wesorick Center’s endowment allows it to operate in perpetuity while donors and community partners continue to provide gifts to expand the endowment and support operational needs, scholarly projects and high-impact events.  Wesorick actively contributes her expertise in many center activities, such as the annual Distinguished Wesorick Lectureship, the Interprofessional Institute for Polarity Thinking in Healthcare, and as an ex-officio to The Wesorick Center Advisory Board.     

When asked what The Wesorick Center means for students, Wesorick shared, “There can be no successful transformation at the point of care unless the place where one goes to learn about their profession is in partnership with the place they will live their profession.  Students working in The Wesorick Center will know they are not alone in their mission to serve.  They will find their unique way to contribute and improve outcomes just as I did.”