Megan Gargiulo, MPH
In June, PPMC welcomed Megan Gargiulo, MPH, as manager of Patient and Guest Relations. She oversees the team responsible for assuring that patients and families have a positive experience while in the hospital or at any of the Penn Presbyterian facilities. This includes answering questions, managing grievances, and helping connect patients with providers.
“My role is to ensure we’re providing exceptional care, and that every interaction with patients and families is meaningful,” Gargiulo said.
We asked Gargiulo three questions about her job and life outside of work. Here’s what we learned:
1. What inspires you most about your job?
Every day I come into work knowing I want to make a difference in at least one person’s life, whether that involves answering a question, addressing a concern they may have, or facilitating communication between a patient and a physician. Knowing I can positively impact just one person’s life each day is really what brings me joy in this position.
2. Can you share something from your personal life or work experience that helps you in this role?
When my son was 8 years old, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and over the last 10 years, I’ve spent a lot of time in physicians’ offices. In the beginning, we spent a lot of time just trying to figure out what was wrong with him, because his disease is so rare. I remember at that time kind of breaking down and saying to the doctor, ‘I just want to know what’s wrong with my son.’ I spent a lot of time advocating for him. He was diagnosed in 2012 and I started working in a patient relations advocacy role in 2013. The experiences I had managing my son’s health care really inspired me to work in this field.
3. What would your coworkers be surprised to learn about you?
I’m an excellent tap dancer. I started dancing at the age of 2. I was a dance teacher from the time I was 13 until I was pregnant with my oldest, at 25. After I had my third child, I went back into dancing for a very long time. I gave it up about three years ago because I was traveling to Newark, New Jersey for work every day. Now that I’m closer to home, I may pick it up again.