 |
Donald Cecchi, EsqExclusive Representation
Keynote Fee : Up to $5,000 plus expenses Fee Note Travels From: NY |
Topics
- Cancer
- Compassion Fatigue
- Speakers Under $5,000
Formats
- Keynote
- Half Day
Programs
Taking Control, Managing Illness, and Keeping Your Sense of Humor: A Guide to Being a Patient & CaregiverAn optimist with a "can-do" attitude, Don believes that people must be empowered to take control and manage their care. A survivor of multiple cancers and primary caregiver for several family members and friends, Don has combined his extensive senior management and operations expertise, and legal skills, with his own personal medical and caregiving experiences to share the lessons he has learned and the knowledge he has acquired. He has developed a thorough, unique and very personal project management approach to the challenges of effectively navigating the labyrinth of medical care which incorporates the perspectives, suggestions and opinions of doctors, nurses, administrators and other patients. Informative, humorous, inspirational and passionate, he shares what has to be done from the time patients first see a doctor through their hospital stays and their eventual recovery and return to home and work.
A Medical Miracle: Surviving CancerNow in excellent health, and with his sense of humor securely intact, Don is a survivor of five different cancers: basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, two bilateral types of renal cancer and prostate cancer, as well as bilateral benign neck tumors - all within an eight year period. He has been described as "a statistic" by the Director of the National Cancer Institute and a "medical anomaly" by the NCI Director of Urologic Oncology. During his own illnesses, he was also a caregiver for his sister, who died of cancer, and for his brother, who died of Alzheimer's disease. Combining his experiences as a patient, an NIH research subject, and a caregiver, with his expertise as a senior manager, Don's knowledge will help cancer patients and their caregivers to get the best possible care. And he is living proof that .cancer is no longer the death knell it once was.
Reducing Corporate Healthcare CostsEmployees lose billions of dollars every year in escalating costs of health plans, lost time and reduced productivity as a result of employee illness or caregiver responsibilities. Don's solution is simple: teach individuals a project management approach to deal with medical and caregiving events. Drawing upon his years as a senior manager and director of operations, Don provides practical, targeted information about how to prepare for and deal with the complexities of medical care. The benefits are widespread: employees benefit personally; their on-the-job productivity is increased because their stress levels are lower; and employer costs can be significantly reduced. In cooperation with corporate managers and HR personnel, Don tailors his presentations and workshops to address the specific issues which individual corporations and their employees confront.
The Patient/Doctor RelationshipThe ideal medical situation is one in which a doctor and a patient have a true partnership; increasingly, doctors welcome these partnerships. If the partnership is to be successful, however, patients must actively participate and take responsibility for certain aspects of their care which, studies have shown, enable patients to do much better medically and psychologically. Now in excellent health, Don was treated by no less than 50 doctors for five different cancers and other illnesses from 1993-2001; in 2001, alone, he had more than 70 medical appointments and procedures, and spent 14 days at the NIH. With passion and humor, he shares his experiences and knowledge with audiences: what patient responsibilities are; how to develop meaningful relationships; how best to prepare for doctors' appointments and hospital stays; how to deal with medical staff; and how to organize the return to home and work.
Compassion, Fatigue, and CopingIllness not only affects patients, it impacts their families as well. At these times, the ideal situation would be for patients and caregivers to have fully functional psychological capabilities and organizational skills. Unfortunately, the emotional and physical demands they confront often leave them overwhelmed, fatigued, intimidated, frustrated, frightened and, sometimes, angry and depressed. All patients or caregivers must find their own way to deal with illness and its uncertainty. However, they can minimize these stresses by learning from the experiences and knowledge of others. As a survivor of multiple cancers, Don uses compassion, inspiration and humor to share his experiences and helps people to discover their own ways to cope, persevere and continue with life. His personal survival skills and mechanisms, his do's and don'ts, and his recounting of his varied emotional responses serve as an example of what can be done.
Speaker Information
A born storyteller, Don Cecchi offers instructive, personal and humorous examples of medical situations run amok, how he handled them, and how he dealt with the day-to-day pitfalls and problems of illness. He has developed a unique "project management" approach to navigating the complexities of medical care, applicable in all situations including chronic illness, which combines his extensive background in senior management and operations, and law, with his own experiences as a patient and caregiver.
Cecchi has over 25 years of experience as a Senior Manager, Director of Planning and Operations and a lawyer in both the private and public sectors. His prior positions include General Counsel, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Assistant Commissioner of the New York City Department of Economic Development; and Director, Planning and Operations, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
A specialist in reorganization, strategic planning and business development, Cecchi has consulted with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Clinical Center; the National Cancer Institute (NCI); Ernst & Young; the International Group; Beth Israel Hospital South/NYC; LSR Financial Services; and the Marketing Executives Networking Group, among others.
A guest lecturer at the Yale Graduate School of Public Health, Cecchi has been President and/or Board member of numerous not-for-profits, a former Peace Corps Volunteer, author and New York Times contributor. He has also written a series of healthcare articles for the Diabetes Foundation Newsletter and "Heart Throb," a cardiac newsletter.
Cecchi received his BA degree from Yale University and his JD from New York University Law School. In 2001, he received the NIH Clinical Center Director's Award and, in 2004 the NIH Director's Award for his contributions to the Institutes.