Tribute to Dr Frank W.S.M. Verheggen 1965-2007

Citation

Downey-Ennis, K. (2007), "Tribute to Dr Frank W.S.M. Verheggen 1965-2007", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 20 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2007.06220faf.001

Tribute to Dr Frank W.S.M. Verheggen 1965-2007

It was with great sadness that the news of the untimely death, at the early age of 42, of Dr Frank WSM Verheggen was announced on May 9, 2007. He is survived by his partner Mireille Brouwer, and his brothers Karl and Ludy, and sister-in-law Ivanka. Frank was a valued member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Healthcare Quality Assurance and made many fine contributions to the journal.

Born in Beek, The Netherlands, Frank studied Health Sciences in Maastricht University in 1988, completing his PhD in 1996. He worked as Quality Manager of University Hospital Maastricht and a senior Fellow of the Dutch Institute for Health Care Improvement. His responsibilities also included:

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  senior advisor in the BEREIK-programme (Outreach) aiming at better results in patient care through integrated quality management;

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  an affiliated Member of the CAPHRI research institute of Maastricht University;

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  an educator and trainer in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)/Total Quality Management (TQM) for student’s health management at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Maastricht University;

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  organizer and coordinator of the annual Summer University on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) in Health Care (Universiteit Maastricht – Amsterdam); and

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  coordinator for the CQI unit in Public Health for the Public Health Masters Degree at Maastricht University.

Frank had many friends and colleagues from an international perspective and I took the liberty of asking some of them to pay their own personal tributes to Frank.

Mary Morrissey, Population Health Directorate, HSE, Ireland, remembers Frank as one of the key contributors of the summer camps linked to the European Organisation for Quality (EOQ) and who presented at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care in recent years, on the theme of Breakthough Change and Quality Innovation in Health Care. He drew some of his inspiration from the fervor of and interaction with others. So when asked in a recent interview for a Dutch magazine, “What is it that inspires you?”, he answered: “I get inspired by the enthusiasm of those with whom I work, colleagues and students, co-workers in the frontline of healthcare and the patients I meet and their families”.

We might ask whether he was modest and unaware of his own stimulating impact. Indeed, his own enthusiasm was equally inspiring for any of us who had the privilege to know or work with him. “A very bright man with extraordinary knowledge and humanity”, are some of the words used to describe Frank. E-mails from colleagues expressing admiration, grief and shock showed how deep his departure impacts on his friends and colleagues.

He was passionate about the teaching of quality improvement and hungry to see his quest for transformation in quality improvement in education and teaching realised. He wrote many valuable articles which contributed to the core knowledge on health care quality assurance in the field of health care.

Frank had a keen eye for aesthetics in every sense, art, poetry, fashion, great design, good food, good company and stimulating conversations. He was a talented guitar player and an expert in Tai Chi Chuan. He had a personal approach to quality improvement in health care using a combination of facts, analysis, logic, music, drawings and even tai chi, to ignite creativity, imagination and passion. These talents and interests he integrated into his unique and effective way of working. Many will remember that Frank’s lectures were far from the didactic model, with warm up exercises, thought provoking concepts and memorable delivery.

David Somekh (ESQH) recalls that a number of people had the privilege of working (and playing) with Frank over the last four or five years in the context of both the EOQ summer camps and also its sister organisation, ESQH, the European Society for Quality in Healthcare. Frank was ESQH’s ambassador for education in quality. He helped organise two summer camps on education and quality for ESQH and launched the Educational Platform on Transformation in Healthcare, linked to the Education and Training Activity Group (ETAG) of EOQ.

Frank, with others, organised three round tables woven around the themes of incorporating QI and patient safety issues with the curricula of health professional education. Frank’s account of these activities and the ideas behind them can be downloaded from the ESQH web site www.esqh.net.

My distinct impression of Frank as a colleague is of his enthusiasm and energy. He was always sending us ideas and web links, initiating discussion and encouraging debate. He was constantly scanning the horizon. On a personal note, it was his warmth and his particular perspective on life which gave one the impression of a “renaissance man”. It is Frank as a proponent of inner stillness that I offer as a lasting visual memory. We were at an EOQ summer camp last year on Kolocep, an island off Dubrovnik, Croatia. One morning at breakfast time I accompanied Frank on his daily walk to the nearby beach, which was more or less deserted. He was dressed in his typical black collarless shirt and black trousers. After an hour’s tutorial in chi kung, I watched Frank practicing the flowing movements of tai chi chuan, using a bamboo cane he had picked up on our way to the beach. What lingers is the image of Frank in the early sunlight, at the edge of the calm sea, concentrating on his practice, moving incessantly but gracefully, solitary but at peace within himself.

Noel Harrington (ESQH) remembers Frank through a personal perspective. In the old city of Zagreb you will of course find many restaurants. But for me, Zagreb now only has one restaurant, where for two hours in September 2005 I sat beside Frank Verheggen. As we ate and drank I spoke and listened and listened some more and I came away reinforced with my early impression that here was an extraordinary man.

Many people are good at their jobs, some are excellent and others are exceptional, but Frank was an all-round exceptional man. The energy and creativity he brought to his work was inspiring – I believe he literally had the ability to move mountains and we all know which particular “mountains” he had his eye on. And at the heart of his ability were the twin strengths (too rarely found together) of humility and self-belief. Frank spoke generously and humbly about some of those in the Quality field who were older and more experienced than he; those he professed to have learned a great deal from. And when he spoke of his own work and plans, there was no false modesty – Frank believed entirely in what he was trying to achieve and how he was going about it. For me, in my role with ESQH, I was delighted that Frank had become our Education “ambassador” – I felt that with Frank’s enthusiasm and innovation exciting days lay ahead. His last contribution to the cause was posted to the world just a few days before he died. And back in that restaurant in Zagreb, when he heard that I had taken a break from tai chi classes (a new baby, building a house, these sorts of inconsequential things…) he launched into a passionate eulogy of the art and a plea for my return. He drew on his experiences, his mornings in the parks of New York, his study of philosophy and the human body and mind and soul and his love of the Eastern way of doing things and quite simply, the goodness of fresh air. He saw tai chi as a gift that I was quite possibly turning my back on and it grieved him to think it. And did I go back? Of course I did – thank you Frank.

Frank was laid to rest in Bunde, near Maastricht on the Tuesday 15 May, marked by a moving memorial mass, His former and current bosses spoke in admiration of him. Mireille spoke beautifully of him and quoted poignant poetry loved by both of them. The ceremony was concluded with Frank’s fellow Tai Chi Chuan group forming a guard of honour to the sound of a classical chant. Even in death Frank integrated the body and spirit.

The Editorial and Publishing team of the International Journal of Healthcare Quality Assurance together with the contributors to this tribute take this opportunity to extend our deepest sympathy to his partner Mireille and family.

Special thanks to:

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  Mary C. Morrissey, Population Health Directorate, Health Service Executive, Dublin, Ireland mary_morrissey@hse.ie

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  Dr David Somekh, Vice President, European Society for Quality in Healthcare, England.

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  Noel Harrington, Executive Officer, Secretariat, European Society for Quality in Healthcare, Limerick, Ireland.

Kay Downey-EnnisCo-Editor