Kathryn Hendrick is a veteran health communications specialist and the primary caregiver for her father who passed away recently from sepsis. She saw firsthand how important it is to recognize and manage sepsis when it strikes, and yet how variable the standard of care can be in a home care setting and a hospital. She is now a patient representative for the Canadian Sepsis Network.During the last two years of his life, Kathryn accompanied her father on several hospital admissions through emergency and week-long inpatient stays. She realized that depending on the hospital and their sepsis management protocols, treatment was never the same in any two places. After each subsequent sepsis admission, almost at six-week intervals and which on two occasions advanced to septic shock, her father became progressively weaker and despondent. As a health care publicist, Kathryn has worked in academic hospitals across Canada as a senior executive leading the public affairs and advocacy portfolios. In this role, she was responsible for promoting major research breakthroughs in cardiovascular disease, critical care, infectious diseases, psychiatry, and other areas, but never sepsis — despite its prevalence.In her role as a patient representative, Kathryn hopes to see advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of sepsis patients. Her hope is that the Sepsis Network will one day address the many gaps in care, but also in training, education, and research.