About us

Innovating to make healthcare more humane for patients & loved ones

Hear Me Now was founded in June 2016 by Dr. Ira Byock, Michael Drummond, and others at the Institute for Human Caring, also founded by Dr. Byock in 2014.

The Institute is a change engine designed to help Providence deliver more personalized care, where patients are given the opportunity to engage in shared decision-making with their doctors and don’t receive unwanted or unnecessary medical procedures.

About StoryCorps

StoryCorps’ Mission: “To preserve and share humanity’s stories to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.”

Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived tens of thousands of interviews and counting, earning national and international acclaim for its efforts. Today, StoryCorps houses the largest single collection of personal narratives ever gathered, and millions listen to its weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Providence’s Hear Me Now program is StoryCorps’ largest health system contributor and has the largest collection of healthcare-related narratives in the nation.

Storytelling has been an important part of Providence’s culture for more than 160 years. The founding sisters used storytelling to spread the mission of service to all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Hear Me Now is part of this tradition and we are honored to partner with StoryCorps in our mission to deliver highly personalized care.