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The author comments on an article by C. J. Peek that focuses on Don Bloch's vision of collaborative family health care and the evolution over the past 20 years of the field. He mentions the importance of family in Bloch's and the Wingspread workgroup's ecosystemic collaborative care model. The author thinks that the ability of the health care consumer and professionals to collaborate in a more egalitarian and less hierarchial manner hinders progress.

The author comments on C. J. Peek's article about the legacy of family therapist Don Bloch. He mentions the gifts bestowed by Bloch on the field of collaborative family health care such as the Collaborative Family Health Care Association. The author also looks at the depth of Bloch's leadership and how Peek's historical method can be used to get one's act most effectively to advance the field.

C. J. Peek has done us two lasting services with this beautiful summary. He has reminded us of Don Bloch's contributions to the beginning of collaborative family health care, and he has catalogued the elements of Don's vision for the field. Don's vision was for "collaborative family health care." Although we have made a great deal of progress developing collaborative health care that he would endorse, the full vision including the family as a basic unit of care and of understanding in health care is still ahead of us. The requirement of the inclusion of the family in the formulation of the patient-centered medical home may provide the impetus for a full realization of the "unrounded corners" version of Don's vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]