caregivers

Going to Jail, Spinning Plates, Peace of Mind – and You

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spinning plates

Suppose you are asleep one night, and the police break down your front door, yank you out of bed, arrest you, and take you off to jail…. What would you do? Who would you call? It doesn’t matter whether you are innocent or guilty – you have been blindsided by something unexpected, and now you have to deal with it by navigating a system you know nothing about…. I suspect you would call a lawyer to help you through it, right? A lawyer is the person who can at least provide the peace of mind that knowledge of the system …

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“In the Mood” – How Glenn Miller, Johnny Mercer and the Andrews Sisters Helped Dad Weather His Pain

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Man Relaxing with Music and his dog

I’ve just returned from Florida, having spent almost two weeks with my sisters, taking care of details since Dad died. There were plenty of tears – of course. But even more, there was laughter! Because despite our mourning, we shared many marvelous family memories as we uncovered this treasure (good grief – our grade school report cards!) or that one (did we really wear our hair like that in the 80s?) And of course, there were the conversations. Quite surprising, more than 100 people  attended Dad’s memorial service. It was a memorial service like few others – exactly what Dad …

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The Lessons We’ll Learn from Dad

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My father, Richard F. Torrey (known to friends as Dick), passed away yesterday, Sunday, September 30th. He was a remarkable man who led a remarkable life. I tell you this because part of Dad’s legacy is going to be the healthcare and advocacy lessons we learned along the way. Dad as patient. Daughter as advocate. A treasure trove of experiences. Over the years I took note of the many – MANY – experiences we had through his health journey. But I haven’t written about many of them…. As long as Dad was still alive, there was privacy to consider and …

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“Ask a Health Advocate” Makes Its Debut

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All patients and caregivers have questions for health advocates. Just like they have questions for their doctors, or nurses (or the Internet!), they have questions about navigating the craziness of the healthcare system, or questions about their medical records (or rights to get copies), or about a claim that won’t be paid, or a bill that is higher than they expected, or explanations of treatment options – many many questions that need answers. Sometimes the only way to sort out their challenges is to hire someone to help – thus AdvoConnection’s Directory to help them. But sometimes what they have …

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Recognizing Private Professional Patient Advocates

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This is it! Private Professional Patient Advocate Week (PPPAW)? is recognized this week, March 11 to 17, 2012. It’s a time to help patients and caregivers learn the many ways they can benefit from the assistance of private patient and health advocates and navigators. This year there are 21 people participating as featured advocates on the special website developed for them. They have shared stories about their successes, and we invite media to contact them and interview not only these fine advocates, but the patients and caregivers they have helped, too. A sample of stories: A man who contacted one …

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Watching the Headlines for Opportunities

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A link on Twitter precipitated today’s post and idea for you. It contains a challenge, too! See below. The tweet linked to a news article: A second set of eyes cuts errors at HCMC. It tells about an initiative at Hennepin County Medical Center (Minneapolis) that cut the medication errors found in patients’ discharge paperwork from 92 percent – to zero. 0. Nada. No medication errors. Impressive. Now, if you or your patient-client happens to be discharged from Hennepin County Medical Center, that’s great news. But the article got me wondering – what about the other 99.999 percent of discharged …

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A One Word Resolution for All Advocates

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Greetings at the top of new year, with hopes you had a great holiday season and you’re getting prepped for success in 2012. I always feel a bit of inertia after taking a break, or a vacation, or when my world has slowed down for some deep breath-taking for awhile…. that is, my body at rest still wants to stay at rest! And when I hear about “resolutions” – geesh – that sounds too much like work. So, as we are bombarded by media talking about this resolution or that, I have one simple one for many of you – …

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