decision making – APHA Blog : The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates

Loaded for Bear May Mean No Care

Last week, I received an email from a woman, I’ll call her Miranda, taking me to task for an article I had written that she found online. If Miranda had her way, I’d be walking the plank about now, or on my way to life in prison.

The article she found is about patient modesty and how it affects one’s ability to get medical care. It poses the problem, considers the roots of the situation, then offers ideas to help someone get beyond modesty hurdles in order to benefit from better medical care.

Oh, but Miranda was not happy about that article! She graced my email inbox with a missive (out of curiosity I pasted it into a word document to see how many printed pages it would be – about 5!), as if she was the prosecutor outlining all the reasons I should get life in prison, taking me to task because I had not taken into account survivors of sexual abuse. Further, the fact that I used a car as a metaphor offended her because people aren’t cars! (She’s right. They aren’t. I didn’t say they were. I used cars as a metaphor.) She expected me to rewrite and republish the article, and she wanted a “public apology” for being so callous and ignoring the plight of sexual abuse survivors.

Wow!

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21
JAN

advocacy business, advocacy ethics, advocate bad practices, client services, common sense, decision making, health advocates and navigators, patient advocacy

Because Greetings Should Be All About Them

Posted by: Trisha Torrey

Honestly, I’m tired of the argument.

I live and work in Florida where you would think it was some sort of national disgrace to wish someone “Happy Holidays”. As if somehow the failure to wish a “Merry Christmas” has been co-opted by political correctness as a personal insult to them.

In my (not so) humble opinion, it has gotten worse in the last couple of years. I chalk that up to the facts that (1) I didn’t live in Florida until about two years ago (and therefore heard far less vitriol than seems to be standard fare here) and (2) that we now live in a society where too many of our political leaders are focused solely on improving their own lives, incomes, and status, and not those of their constituents, as in, “It’s all about me!”

I’m just sick of it! Here’s why:

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3
DEC

client services, common sense, decision making, empathy, health advocates and navigators, patient advocacy, patients

Like Learning to Ride Your Bike…

Posted by: Trisha Torrey

In an email conversation with one of our APHA mentors last week, a point that is so often lacking in the understanding of an independent advocacy practice was made: That it usually takes 3 to 5 years to know if someone will be a successful business owner, advocacy included.

That so many advocates quit before they get there, never giving themselves a chance, really. They start out thinking it will be easy because, afterall, many been advocates for decades in previous careers… just a simple switch to self-employment, right?

When they finally understand that the first few years are more about business than advocacy, it’s a rude awakening. When that lightbulb goes off, when they begin to understand it’s about running a business, they begin to panic. That’s when I hear:

But I’ve never done this before!

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19
NOV

advocacy business, advocate best practices, advocate education, common sense, decision making, health advocates and navigators, patient advocacy

Where Survivor (TV) Meets a New Advocacy Practice

Posted by: Trisha Torrey

Survivor – Jeff Probst and Company (and company and company and company!) Currently in its 37th season, I’ve watched probably 30 of those seasons. I’m more about the psychology, head games, and strategy. My husband is more about the physical endurance. In total we usually disagree on who we think should win any given season (the one person who never gets voted off the island!) but we both agree that the person who wins deserves to because they have gone into the game with a strategy, implemented it, and as a result, “survived.”

As I watched last week’s Survivor episode (Season 37, Episode 6) I realized that there are at least two strategic aspects of the game of Survivor that become lessons for starting an advocacy practice, both of which I could share with you to help you better understand how they work for launching and growing an advocacy practice:

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5
NOV

advocacy business, advocate best practices, advocate education, common sense, decision making, patient advocacy, professional standards

Successes, Failures, and My Biggest Surprise

Posted by: Trisha Torrey

12 years. While on the one hand, 12 years seems like a looong time, on the other hand, it has gone by in the blink of an eye.

I’m referring to the 12 years I’ve focused my professional life on building the profession of independent health and patient advocacy, having made the decision in 2007 to begin building an online presence for advocates through the AdvoConnection Directory website. It eventually launched in Fall 2009* and evolved to become The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates.

So I’ve been giving thought to what I consider to be our biggest successes, biggest failures, and biggest surprises during this time, and that’s what I’m sharing with you today. These are my own opinion, of course! You might make other choices. See what you think:

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23
OCT

advocacy business, advocacy certification, advocacy ethics, advocate education, advocate marketing, client services, common sense, decision making, doctors / physicians, health advocates and navigators, money, patient advocacy, patients, The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates