You Have Time to Die and Go Broke

Linda Salerno-Forand

Description

The healthcare system has turned into a giant labyrinth, which is extremely difficult to navigate. The thought of dealing with a serious or terminal illness is terrifying enough without having to go against the fortress of hospital administrators, health insurance companies and endless waits in doctors queues just trying to get the care you need. But you can be empowered in learning how to deal with the complex healthcare system getting the best care possible without breaking the bank.

Sujets

• Healthcare
• Industries
• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Health care
• Economics
• Business

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 26 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669861003
• Langue: English

Extrait

YOU HAVE TIME TO DIE AND GO BROKE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LINDA SALERNO-FORAND
 
COPYRIGHT © 2023 BY LINDA SALERNO-FORAND.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER:
2022923926

ISBN:
HARDCOVER
978-1-6698-6102-7


SOFTCOVER
978-1-6698-6101-0


EBOOK
978-1-6698-6100-3
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 01/13/2023
 
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
849660
CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgments
 
Chapter 1       Knowledge is Empowerment!
Chapter 2       Visiting the Doctor
Chapter 3       Going To The Emergency Room
Chapter 4       Advocates
Chapter 5       Insurances
Chapter 6       Health Care For All
Chapter 7       Mental Health Issues
Chapter 8       Caregiving
Chapter 9       Admitted To Hospital
Chapter 10     Future of Healthcare
 
Reference Guide
Dedication
I dedicate this book to my husband David, who will always be in my heart. I would do it all over because, damn! It was good loving you!
And to my dad who taught me many life lessons, the main one being
“Just do it.” That was my mantra during the journey of writing this book.
I will always be your loving daughter.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the people who gave their time and knowledge being interviewed. I will always be grateful. You are wonderful.
Rebecca (nurse)
Jan Pfahl (nurse)
Doctor Maggie Pollard
Douglas Brown (UMASS)
Donna LeBlanc McCarthy
Carol LeBlanc
Kenny and Linda LeBlanc
Suzann Curry (Health Care for All)
Hannah Frigand (Health Care for All)
Phil Wyzik, from Monadnock Family Services.
I also referenced many news articles for this book that are too numerous to mention.
 
 
Managing Editor: Elizabeth Compton
Associate Editor: James Compton
Chapter One
KNOWLEDGE IS EMPOWERMENT!
As any caregiver can tell you, trying to navigate the healthcare system on your own can be a nightmare. So knowledge on how the healthcare system works is empowerment.
Visiting the Doctor
The first thing you should do is be prepared when you go to the doctor’s office. I strongly recommend that you have a pocket folder with your name and date of birth on it. Inside the folder you should keep your paperwork that has a complete list of everything for the doctor.
This would include:
Your complete name;
Your preferred name, i.e., nickname;
Your current address;
A list of your doctors;
What kind of doctors they are;
Their telephone number;
The practice they belong to.
Your complaints, from the most important to the least.
Your current medications, including over the counter;
The dosage of the medications
A list of any known allergies;
A copy of your healthcare card;
Any healthcare proxy information
A list of emergency contacts
Keep this list with you and update it as necessary if any changes are made. This makes it much more efficient for doctors and nurses to provide care and treatment for you. It’s also important in case you have to go to the Emergency Room or if any emergency responders need to be called. It provides them with the most up to date information and reduces the chance of error. You should also make sure that your primary emergency contact person has a copy of this list as well.
The reason being is that the doctor/healthcare workers either in the ER or the responding paramedics may not have access to all of your medical records, so this will help out a lot. Though this is initially time consuming, in the end, it can literally save your life. If you choose to do so, you can even have this information on your phone, but you should definitely have a copy for those on your HIPAA form as well.
After having interviewed both healthcare professionals and patients, it’s my conclusion that the healthcare professionals need to have more training in empathy. They need to learn to truly listen to their patients. I understand that the healthcare workers can become so frustrated by dealing with the current healthcare system that they can lose focus of their original purpose of why they entered the profession in the first place. We all deserve better.
Healthcare Horror Story
Then there are the times when things just go horribly wrong in healthcare. These are the types of situations that should never have happened in the first place, but sadly, they happen more often than you realize. This person and their child deserved to be treated much better than they were, yet they were left hanging in the lurch, without proper care and no empathy.
My son was about 12 years old when he started feeling horrific pain. He was trying to pass a kidney stone. I called his specialist and he told me to take him to a local children’s hospital. It was a Friday night and I told him that the wait in the ER would be hellaciously long. He said he would call ahead and tell them to take him right in for pain management. So I took him to this children’s hospital, which was supposed to be one of the best in the country. I had a heck of a time getting him into the car, because he was doubled over with pain and crying. After almost a one hour drive, we got to the ER around 4 PM.
When we arrived, I was at first shocked and then appalled to see that the staff wasn’t doing triage, but taking everyone in on a first come, first served basis. I told them that my son’s specialist had called ahead to have my son taken in for pain management, because he was passing a kidney stone. I was told to have a seat and wait. I kept asking when they were going to take my son back, because his doctor had called ahead and told them to have things ready. They told me to wait.
While waiting, there were some kids in the waiting room who were literally bouncing around and wrecking the waiting room. They really didn’t need to be there, but their parents were all sitting there, talking to each other and not paying a bit of attention to the kids.
The idiots behind the desk were going on about “how cute” those kids were and were bending over backwards, running back and forth to give them ice bags for their boo boos. In the meantime, my son was sitting there, crying in pain and finally fell to the floor, screaming in agony. Well the staff looked at my son like he was from outer space, in absolute disgust. One broad actually stepped over my son as she went to take another ice bag to a kid who wasn’t even using the previous ones she had taken to him. He would hold it a minute then throw it on the floor. Those damned kids actually kicked my son while trying to jump over him and I yelled at their parents to control their brats. I went up to the desk and again asked when the anesthesiologist was going to show up so my son could be treated. It was obvious to anyone nearby that he was in agony. By this point, it was 7 PM, so we had been there for a few hours. THEN I was told that the anesthesiologist had already left thirty minutes before and no one would be back for 13 hours. They had the unmitigated gall to tell me that I should have spoken up! I said, “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last few hours whenever I came up to this desk? Asking about the weather?” I also yelled at them that the doctor had called ahead. THEN one of them actually looked at some notes and saw that yes, a doctor did call for him and they had marked my son as a NO SHOW. I said, “So there’s no one you can call to come in and help my son?” They just shrugged it off and said the anesthesiologist would be back in 13 hours. I yelled, “Well, in 13 hours, he will have either passed the stone, or he’ll be dead!