When Someone you Love is Seriously Ill

   Dealing with serious illness and hospitalization can be scary, demoralizing, confusing, painful, unpredictable.
   Your father is not his disease. Your mother is not her “medication options.” It's easy to get overwhelmed when people you love are sick and all you want is to help them. You're sailing to a new world where some of the landmarks seem familiar and others disappear.
   As a healthcare advocate, my job is to steer you to dry land and clarify your situation, to create a safe harbor where you can focus on yourself and your family. I get questions answered and stand up for you, stand in for you, stand beside you. You have a doctor at your side whose sole job it is to create and implement a plan so you can get the best possible care for who you are, with your specific health needs.
   That's what I do: advocate for you when medical care takes over. With a healthcare advocate:
-You never need to undergo a treatment without understanding what it is, why it's needed, and what the alternatives are.
-You have someone to communicate with your care team when you are feeling uncomfortable, uncared for, or unheard.
-Your advocate can translate medical-ese into English, and statistics into solutions.
   When the world of diagnoses and hospitals and prescriptions and procedures overwhelms your life, you need someone to make sure that when the doctor leaves the room, you know the next steps.
   You need Healthcare Advocacy Partners.