“They restored my faith and my hope by helping me.” – Tyler Jones
If you are having trouble with your care, every hospital facility has a Social Worker that is on staff at the hospital. Sometimes they have fancy names, but search them out, ask for them. Even if your not having trouble it is someone that is there FOR YOU!
They can help you with a whole host of issues that may come up in your care and needs that are even outside of your treatment but will help your stress levels to lessen.
In our case, as I have mentioned in the past, we were in the middle of a relocation, with me back East and Dave in California when I got the call. The FIRST thing I did was leave a message with their office explaining our crisis and soliciting their assistance post haste. I received a call first thing in the morning at my office from the head of their SW department asking what I needed and offering comfort and understanding. I needed HIPAA forms signed by Dave to make sure that the medical staff didn’t refuse to speak to me on the phone. Done!
When I arrived a social worker presented himself to us in Dave’s hospital room and asked what he could do to help us with all the “other” things going on in our life. We needed a notary to help us with power of attorney documents so I could fly home and close on the house we sold in Maryland and Dave could sign on the one we bought in California without me. We needed things for him where he was staying in California, like a walker or a cane. We needed support, desperately. He arranged for the pastor of his church who was also a notary to come to our room in the evening and get our papers signed. (The pastor/notary wouldn’t charge us for his time!) He provided us with his fax machine to have them sent to us if needed. He gave us his card and cell phone number. He checked on us regularly to make sure we were getting everything we needed.
In Little Rock, on your consultation visit, one of the many places on your “list” of appointments over the five days, is a meeting with a Social Worker. I was floored! Most places don’t tell you they are available. Probably because they are called in mostly when things are awry and its not fun for the staff. I’m assuming of course. But not in LR. In LR, the social worker is part of the healthcare team and her job is to advocate for us and help us with housing and a whole host of other issues that may come up for those traveling so far from home to be treated. Our SW became very dear to me. While we didn’t need her much after the first interview, largely due to how prepared they are with information and LR’s great care, I kept in touch with her and enjoyed our relationship beyond words.
I recommend you don’t wait to meet with them if you are on a healthcare journey of some significance. Don’t wait until you are in a crisis with your doctors or nurses. Having them in your arsenal of “help” is tremendously comforting. Their role is for YOU, not the hospital, doctors, nurses or administrators. They are your voice in the maze of your healthcare.
When my mother was deemed “terminal” and we needed hospice, the hospital SW came to the room at my request to help me convince my mother why I needed this assistance in her end of life, palliative care. She was amazing and additionally set everything up with our local hospice and we never filled out a single paper or made a single call. They simply called us and arrived.
Another contact for you is your company’s Benefits Coordinator. Again, perhaps a different name, but they are usually found in the Human Resources Department. These folks are the ones who negotiate your company’s healthcare plan. They can get through to folks directly at the insurance company. Again, ours was one of the first people we were on the phone with. She held our hand through the healthcare maze until she successfully got me in contact with a Stem Cell Coordinator with our insurance company. I no longer had to go through the maze of a computer answering machine and speak to whomever picked up the phone. I had a person, a name, a phone number, and in our case, her direct email. I don’t know that I would have found her on my own and I was relieved of the headaches of the insurance company. When Dave needed growth hormone shots at home, and they cost $2,000 a piece at the local pharmacy, she set us up with a “specialty pharmacy” they worked with and whalah, $40 for a month supply complete with syringes, disposal bin, alcohol wipes, everything!
Communicate! Stay calm and collected, appeal to their innate desire to “help”.
