Medical Advocacy and Self-Advocacy

The time has come for each one of us to intentionally take charge of our lives , our health, and our happiness.  The medical community is essential to our general well-being and is an excellent resource for us to use in our quest for best quality life.  The human body is, indeed, fallible and no matter how well and intricately made, it does break down with use and abuse.   It was created such that it will not last forever. 

When minor sorts of mishaps occur we have choice about how to approach their management.  Just as when a car or bike has a malfunction and the owner decides whether he has the wherewithall to repair it,  it is something to merely tolerate or  if consulting  a trained specialist is the best answer, so it is with our bodies.

Obviously, one needs to have all the information available about the “machine,” the nature of the malfunction, the importance of the broken piece to the successful operation of the machine, and the ramifications of NOT fixing it.  It is the owner’s choice to ignore, mend/temporarily juryrig a fix, or go all out and invest the time and money in a professional repair.  Even then, the machine will not last forever.  Something else is likely to go wrong and the decision process will need to be revisited. 

Life is finite.  It is an individual decision about what is most important about one’s life and how it is lived. It is also an individual decision about how one will FEEL about that, how he approaches the changes and choices.  I don’t have the right to judge another’s decision about how he or she makes decisions with regard to his own life.

A professional health advocate acts as a guide, support, and buffer to honor an individual’s efforts to manage his own health decisions.  The advocate ensures that the individual has as much information possible on all sides of the issue.  The advocate facilitates effective communication between the patient and the health care provider.  The PHA is an extra set of eyes and ears at appointments and consultations where information may be complicated or confusing and when emotion or apprehension may tend to cloud understanding or accurate recall.  Professional care managers frequently act as health care advocates for their clients.  Sometimes that is the GCM’s primary function for that person;  yet another example of two being stronger than one.