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Patient Advocacy & The Co-Creation Experience
A happy, healthy wish to everyone from 1 Day 1 Week! It’s been weeks since the last post, which was intentional considering folks were busy with the holidays and I took some overdue self-care. Now it’s time to gear up for a great 2022, bringing you many more podcasts and articles about caregiving and patient advocacy! As we step into the new year, our YouTube channel Caregiving Insights is off to a great start! I’m excited to have just posted Episode #4: Patient Advocacy & The Co-Creation Experience. In this episode, I have an insightful conversation with Dr. Valerie Williams-Sanchez. Valerie and I worked together 25 years ago for a company named Medical Data International and we’ve had extensive conversations over the years about patient…
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Perspectives on Caregiving & Patient Advocacy: A Podcast
There are so many things to consider regarding caregiving and patient advocacy! Whether you are already in one or both of these roles, or you may be in the future (to whatever extent), this episode provides important insight. This is Episode #2 on our new YouTube channel, Caregiving Insights. I explore these topics from various angles with Cori Kasten, Founder/CEO of Platinum Select Nursing in South Florida. For the past 14 years, Cori has built a successful business born out of genuine caring for her clients and passion for doing things the right way, all starting with one client who believed in her ability to change the world. In the first half of this episode, we discuss topics such as in-home care, healthcare technology, and…
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Our New Podcast Has Launched
NOVEMBER 12, 2021 Yay!! After lots of planning, the new podcast has officially launched! Caregiving Insights will be an ongoing podcast series, bringing you different perspectives on a wide array of interesting topics. Our guests will include thought leaders from healthcare, business, and nonprofits, as well as caregivers, patient advocates, patients, and others. Each will share unique insights from their vantage points — about caregiving, patient advocacy, and life. As with our blog, the podcast is intended to: to provide greater understanding about caregiving and patient advocacy. to effect change in the U.S. and around the globe through helping to build bridges within families and communities. to help the movement for economic changes in support of the millions of people who take on the roles…
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Music: Uplifting Caregivers & Patient Advocates, One Song At A Time
Hi everyone! Well, I had planned on writing my usual weekly blog post of 1,500 to 3,000 words. But, as caregivers/patient advocates know, what’s planned for a week often takes on a life of its own and free time becomes fleeting. This past week was one of those for me. While this post is shorter than usual, I hope it’s just as enjoyable, informative, and thought-provoking. Since last Sunday’s post about burnout, it’s been seven days of up, down, and all around…many times. On the caregiving/patient advocating for my parents side of life, there were doctor appointments to schedule (both future and urgent), transportation to appointments, lab work to be reviewed, medication to pick up, special new dietary restrictions to consider, preparing meals, research about…
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A Drug-Induced Reflection, So To Speak
Three days ago, my mom began yet another drug – this one administered through subcutaneous infusion therapy at home. Before getting into the exasperating road that led to this situation, now is a good time to reflect on the overall topic of medication and share some insight. Along my mom’s Systemic Sclerosis (Scleroderma) journey there have been countless situations that have led to a myriad of drugs being prescribed, whether in an acute hospital setting or as an outpatient. “Myriad” is a gentle way of saying, I can only begin to tell you how many drugs (50, 75, or more), what they were, what the situation was, and what benefits (or harm) they brought to her. To this day, in each situation, there may or…
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Kidneys and Lungs and Heart, Oh My!
Well, after a soft launch of 1 Day 1 Week this past Monday (August 30) to a network of friends, some future topics that were requested included: Denial vs. Dealing, Handling the Unknowns, Self-Care, and Caregiver & Patient Conflicting Beliefs / Wishes. Those are among countless topics to write about as standalone blog posts and/or be interwoven into my overall blogging journey! For today, I’m going to focus on Kidneys and Lungs and Heart, Oh My! Did you catch the play on words from the Wizard of Oz? Whether you did or didn’t, it’s from the book/movie’s famous line “Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!” that Dorothy said as she, the Tin Man and Scarecrow entered the dark, creepy forest. The correlation to being…
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Beginning of the Journey
How did your caregiving/patient advocacy journey begin? It can happen in different ways. From what I came to learn, the beginning of my journey was like millions of others who take on this role – it happened fast and without warning. In my case, Spring 2017. Prior to that, I had no thoughts that caregiving/patient advocacy was going to become a part of my life – changing it in every way! Having witnessed my grandparents being cared and advocated for by my mom 20-25 years earlier, I had some idea of what the role entailed. She would take them to appointments, handle various aspects of doctor communication, interpret situations to ensure the best possible care was being planned and received, and so much more. She…
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Caregiving: A Journey Like No Other
Welcome, everyone! It’s taken me years to put pen to paper – or in this case fingers to keyboard – and it feels great to get this going! So, a sincere thank you for taking the time to read this initial post on the 1 Day 1 Week blog. Whether you are a caregiver, patient advocate, someone being cared for, or someone who cares about any of the aforementioned, I hope you find this blog engaging on an ongoing basis. The name 1 Day 1 Week is born out of a mantra that we caregivers and patient advocates around the world often live by – for practical purposes and sanity-sake amidst these challenging and rewarding journeys we’ve chosen for whatever reasons and circumstances. So, where…
