How to be a better health care advocate
Source: Dr. Ala Stanford
An integral aspect of healthy aging is taking an active role in your health care. This includes being confident, proactive and assertive during medical appointments and conversations with health care providers.
“Having someone go with you to your doctor’s appointment is huge. I can’t stress that enough,” said Dr. Ala Stanford, founder of the Black Doctors Consortium and the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity in North Philadelphia. “I know that older adults are so independent, and they are used to doing everything on their own. But having someone go with you, so you have a second pair of ears, is super helpful. This will go a long way, so that things aren’t missed. So often I hear that people didn’t catch a life-threatening condition or illness in time. Maybe, they didn’t understand how quickly they needed to follow up on things in that window where it went from being treatable to having no options.”
If you are not able or do not wish to have a trusted friend or family member accompany you to medical appointments, Dr. Stanford recommends “having someone that you can call on the phone (during the appointment), to just listen. You can also record the appointment and have it on your phone (to refer to later).” These are great options because patients can choose which part(s) of the appointment to share with another person and still preserve private time to speak with the clinician alone.
To assure health equity and language access for people with limited English proficiency, it is vital to have someone with them or on the phone to be a translator.
Finally, organization is a health advocate’s best friend. Dr. Stanford suggests having all of your questions spelled out or listed before you come to a medical appointment.” It can also be helpful to write down your symptoms, especially those that don’t occur regularly.
“Keep all your medical records together,” said Dr. Stanford. “Have a planner or notebook, so you remember what was discussed the last time that you went. If you have everything organized in a central place, it can help alleviate memory problems that may lead to mismanagement of your health and conditions.”
