Ep.166: Ask About Resources (Part 3)

In this episode, Jaz, Linda, and Kathy talk about the many resources offered in clinics that patients may not know about unless they ask.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

You're now listening to a Putin Dose of Three with your hosts Linda, Jasmine, and Kathy, and we're here to bring you your weekly dose. Advocate for yourself. It's you have to, you have to get uncomfortable with advocating for yourself. Because if you don't speak up for yourself, no one will. In the sense that I, when I have patients, I had a I had a young patient. I love, I love my like my mid-20s, 30s patients. She was telling me all of her concerns, and I was like, I'm writing them all down, like, you know, charting what she's saying. It was she was saying. I said, at the end of the day, you're the patient, you know what's going on. You've been living with these symptoms and these experiences. I'm I'll look more into what you're you're what you're telling me. I didn't write her off and said, oh, it's this, this, and that. But she was actually, she was, she basically had told me, is like, oh, I really like that you said that, because I went to another provider who dismissed everything that I said. And I said, Yes, we're taught one thing in school and book-wise, but at the end of the day, it's your life. If I if you don't speak up for yourself and say it's something severe, something that something that can be life-threatening, and you're not speaking up and your provider's not listening to you, at the end of the day, that's that's your life. It's it's just and sometimes it's it's even hard to figure out what questions to even ask. Because I sometimes I don't even know what questions to ask, but we are in a time where there is AI. So I do suggest to even use Chat GPT. I know some providers we we do get annoyed a little bit if you come on too strong with the uh with the Google searches and everything, but that's a starting, that's somewhere to start. Use ChatGBT, put in your concerns, ask what it may be, and bring that to your provider and say, I did look it, look it up and it's saying this, this, and that. What do you think about that? Um, so we can just know like what directions to go. You can even, if you can't bring a family member to the visit with you, maybe FaceTime them, have them there with you and uh during your visit on FaceTime, a phone call or something.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

No, I agree with you, Linda. Um, you're mentioning that, you know, if you don't advocate for yourself, no one will. And then if you think about it at the end of the day, it's your health, right? So if there's a mistake made, it's not gonna impact the doctor's health, it's gonna impact your health. So I know it's scary in that moment to have to speak for yourself, but if you don't, it could lead to um long-lasting consequences for your health. So um I'm saying this, I know it's easier said than done, but even if you're scared to speak up for yourself, like Kathy said, writing down the questions in the beginning and just giving them to them, that would be even helpful too. Because even if you're scared to bring them up, you can at least hand them over so they can see like that's something that you know you want to talk about. Additionally, like we said, we're providers, we're not robots, but uh, we do make mistakes. So if no for real, um, we do make mistakes and add a time crunch to that, you know, there's even more room for mistakes there, right? Um, a lot of providers are on a time crunch, they have what 15 minutes? That's not enough to really um figure out what's going on, but there's definitely a lot of areas there where things can be missed. So if there's a concern, it's okay to to talk about your concern. And then another thing I wanted to bring up was you know, did I forget? Oh my god, my ADHD is insane today.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

It was I can add on, I'll add on while you think about it to like the whole time crunch thing. Um, like Jasmine was saying, most bigger organizations, they they're about productivity, like how many patients that they can see in a short amount of time. So your your visits are 15 minutes. The clinic that I work at, the the doctor that I follow, he's great. And I've been learning from him. Again, he's like, we're the clinic of yes. You have a concern, he wants to get some imaging, we'll do it for you. We're the clinic of yes, because at the end of the day, it's your life, not ours. Um, so you want to find someone that will sit there and listen to you with our clinic, our visits are 20 minutes, 30 minutes because we want to build that relationship with the per with the patient and address their concerns because we're for the community. It's a black-owned, um, black-owned organization clinic in the heart of East Oakland. Y'all can do y'all research to figure out where that is, but we are for the community, and a lot of times the community has a lot of complex um health care concerns or diseases that we need to address, and it needs to be more than 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Yeah, I agree. And I really love that. I love that. Um, shoot, I need to go there because the care I was getting was not it. No, um, I remembered. So I was in my second year getting um, actually, first and second year, I got the opportunity to, I guess, precept or shadow underneath this doctor. And oh my gosh, I really loved her. She would always ask the patient, is there anything you think this might be? And I remember when she would ask that, patients would look at her crazy, like, you're the doctor, you should know. But like we've mentioned before, we know our bodies, we know, we know our bodies very well. The books only teach you so much, things also do present differently in different patients, right? And so a lot of times the patients do know what's going on with their bodies. I like after um, you know, shadowing with her for so long, a lot of times her diagnosis was what the patient would would think they had. So I know that might sound like a crazy, um, crazy question for a patient to to be asked, but again, you know your body, and you know, that's why it's really important to advocate for yourself because you know, the doctor may not even think of something and you know what's going on with you. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Yes. And to just quickly add on, we work for you. I know some doctors may get offended, but at the end of the day, we work for the patient. If the patient wasn't coming in with concerns or seeing a provider, we would not have a job. Um, so it is okay to speak up for yourself. We do not have more power than you, we are there to help you. So remember that. Tell your provider in a nice way, be respectful. That's the thing. The delivery is important because your provider will listen. Some providers, of course, are a-hos where they it doesn't matter how you deliver it, but deliver it in the a respectful way because at the end of the day, we work for you and we're there to listen and to help you.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Also, another thing that I wanted to touch on because I feel like, well, for the community that the clinic that I work with, the community is very, how do I say that? It's very like they go to the doctor, but they don't like to share a lot of things about themselves. They kind of like hit their their struggles. Um, sometimes that makes it hard for your care. Why? Because sometimes if we don't know that you I don't I we just see that you missed so many appointments, and then we're like, we're trying to help you, you need to calm like you need to come back, you know? So when we see that you're not coming and you're not coming, we're thinking like, like maybe he doesn't want our care, or and then when we investigate a little bit farther, oh no, that patient doesn't have like ways to get here, or like they don't have transportation. And then so we I feel like we as a providers we appreciate if patients um disclose a little bit more. Like, hey, I don't have because sometimes we in the clinic, well, in the clinic that I work, we have resources to provide. Like we'll provide transportation for you. We'll sometimes even like get patients over lips. Um, and then like because we like Linda said, we work for you, we work around your needs. So, like, for example, sometimes uh we see that I go in uh to a visit with a patient, and then he's I go over their meds and they're like, Oh, I haven't taken it. And I'm just like, why? And then they go into like, well, you know what? Um I've been out of work and it's kind of like those things that I have to either choose, do I pay for my food, or do I have to pay for my deductible, or do I have to pay for the bus to take me to get my medications because yeah, I might get them for free, but I need to pay to get there, like through transportation or whatever. And I'm like, okay, don't worry, sir. Let's see if we could sign you up for like a program that could go and like deliver the medication for you. So it's kind of like I wanted to tell whoever is listening that it's important to also try to disc. I know it's uncomfortable because not a lot of people like to disclose this type of things because it's their life and it's their private life. But honestly, we're not doing it to be like gossip, we're not we don't doing it to be chisels. We're doing it so we could give you resources because you will be amazed of how many resources your clinic might have for you if you disclose a little bit more. Even sometimes unhoused a population. Sometimes we have programs that we could like take them to get housing or to get jobs or to get you also in the population that I I work with, um, they're very taboo about like mental health. So I'm like, okay, it's not like we're not gonna go to the psychiatrist like you think, uh, we're gonna go to like a therapist and it's somebody that you could talk to. And then sometimes, and then I'm like, uh when I get too like comfortable with my patients, they're able to tell me, like, yeah, like I'm having like this type of symptoms. I'm like, oh, that sounds like anxiety or depression, or you know. So then the doctor comes because it's like it's a covet, like it's a nurse and a provider. And when I present my patient, the provider already kind of knows, and then uh he gets like talk to her about like IBH and like you know, it's like um so I'm like I go and I talk to them and I'm I'm like there's resources. Oh, but I can't come. I'm like, don't worry, there's like a telephone call. Like, so I try to like, you know, to get the most I can, but it will be helpful if patients kind of disclose a little more because like I say, it's not to like being gossip, it's just because we want to help you.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Yeah, because we can't help you if we we don't know. So you have to tell us what's going on, and that's the only way we can we can help you. Then also I know I I just said uh, you know, when you do come to your providers with concern, put a little, don't you don't have to be so aggressive. I don't even like using that word aggressive, but you know, say it with you, you don't you don't have to attack your provider, just bring up your concerns concerns in a respectful manner. But if you do that and you know you're you're you using your your your nice toned voice and they're still not listening to you, sometimes you have to put a little oomph in your voice. Sometimes you have to maybe raise it up a a notch, not yell. I just said put a little more authority in your voice so you can be taken seriously because you being very passive or being um, I I can't think of the other word, may not get you what you need because they'll think that they can just like run over you, not even run over you, but they won't take you seriously. Sometimes you gotta put a little oomph in your voice to be heard. That's the way it's any situation in life, because I present as for the most part, my friends will say otherwise, as a very nice person. But there's times where you gotta put a little oomph in your voice to get things moving. So it's okay to put that little oomph in your voice.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Yeah, I agree. I think um obviously try to be as you know, not like as nice and calm. But obviously, sometimes, you know, we do get frustrated and we do have to put a little bit more of a I I can't even think of the word either. Um, yeah, oomph. Oomph to it. We might have to name the the episode. Oof. Um, so I I don't remember really where I left off on, but I did talk about having two insurances, um, went through the school. And so um, yeah, I guess I just want to talk about like I know a lot of times patients are not able to get um the care that they need, and so there's definitely like nonprofit hospitals um that are legally required to provide um charity care. Um, another thing that you can do is ask for a case manager. Um, case managers can help you negotiate lower lower fees, they can help set up payment plans, they can find lower cost resources, um, they can really just help manage like insurance hurdles and just make the old overall process easier, you know, when you're dealing with um a health condition, and then you also have to manage like the cost and and insurance battles, that can be a lot on a person, and so um getting a pace man a case manager while you're dealing with all of this can help um I guess ease the burden that you're dealing with. So that's one of the things that I found, and I believe that's inpatient. I think they have also outpatient things that you can do, um, which I'll talk about in a second.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Um, so I have two questions. I know you mentioned that um you transition you add like a new insurance like an insurance to to your care. Uh was that difficult? Was it difficult to navigate? Was it difficult to change from like or add an insurance to your care? And second, when you change to your school insurance, did they provide you to uh with a list of like hospitals that they cover or how how did they give you that type of information or they didn't?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Um so it wasn't hard because the school makes it really easy because all they all you do is you just sign up for it. Um I think they send you emails and stuff, and then they just take it out of your um your just your disbursement, like when you we get our um our financial aid. So they just take it out of there. Um in terms of the I guess providers that are covered under the insurance, um they don't. Um, but if you go onto the website for the insurance, um you just click like find um find providers in like um like for dental or find providers for uh psychiatry. And so then once you you click it, it'll have a list of providers and like the proximity to um your your address so you don't have to go far. So it's not hard if you're computer literate, computer literate or technologically literate, but I think it's a little harder if you're not as um technologically literate. Um but if you're not, what you can do is call the back on the back of your insurance card, there's a number. Call that number and then ask for complex care coordination or um I forgot what the other name was. Um uh I think it's called case case manager or complex care coordinator. And you can ask for you can ask them for help and they can help find different providers or different specialties that are um covered with your insurance. So that's another thing you can do. And then I believe they can help you navigate that as well.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Yeah, that that sounds about right too, with inpatient or outpatient and inpatient. Um, I know with our clinic and other clinics, I think they have the same thing, um, case manager. Um, and then also I guess we call it navigation. Um, so it's like a team of navigators that's there to help patients. So the patients are connected with the navigator, which is a person that can go to their their visits with them so they can better help the patient understand their their treatment plan, you know, how to take the medication, their diagnosis, um, they can even go to their home and help organize their medication. So the navigation team helps make the their care and understanding their care a little bit easier for them, which is great. You're you're I feel like everyone, every clinic should have it. It may be like a different term. And I know they that what Jasmine is saying, if you call like the back of your card, I know at one point a patient came with a navigator outside of our clinic. So she was connected through a navigator that wasn't connected to our clinic, it was an outside source that her insurance um connected her to. So you you can do that as well. But your clinic has so many resources that I didn't even know about it until know about until I started to work as a provider to the point I was like, well, I can sign my sister up for this. You know, if you struggle with food, like food insecurity, um, you have diabetes, there's programs called open hands, but I think they changed the name, but it's not no longer open hands with with Alameda County. That if you have like any chronic health conditions like type 2 diabetes or another conditions where it's difficult for you to make meals for yourself, you can get food sent sent to you. You are you can get pre-made food sent to you so you you can have a better health outcome because they're providing the food. Um and I know Kathy mentioned something like transportation. Transportation, your clinics, even your your insurance. Alameda, I'm more so familiar with Alameda County because that's the county I work work for. Um you can get transportation. We can schedule an Uber to pick you up and an Uber to drop you home. If we refer you somewhere where you have to go to another location for help, we can still schedule an Uber to pick you up and take you to that wherever we refer you to. So there's always resources out there. Sometimes you just have to tell your provider, hey, what is an option for me? I have this, this, and that. Because sometimes like the provider may not know themselves or they just don't, they forget to even mention it. Uh, because like I said, I didn't know about these resources until I started work at the clinic that I was working at. And I did this little short rotation with we call it ECM. I forgot exactly what it stands for. I should know, but I actually learned a lot from like the navigators because they're like, oh, I refer my patient to this place, this place, this place. I was like, oh wow, we offer this. And I've been working there for almost a year, and I'm like, oh, we do offer this. So it's good to just ask your provider in the clinic what resources do they offer? We offer housing, we set people up with housing, a bunch of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Same, Linda. I remember when I started working at the clinic, I they they were telling us all the resources they provided, and I was like, wow, I would have never known a clinic offered all these resources. And so, Eth, that's I want to reiterate reiterate what Kathy said is I know it can be hard sometimes to open up about your personal life, but um, a lot of times these clinics do have resources and they wouldn't know to offer them to you because they they can't just offer all the resources, right? Um, because there's a lot of resources, so they can't just offer you or assume that you need the resources. So sometimes um being a little open about your situation or like Linda said, asking what um services are offered. The clinic that I worked at, um, they actually offered medication for free. Um, if we had the medication, they could and they were prescribed it, they can get it at our clinic and they wouldn't have to go to a different clinic. One, that's a transportation cost right there, and two, that's a cost-ish um cost for the medication. And so that, you know, you wouldn't know if you don't ask. Um, and then also like I know the clinic I um I worked at, they also gave like good RX coupons, and so then that would also cover their medication. Um, so there's a lot of resources out there, you just have to ask for them or kind of be open about your situation, um, which is um, you know, would help alleviate a lot of the costs that a patient with multiple chronic conditions, you know, would be facing.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Hold that thought. Stay tuned for next week's episode.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Thanks for listening to this episode of PD3 with your hosts Linda, Jasmine, and Kathy. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe at a put in dose of three so that you never miss an episode and your weekly dose.