Joti Gill – Patient Pathways

Joti Gill | Navigator/Advocate | jotig@patientpathways.ca

Joti is a Medical Radiation Technologist and has 20 years of healthcare experience. Every day she sees patients who are not being fully informed of their medical imaging results and this impacts their care and follow-up.

Joti is uniquely qualified to help her clients navigate today’s intimidating healthcare system because she is a rare survivor of pancreatic cancer.

“I’ve noticed that patient’s and families are unaware of the resources that exist or the capacity to access them. I have a special interest in doing what’s right for my patient instead of fitting them into a neat category. Sometimes an emergency room isn’t the best place for them: they just need appointments set up, home care put in place, or to have their family involved because they have lost some capacity and aren’t able to take care of themselves.”

Joti was an empowered patient. Before she had a diagnosis, she was profoundly ill and continued to push for answers for her serious symptoms. Her concerns about a small mass on her pancreas was dismissed due to her age (only 30) and lack of risk factors (she did not smoke, drink and was not overweight). However, there was a strong genetic link to pancreatic cancer and two first degree relatives had died very young of the aggressive cancer. She pushed for a second MRI and the mass had doubled in size. Surgery was performed, and the cancer was contained before it had moved to other organs. She is now seven years cancer-free.

Joti is fluent in English, Punjabi and Hindi. She serves the Surrey, White Rock and Langley areas of BC’s lower mainland. When Joti is not working, she loves to travel and spend time outdoors.

Her specialties include:

Hospital discharge planning
Family and health team meetings and mediation
Optimizing specialist care, treatment, and appointments
Medical chart reviews
Set up and review of in home “In Case of Emergency” forms
Providing workshops on Advance Care Planning and becoming Empowered patients.

+ Testimonials

Craig & Lissa McCulloch
This very crucial form would not have been completed correctly...

We hired Kerry and Patient Pathways to advise us both on how to navigate the medical administration as well as to obtain the best care for our mother.

Kerry advised us on the information that should have been given to us by the hospital emergency team upon admittance to emergency, subsequently at hospice care as well as the palliative care wards that she was on. This information was never provided at any of these crucial steps along the path through the medical system. The MOST form was never discussed with us to determine the patient’s wishes even though she signed a Do Not Resuscitate Order in emergency. This very crucial form would not have been completed correctly without Kerry’s active intervention with the hospital administration and medical practitioner.

Kerry’s presence at our meeting with the hospital team was invaluable at showing that they had not done their due diligence and that they were totally unprepared to handle the ongoing care of our mother to the level to which she required or to meet her wishes.

Kerry educated us on the system, our options within the long term care field and has assisted in the ongoing navigation of the nursing home care services. She has acted as our representative during a period when we were out of the country. We have felt total trust in the care that Kerry has provided to our mother.

We have referred other friends to Kerry and Patient Pathways that are facing challenges with the medical/health care system for their family members.

Gina
I want to thank Connie Jorsvik for all of her...

I want to thank Connie Jorsvik for all of her thoughts, insight, and empathy she put into my healthcare. I am… grateful to have had her as the foundation of my journey. The medical system has been increasingly difficult for me to navigate and tolerate as I faced complex and long-term illness. I came to Connie with a very complicated health history and crisis situation that needed to be approached with discretion. I was looking for a medical professional who I could trust implicitly, who would listen to me and thoroughly evaluate my circumstance, and someone who could guide and support me in getting the healthcare I needed. Connie has demonstrated professionalism, integrity, and credibility in our one-to-one dealings as well as appointments she has attended with me. She has been steadfast in taking on the complexity and challenge of putting together the puzzles pieces of my case. She has not only guided and assisted me in managing the many overwhelming aspects of living with illness, from dealing with doctors and appointments to coping with confusing and frustrating symptoms to sorting out paperwork for insurance and medical records but she has also genuinely cared for me and my well-being, encouraged me to keep going when I felt like giving up, coached me through barriers and self-realizations that were holding me back, and most importantly she has inspired and empowered me to be my own best advocate. Finding Connie was an absolute turning point on a path that was feeling hopeless and impossible.

Ben
I am located in Arizona but have a dear friend...

I am located in Arizona but have a dear friend in Vancouver B.C. who suffered a stroke in February 2014. After several months in ICU and acute care she was transferred to a long term care facility where she lives with residents decades older than herself. A mutual friend in Vancouver went to visit her and contacted me with her concerns. She felt my friend was not receiving all the potential therapy she should have and explained to me how an Advocate could help. Enter Connie. Connie visited my friend and in a short time was able to make arrangements for her to receive therapy at GF Strong Rehabilitation Center in Vancouver – one of Canada’s best public care rehab facilities. The change has been nothing short of miraculous. For eight months my friend had been confined to the hospital where her surgery took place and where she suffered the stroke that left her partially paralyzed. But after two short months of therapy at GF Strong thanks to Advocate Connie her prognosis is such that within a short while she will regain the use of the paralyzed portions of her body and eventually have her independence back rather than spending her life in a hospital ward. Without an advocate this would never have been possible. And one day soon I will take my friend to dinner and afterwards dancing… Thanks to Connie.

Sean
My wife died suddenly while in hospital almost...

My wife died suddenly while in hospital almost two years ago. I was not happy with the explanations I received from the doctors. On advice from a lawyer, I contacted Connie Jorsvik, a private patient advocate and she did a very detailed, thorough review of my wife’s hospital records and found several major gaps in her care. She produced a lengthy and through Letter of Complaint for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC). I want to thank Ms. Jorsvik for the vast amount of work she did in preparing the letter of complaint. I was able to get the justice I wanted and maybe, it is my greatest hope, that others’ deaths will be prevented. Ms. Jorsvik was frequently my ear during that horrible time. Her professionalism and compassion were lights pulling me out of the tunnel. I can’t recommend her patient advocacy services highly enough.

Janice
I have been using the services of Patient...

I have been using the services of Patient Pathways for about a year. Connie provides a tremendous service for families in health crisis who are finding it difficult to navigate the health care system. She is readily available to talk to on a one on one basis and offers support to the individual and the family. I am extremely grateful for the service she has provided to me and my family.

Susan
Thank you for your help and your support. We...

Thank you for your help and your support. We found you when I was starting to feel hopeless. You have given me back some hope.

David S.
I live many provinces away and there is no local support for...

Over the last year, Patient Pathways has provided invaluable support to my 75-year-old stepfather, who is physically fit but suffering from Alzheimer’s. Our goal is to have him live at home, as independently as possible, for as long as possible. His navigator, Kerry Phillips, has drawn together many imaginative and effective resources—arranging in-home care; arranging and attending medical appointments; and arranging social activities—to help him not just survive but actually enjoy his daily life, all while keeping him safe. I live many provinces away and there is no local support for my step-father, so Patient Pathways has been a godsend.