Empowered Patient & Care Partner Education
Become an informed, empowered health care consumer.
The BC Healthcare System is complex, fragmented and siloed. In order to get the care we need and deserve, we must understand the system. The free education articles below cover most relevant topics. Dive in where you need, then come back and explore further.
-
In order to get the care you need, you must be prepared, informed, and learn how to do much of the heavy lifting for yourself.
Here you will find a series of articles on how to access better care in clinics, emergency rooms, hospitals (including discharge planning!), home care and residential care.
-
Health Care Planning & Advance Care Planning are a continuum from birth to death.
Health Care Planning is for right now! Advance Care Planning (ACP) is preparation for a time when you are not able to speak for yourself due to serious injury, illness, or advancing cognitive decline.
It’s important to become organized and plan ahead while you are still healthy.
-
An empowered patient is informed and supported. Women particularly need to plan ahead for serious illness.
Effective communication is a lot of work… and it’s harder when you’re sick. In these education articles you will find tools to be more effective and assertive in asking for the care you need and deserve.
-
What is the state of your health? Are you aging and having more difficulty managing on your own? Do you have more than one serious illness (known as comorbidities)?
Do you know what your preferences for health care are? Have you said, “I don’t want heroics”. Do you understand what heroics, DNR, and No CPR mean?
Even if you are not ready to make a decision about whether you want to be resuscitated should your heart and breathing ever stop, having an understanding now about your preferences for future care will mean you can have informed conversations with your healthcare professionals and loved-ones in the future.
-
There is so much to talk about regarding capability and dementia that it is broken into several articles. I hope that you will read them, think about what you learn, and then have courageous conversations with those you love, especially those who might have to make decisions for you in the future.
-
Many people have peaceful, natural deaths – the kind we all hope for. But that is not the way all of us will die.
Some people die suddenly, unexpectedly, and others others in tremendous pain for days, weeks, or months years before they final die. Too often, the elderly and frail are put on life-support and their dying only takes place when the tubes are removed – many without loved-ones at their side.
That is not planning and it is not choice. Let’s change that for you and your loved ones.
The articles include: Understanding Organ & Body Donation; Palliative Care & Hospice; Choice at End of Life; and a specific, detailed look at Medical Assistance in Dying.
-
When a person discovers that they are going to die, it can turn their world – and the world of their loved ones – upside-down. Being able to recognize these changes and navigate these heightened interactions with grace and compassion can minimize stress, elevate meaning, and deepen our connections to our loved ones.
-
Coming Soon
Navigating the BC Healthcare System
by Connie Jorsvik
After two years and hundreds of hours, I am pleased to introduce my latest book, which I believe is the most thorough resource on this topic available to date. If you are a patient or a care partner in our fast-paced and fragmented healthcare system, this is a step-by-step guide to surviving, and thriving.
