With Health Systems Managements Help!

On behalf of my mother, I want to express her thanks and mine for the Patient Advocacy Program Local 49 has with Health Systems Management. It is a tremendous benefit for the members of the Local 49 Health and Welfare Fund. Let me explain how Health Systems Management helped us.

My mother experienced vaginal bleeding in late October. Her local physician first treated the condition as a bladder infection. About a month later she experienced the same bleeding. This time, she was referred to a kidney specialist who referred her to a gynecologist. Through testing, the gynecologist determined that there were growths in her uterus, which he indicated could be cancerous. He did a biopsy that came back inconclusive and then ordered an ultrasound. According to the doctor who did the ultrasound, two of the growths exhibited signs of being cancerous and another appointment with the gynecologist was scheduled.

At this point, I called Joanne Miller at Health Systems Management. She provided me with extensive information on uterine cancer and researched the background of the doctors that my mother had been seeing. Neither of the gynecologists we had seen are certified in oncology. In fact, one was still "in training". Joanne strongly recommended that we see someone certified in both specialties. She offered to help us go to the Women's Cancer Program at Mayo Clinic or the University of Minnesota. She researched information on doctors and procedures at both locations for us and we determined that the Mayo Clinic was the best option for my mother. I called Joanne on a Wednesday morning, she called her contact at Mayo and I received a call from Mayo two hours later. Mayo clinic scheduled my mother to be seen by a gynecological oncologist on Friday, just two days later. Joanne Miller then provided information on the doctor my mother was scheduled to see, maps of the facilities, places to stay near the Clinic and what to expect when we arrived at the Clinic.

I had never been to Mayo Clinic before but had heard about its stellar reputation. Our experience on that Friday was even more impressive than our expectations. We met with the gynecological oncologist in the morning who did another biopsy, explained what the treatment options would be depending on the outcome of the biopsy and ordered preoperative tests and consultations for my mother that same day. We had three different appointments scheduled around lunch and literally never had to wait more than two minutes beyond our scheduled time to be seen. We returned home Friday evening and the doctor called me Saturday morning with the biopsy results that were normal. We returned to Mayo Sunday evening for a Monday morning surgery to remove the growths from the uterus. While my mother was on the operating table, the removed growths were tested to make sure there were no cancer cells that had beenmissed in the biopsy. To our immense relief, no cancer cells were found. My mother returned to her recovery room and was able to return home that afternoon.

Joanne Miller called a couple of times while we were at Mayo to see how things were going and see if we needed any further assistance. She was very pleased with the result of our trip to Rochester, as were we. Needless to say, my mother was very happy with the outcome of her experience at the Mayo Clinic. When it was suggested that she could have cancer, I contacted Mayo through Health Systems Management on a Wednesday and had a diagnosis and a treatment by Monday, a span of only six days! In less than a week, my mother went from being told she probably had cancer, to finding out she did not, and then being treated for the condition that she did have. Who knows how long it would have taken to resolve this problem if I had not contacted Health Systems Management. The peace of mind to my mother and our family of having the problem resolved quickly, thoroughly and accurately is "worth its weigh in gold". The Local 49 Patient Advocacy Program through Health Systems Management is the reason we were able to resolve this potentially serious medical condition in such a timely, professional manner.

On behalf of my mother and all our family, I want to again thank you and Local 49 for having the wisdom and might I add, the courage, to provide the Patient Advocacy Program through Health Systems Management for members of the Local 49 Health Fund. It is truly "worth its weight in gold".

Sincerely,

Rick Winters