Have you ever been caught off guard and slapped in the face by something you wish you had seen coming? Or even just be able to prepare for a tinny bit? I expected a certain amount of that astonishment with my kids at varying stages, but not with the parents!!

In the past few years, there have been a number of surprises for my sister and me as we have supported or helped our mom. Every so often we have looked at each other and said, "How did we not know about this?" or "Can you believe we had not heard about that?!" Quite honestly, it has been those very surprising moments that were a big part of the inspiration for this blog. As a result, I have what proved to be a major life hack to share. This group completely flipped the script about getting medical care for mom. The difference it has made has been a game-changer for me, my sister and most importantly our mother.

Today I would like to share with you something that mom’s doctor shared with me.  In a nutshell, it is the return of the house call. The exciting thing, it is affordable, quality medical care covered by insurance, and available in most major cities around the country,. The name of this jewel that we all need to have on speed dial is Dispatch Health.

In early February of 2018, something wasn’t right.  Mother said she was ok, but my radar was going off.  She did not appear to feel well and seemed weakened, almost feeble.  My mind began scrambling about what I could do to help her.  A month before I had taken her to her new doctor’s office for a regular check-up. Mom has a condition that makes lots of walking really hard for her even when she is well. An office visit was not going to work and would completely exhaust her.

She needed to see someone but I really did not want to make a trip to the ER, plus she would have refused an ambulance.  I reached out to her doctor’s office to see if they could help.  While they do have staff that comes to visit patients on a regular basis they do not send staff out for same-day visits. Mom needed someone that could come at a moment’s notice.  They suggested we reach out to Dispatch Health and it was the best call I could have made for that situation!!  Think of it as Urgent Care that will come to you.  Groundbreaking! Mind-blowing!

Within a very short window of time after I called them, help in the form of a nurse practitioner and a medical technician walked through the door.  Talk about a couple of knights in shining armor!  Before they left, the kind and compassionate team had a full evaluation of what was going on; they checked her vitals, listened to me and her about what was happening, administered a couple of tests, prescribed meds, gave her an injection she needed, ordered a chest X-ray, and forwarded everything to her doctor so that she was in the loop as well. All while mom sat on the side of her bed. 

So much less stress for her!  I discovered afterward that they can administer almost any test that could normally be done in a doctor’s office; they prescribe and administer medication, even give a patient an IV.  By the way, the X-Ray was a separate mobile service that showed up within a very short amount of time and quickly x-rayed her chest while she sat on the side of the bed and forwarded results to her doctor as well as the Dispatch Health team. Insurance was processed without a problem.  The copay she was billed for later was not ridiculous.

It was the height of cold and flu season here. Given how much illness she would have been exposed to had she gone to the doctor’s office, emergency room or even been admitted to the hospital without the ER visit, plus the cost of an ambulance; this choice was so much better!  And most importantly, zero stress on her at a time when getting dressed would exhaust her.  As she recovered, they followed up to check on how she was progressing.

The name of this service should be Angels on Wheels but as I said before, it is Dispatch Health.  I have contacted them for her a couple of times since and every time I am so glad that I have them available to help mom out.  You can download their app from the I-tunes store, but you can also go to their website and reach out to them either through their website or by making a call. 

I have linked their website below. Check online to see what and how they do things as well as see if you are in their service territory.  I had no idea they were so widespread across the country.

Want to know the latest pearls of wisdom I have to share? Join my email list down below and feel free to leave a comment down below. I would love to know what you think!

Susan