Trisha Torrey

What Shall We Call Ourselves?

3 minutes of reading / 8 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / August 28, 2011

I’ve just returned from a marvelous week visiting with, and participating in, patient empowerment and advocacy experiences that included activities like video, webinars, panel discussions and pot luck dinners. A whirlwind! More impressive, however, is the variety of interests and skills of the wonderful people I met and worked with. From patients, to patient safety experts, to providers, to educators, to administrators, to hospital employees, to – yes – patient advocates. You can imagine the discussions that took place! During the week, my brain was going a million-thoughts-per-hour as we covered dozens of topics related to both empowerment and advocacy. […]

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A Patient Advocate Is Just Like….

4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / August 21, 2011

In a conversation with a group of friends, Lisa told us she has decided to buy her first house. She feels like the market is right – prices are low, interest rates are low – so why not take the plunge? We responded by providing advice to her based on our own experiences with buying homes. “Be sure to get it inspected.” “Shop around for mortgage rates.” “Sign a contract with a buyer’s agent, otherwise your interests won’t really be represented.” “Beware of shortsales and bank repos because I’ve heard really bad things about those on the news.” … and

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The Option of Saying “NO”

4 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By Trisha Torrey / August 15, 2011

Several months ago I wrote about the tendency of big-hearted advocates to over-extend themselves with volunteer work; that when someone needs their help, but doesn’t have the means to pay them, they don’t know how to say “no.” We looked at some of the ways to get past that inability in order to keep our businesses moving forward. Truth is, that is only one of the circumstances where “no” is the right answer. That’s true whether it is us, as professional advocacy business owners who must choose to say no, or whether we must help our clients choose “no” if

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YOMs – and That Sense of Entitlement

5 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / July 31, 2011

It arrived in my email a few days ago – a demand for a reply. It came from a person who reads my articles at About.com. She had sent me a question the day before regarding trouble she was having getting copies of her records from her doctor. I had not yet responded to that email. The second one arrived, shouting in capital letters: WHY DIDN’T YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION? I SENT IT YESTERDAY AND YOU HAVEN’T ANSWERED IT YET! There it is. A simple example of that sense of entitlement we all seem to be dealing with. I get

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Advocating – It’s Like Nailing Jello to a Tree

4 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / July 24, 2011

(No – that’s not Dad in the photo – but this gentleman is quite representative!) Last week I shared notes from my father’s hospital bedside as he began his recovery from back surgery. The majority of his hospital stay was safe and successful, although we continued to have big problems managing his pain throughout. Dad was discharged to a skilled nursing center to convalesce and begin rehab. He’s well on the road to recovery. We have much to be thankful for. As mentioned previously, my work does not typically include helping individual patients with their healthcare challenges. I write and

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Notes from the Hospital Bedside

4 minutes of reading / 7 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / July 18, 2011

Dad had back surgery Friday morning. As many of you know, I don’t ordinarily work as a patient advocate. My work is about supporting patient advocates – so I look at these kinds of experiences as opportunities to learn, and to use some of the excellent advice I’ve learned from many of you over the years. I’m relieved to say – I haven’t had much opportunity to make a difference! Dad’s care has been quite good. So, as his advocate, my last 72 hours have been…. well…. boring. But there have been a few things I have observed, and a

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Using Advocacy Specialties to Create Niches

3 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / July 10, 2011

When I glance at the many topics our AdvoConnection members post about in the Forum, I find certain people posting on certain kinds of topics. That leads me to believe that they have special interests – or expertise – in those topics…. Which leads me to thinking that the patients and caregivers who are hiring them have interest in those topics, too. So why not use them in marketing? For example: One such topic has developed around interest in integrative approaches to care. At least one of the health advocacy educational programs was developed to focus strictly on integrative care.

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