Today's Thought (Jari Holland-Buck, Patient Advocate)

Welcoming Jari Holland-Buck's Hospital Stay Handbook

Upon receiving her Master's Degree from Northwestern University and a year with Wards at their corporate office in Chicago, she returned home to Minneapolis and began a 10-year commitment to Dayton Hudson Corporation. Her final position as National Training Director for Target Stores provided her with national exposure for her work in computer based training programs, buyer training and the design and execution of a training center in California which delivered position based training to 6000 employees in a six (6) month time frame for a 30 store new market start-up.

Jari's career then took her to Kansas City as Director of Human Resources for Payless Cashways where she received a Training Award of Merit from National Home Center News for the "Basics of Supervision."

In 1986, Jari began The Holland Group® (re-named MAJESTIC WOLF in 2001), an organizational consulting practice. Jari has been recognized in the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who of the United States, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Finance and Business, Who's Who of Business Executives and Who's Who of Emerging Leaders.


About Jari's Book, Hospital Stay Handbook:
You ought to find this book useful if you match one or more of the following criteria:

• You want your family to help you when you need hospitalization.
• You want a hands-on, practical guide to helping anyone you care about (including yourself) increase the odds of survival during a stay in the hospital.
• You're a person who believes in and takes action, even in the face of resistance.
• You've been stuck in denial or helplessness long enough and finally want to face the issues associated with healthcare, as they relate to you, family and friends.
• You're a healthcare provider and want to improve your relationship with patients and family members.
• You are a minister, priest, rabbi or lay church leader/member who wants to offer something practical (to support the spiritual advice of "pray") to hospitalized patients and their families.

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Some question Jari and I approached. If we did not bring up the actual question during our conversation, the information is definitely covered in her book!
1. What happened first, your general or specific career experience in the Health Care System, your education, or your personal experience or family member's experience, which creates this focus for you?

2. Before writing your book, what research did you do to see what was already out there, what did you find, and what did you want to include in your book that wasn't being sufficiently emphasized?

3. What is an advocate?

4. In your book, Hospital Stay Handbook, you are offering this role to any and everyone who is capable. How do I know, if I can be an effective advocate, and if I am not, how do I find one? 

5. How do you feel the general public views the Health Care system today?

6. Although the health care system is fragmented and an advocate must understand each step in the process, there are objectives which hold each team player in the health care system accountable so there is continuity of care, and in this way hopefully it is easier to understand how the patient is being viewed by each and what role the advocate should play in each step.

So, my question:  How do you feel the health care system views the patient from the following perspectives: individual professional like a doctor and nurse in a private practice setting, up to the employee in the institutional setting including hospital administration and how do these views of the patient all blend together in the way it is implemented as policy and procedure?

7. How do you feel third party insurances view the patient and how does that impact the way health care professionals and institutions view the patient?

8. Institutions do try to hire professionals as part of their staff to play the role of patient advocate. Assuming this employee has the patient's best interest at heart, how much should the patient rely on the effectiveness of this role?

9. Are you endorsing that the advocate be solely concerned with the patient or also for family and even health professionals playing a role in the patient's care? Is there a need for some check and balance during the health care experience and if so, who does the checking and balancing?

10. My mom was a hospital and medical college risk manager, and I got some interesting perspectives on quality assurance, damage control, malpractice, you name it. How do hospitals and physicians operate for profit and practice in spite of risk and really have the patient's best interest at heart?

11. Your book talks about Health Care Insurance, helping people not get into debt without knowing what 3^rd party health insurance provisions and plan limitations are or in other words, what gets paid for. Can you talk about that and what systems are in place to help resolve financial issues when the situation gets out of hand and there is no opportunity to use what is available after the fact? You do include creative financing to offset pressure and keep the advocate and patient focused on getting well. Share about that please.

12. You speak about support groups for the patient and advocate, and the Internet and blogging brings intimacy and immediacy to what these groups provide. Can you tell us about some of these?

13. What if the patient will survive but will be disabled for the duration of life?

14. When the patient's prognosis is uncertain what special should the advocate and support anticipate and prepare for?

15. When we know the patient will transition, because the health crisis is terminal in nature, what information do you cover?

16. You talk about the law of attraction, magnetic manifestation in your book, and you mention the patient may be able to hear everything that is discussed. Why?

17. What other kinds of public interactions are you using to get the word out?

18. Are you manifesting your higher purpose through this book and pro-activity, and if so, how do you know?

19.Jari, please share with the audience a bit of wisdom, some measure that was useful in helping you find your path and stay on your path benefiting the world?