This is a story about my mother who, thanks to EO and the Healthnetwork Foundation, found the healthcare assistance she needed.
Between 1994 and 2006, my mother had had three hip replacements, two heart attacks, was dealing with type II diabetes and had a few other ancillary health problems. In the spring of 2006, she began suffering from an irregular heartbeat. Because she had so many health problems in play all at once, her cardiologist recommended she go to the Cleveland Clinic (CC), the top cardiac hospital in the US, for an evaluation.
Her doctor told her that he would give her a referral, but it would likely be eight to 10 months before she would get an actual appointment. The day after meeting with her doctor she told me about his recommendation. Up until that point, I was familiar with the Healthnetwork Foundation, but had never requested their assistance. I asked my mother if she would mind if I tried to get her an appointment a little sooner. Needless to say she was very amenable to the idea.
As soon as I hung up with her I called the Healthnetwork Foundation. I explained my mother's situation to a Healthnetwork advisor who, thankfully, immediately took the reins. Within a week, my mother's medical records were sent to the CC where a cardiac review board determined which doctors would be best for my mother to meet with.
Within a couple of weeks, the CC had set my mother up with appointments to have a cardiac scan and to meet with a few doctors. I flew my mother to Cleveland the day before her appointments were scheduled. Healthnetwork made arrangements to have a wheelchair meet her at the gate. She was taken to the baggage pick-up area where she was met by a limousine driver who took her to the Intercontinental Hotel, which is conveniently connected to the CC.
The next morning, her Healthnetwork advisor met her in the lobby of the hotel at 7:30 a.m. The advisor spent the entire day with my mother taking her from appointment to appointment, ensuring she made it from one appointment to the next without a problem. After her last appointment, a limousine took her back to the airport for her flight home.
About a week and a half later, the CC contacted her with their recommendation. The typical treatment for her condition would have been another oblation surgery. As it turned out, the Clinic had a drug therapy they believed would cure her condition. They made the arrangements to get the drug to Syracuse, New York, USA, where it was administered to my mother in a local hospital over the course of four days.
I am happy to say that she received the treatment about two and a half years ago, and she hasn't had a cardiac problem since! From the time I contacted Healthnetwork, it only took four or five weeks for my mother to get the diagnosis and receive the treatment that likely saved her life.
Since then, I've contacted Healthnetwork a handful of other times. Every time I've asked them for assistance I have been overwhelmed at how efficient they are at securing the best possible physicians at the best hospitals in the country, in an incredibly courteous and professional manner. Healthnetwork is just one of the many amazing benefits of being a member of EO. I'm very thankful for having access to it.