Welcome!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for visiting Chicago Health Advocates. I am glad you came. My name is Raquel Gabriel-Bennewitz. Many of my friends and colleagues also call me Rocky. I am a Registered Nurse (RN) and Founder of this independent healthcare advocacy service. Others may refer to me as their private healthcare manager, educator, advisor, navigator, consultant, family representative, or coach.

I work for you/your loved one and with you/your loved one, not for your insurance provider, the hospital, or your hospital caregivers. However, I will work with your care team and/or help complete your expert team, in a collegial and constructive manner, to seek evidence and consensus-based (best possible) diagnostic and treatment options, on your behalf.

I will not only point the way. I will walk you through it. I dedicate this website to you.

If you can answer “yes” to any of the questions below, I can help you.

• Do you need assistance in navigating the healthcare maze for yourself or your loved one?
• Are you wondering whether you are receiving the best possible care?
• Are you facing a medical test, a surgical procedure, or a hospital stay?

• Are you fearful you may have been misdiagnosed?
• Do you suspect you might be a victim of a medical error?
• Do you need help communicating with your doctor, hospital/clinic staff, or insurers?

• Are you overwhelmed and confused about your diagnosis and treatment options?
• Do you want to learn more about diagnostics tests and treatments that are most appropriate for you?
• Do you need an advocate to coordinate your discharge, short term, and long range care plan?

• Do you need to obtain your medical record and interpret what it means?
• Are you faced with a decision to participate or not participate in clinical research?
• Do you know that there are ways of minimizing or preventing medical errors and complications?

• Do you need to understand your risks for severe forms of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and the ways to avoid them?
  • For example:
    • Do you know that antibiotics you are taking for an infection may also kill the “good intestinal bacteria” otherwise protecting your body from harm?
• Do you know that if you are in the high risk group, certain antibiotics increase your chances of getting a bad intestinal infection called C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD) caused by the bacteria, Clostridium difficile (often called C. diff)?
• Do you want help in finding the healthcare team appropriate for you?
  • For instance:
    • If you have diarrhea from antibiotics, do you know that you may need a Gastroenterologist, also known as a Gastrointestinal (GI) Specialist, an Infectious Disease (ID) Specialist, a nutritionist, in addition your Primary Care Physician (PCP)?
    • It is important for you to ask the right questions and know that specific blood and stool tests, along with endoscopic procedures, are performed not only to confirm the diagnosis but also to determine if chronic inflammatory bowel conditions have resulted, necessitating a longterm treatment plan and education in relapse-prevention.

Often, I hear my patients and their loved ones wish that they have a healthcare practitioner in the family:

• To accompany them to appointments.
• To help ask disease-specific questions.
• To coordinate their care, knowing that carefully executed plans-of-care could make a difference in their long-term survival and well-being.

You should not face it alone. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recommends that you ask a family member or a friend to be your advocate, defined as: “someone who can get things done when you can’t”. http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/20tips.htm

Having your own professional healthcare advocate who can remain calm, think rationally, and ask appropriate questions can help optimize your care, shorten your hospital stay, and minimize healthcare complications.

Caring for your elderly loved ones can be extremely overwhelming especially if you have your own health issues while attending to your dependent children’s needs. There is so much at stake. Obtaining professional healthcare advocate services can help minimize risks and stress.

Having a child in the hospital or a very sick baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) could leave any parent in a state of shock, constant fear, and lingering helplessness. Extremely sick and premature infants potentially, could remain in the NICU for 2-4 months. As you struggle to make sense of your very sick child or baby’s care and want to understand the ways (and there are many, many ways) to increase their chances of living a normal life, be reassured that an experienced pediatric or neonatal healthcare insider can help.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) along with other preventable medical complications are on the rise. These could mean unnecessary long-term care, permanent disability, major loss of quality of life, or loss of precious life itself.

Contact me for a FREE 30-minute telephone consultation to discuss how I can be your personal and professional partner in healthcare. Please, call me at (708) 8RAQUEL / (708) 872-7835 or fax to (708) 361-5704.

Please, browse around to find out more about my services, what is going on in healthcare, and what you can do to protect your health and that of your loved ones.

With my best wishes for your health and safety,

Raquel (Rocky)