Navigating the Healthcare System: Coaching Clients through the Maze ~ July Member Webinar

With Bonnie Blachly

Helping clients navigate the healthcare system to ensure they receive the best health care possible is of utmost importance, especially when facing a life-limiting or life-ending condition. Multiple doctors and other disciplines may be involved. Helping your client develop trust in their doctors is an important aspect of support provided by an End-of-Life Doula and sets the tone for the challenges and/or successes that lie ahead.

The presentation helps doulas support and coach their clients through the maze of health care options. You will learn how to:

• Prepare their client for a physician visit and use the time they have with their doctor to meet their collaborative priorities.
• Follow up post-visit to ensure understanding and develop a plan to follow up on physician recommendations. Bonnie uses four questions to guide this conversation: (1) Tell me what you just heard. (2) How do you think the visit went? (3) Were all your questions answered? (4) What do you think are the next steps? For the last question, Bonnie has the client write down their next steps.

Bonnie Blachly is President/CEO of her own consulting practice, BLB Nurse Consulting/End-of-Life Doula Services. She is retired faculty at UW Bothell where she teaches classes on death and dying. She collaborated with the Palliative Care Institute in Bellingham/Western Washington University on the “Touch of Grace” project. This project teaches participants how to be with and respect the sacred space of dying. She is a founding member of Gentle Passage Doula Collective. Find out more about her at www.Gentlepassagedoulacollective.com.