The Power Transformation Podcast

86. Empower Your Voice: 5 Effective Healthcare Advocacy Tips

• Alethea Felton • Season 2 • Episode 86

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What if you could transform the way you navigate the healthcare system and advocate yourself and for your loved ones?

Join me as I:

  • Show you how to empower yourself with the knowledge to be an informed and proactive patient or caregiver;
  • Help you explore ways to use your voice effectively to ensure the best possible health outcomes; and
  • Discover how clear communication, a firm grasp of patient rights, and strategic advocacy can make a significant difference in the quality of care you or your loved ones receive. 


Whether you're working through the complexities of the healthcare system for yourself or advocating for someone else, these essential strategies will equip you with the confidence and tools needed for comprehensive, effective care.

Click here to connect with Alethea Felton

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Alethea Felton:

Hey y'all, hey, hey. Hey, I am back and I am so happy that you have joined me. I want to thank you first and foremost for all of your thoughts, your prayers, your well wishes, your love, everything that you have given me and my family or my family and me, rather. When it came to my daddy, my beloved dad, if you heard the episode before this, I shared a very sensitive topic of my father living with kidney cancer and having his left kidney removed to take out the cancer. He was hospitalized y'all for 12 days, so almost two weeks. He had some complications that they needed to fix first and he was able to go home last night and he will get home health care with physical therapy and occupational therapy. At first they were going to put him in an inpatient rehab, but they decided otherwise. But let me just kind of take a step back. I want to thank you for joining me for another episode. If you are new to this podcast, I welcome you with open arms.

Alethea Felton:

I usually have guests. I'm going to have my guests back again. I have a lot of episodes that are already finished, with interviews that I'm going to be launching in the weeks to come, but I wanted to just take a step back and give some updates, because this is very important, and today's episode in particular is something that I think that a lot of people could benefit from, and that has to deal with how to navigate this healthcare system, how to do self-advocacy and advocacy for your loved ones. So many people just don't know how to do it, and I have been very blessed to know how to do it and I'm still learning day by day. But with my own life history and story and with health, I've had to learn how to use my voice. I've learned how to stand up for myself and I've learned how to ask the right questions. I also credit one of my former doctors, dr Alpha Banks, who became my doctor in my 20s and she really said to me she was going to teach me and show me the ropes on how to actually do it and do it well. And I've done my own research and homework and talked to the right people, and I have very good relationships with my doctors, which has caused me to be able to use this platform to empower others through this area of health and wellness, through transformation and so much more. Even when I was a classroom teacher and educator and leader amongst adults. What I had to do, too, was use my voice to help empower them and to show them how to do it with others.

Alethea Felton:

So what I want to do is just give you just some tips for effective healthcare advocacy tips for effective healthcare advocacy tips that you can use to advocate for yourself and for your loved ones, because navigating this healthcare system can be a maze and a lot of people do have challenges in it, and it's easier than what you think and it's simpler than what you think and it's simpler than what you think. So just five tips for this episode, and we'll get back to more interviews and things really, really soon. But this is also a way to transform your life into how to use the power that's already within you, for your voice, and I want people to learn more about this podcast, not for my glory, but because people could use this information, and there's so many podcasts out there, so many of them, but I'm telling you what I share here is really intended to help you in your day-to-day life. So share this episode with as many people as you know, and if you aren't yet subscribed or following the Power Transformation Podcast, I invite you to do so. But how to effectively navigate the healthcare system, how to advocate for yourself and for others. Step one educate yourself and stay informed.

Alethea Felton:

Y'all first researching your medical condition or even the medical conditions of your loved ones. That is so important to do, that is so important to do. Do your homework, do your research. Yes, google is your friend, and I'm not simply talking about Wikipedia, but I'm talking about searching referee journals and articles, going to trusted health websites WebMD is a great site to even start with Asking your healthcare professional, your doctor or your loved one's doctor, about the condition, and just not asking about the condition itself, but opening your mind to understanding what the treatment options are. So these are first steps in advocacy. Not everything has a cure, so treatment options may be the best way to go about it. And so, knowing, okay, what can help these conditions? What can give myself or my loved one more comfort? What are the benefits of using certain treatments? What aren't? Do I just sit idly by and do nothing? Sit idly by and do nothing.

Alethea Felton:

And, in addition to treatments, if a doctor or nurse practitioner or somebody is going to prescribe something, find out the side effects. Just don't wait around and take it just because somebody tells you to take it, you need to understand the side effects of it. Do your homework for yourself. Ask the doctor. What are contraindications Meaning? Will this interfere with anything else I'm taking, even if it's not a prescription? Will it interfere with my taking a supplement or a vitamin? Will it interfere if I eat green vegetables? I'll give you an example. There was a time when I had to be on a blood thinner. During that time, I had to be very cautious of leafy greens. I couldn't eat a lot of leafy greens because that could actually cause more harm with a blood thinner, since your blood is already being thinned. And so that's just one example.

Alethea Felton:

But educate yourself, research for yourself. I am not saying to take on the role of the doctor in telling them what to do, but if you find out information, you are more than welcome to bring it to your healthcare professional, and I'm also just not talking about physical conditions, but mental health conditions also. Ask your therapist or psychiatrist or counselor about okay, what are my options here? What is this? Now, a psychiatrist can make official diagnoses for certain mental health conditions, but even if you're just going to therapy to just talk out your issues and your therapist says you have trauma, then ask them okay, what can I do? They're going to give you a plan of action, of course, but you want to also research things for yourself in order to learn how to use your voice more and your power. So you want to do that, and staying informed is key because the research changes so much and technology is always advancing and new discoveries are being made Like I don't know what.

Alethea Felton:

So, yeah, step two when you have your appointments for either yourself or your loved one, be prepared. Prepare for appointments. What this looks like is not only come with, say, if you take some medications, a list of that, but no write down questions before any medical appointment. Even if you have excellent health, still write down questions that you have. Make a list of questions as well as concerns that you have for yourself or your loved one. Now, doing this ensures that you don't forget important information during the visit. I'm not really a pen and paper carrier, but I will use my notes app and in my notes app I will jot down bullet pointed notes or specific questions that I want to ask my doctor and what I mean by that y'all. You can do this way before an appointment, because sometimes doctors schedule three and four months out, sometimes six months out, leading up to your appointment. If you have certain questions you want to ask leading up to it, jot it down and save it and then that way you can use your appointment to ask those questions, appointment to ask those questions and your doctor is obligated to answer those questions or to at least say thanks for that, write it down and get back to you.

Alethea Felton:

Sometimes we will complain about the fact that a doctor is slow, meaning oh my goodness, I've been waiting for a whole hour in this waiting room. I don't always get bothered by that, because what I found in my experience is that it shows me that the doctor gives attention and care to their patient. That's just my own experience and real talk. I've gotten to a point where, when it comes to medical appointments, I try my best to not schedule anything major in a certain window of time of those appointments, because we all know at certain appointments you more than likely are going to wait. I know people are like how come it's taking forever? Why is it this? Why is it that I'm more leery of doctors that rush me? And that's just me personally. Everybody's different, but I'm more leery of a doctor that rushes me or rushes my parents or a loved one that I'm with, and when I talk about advocating for your loved ones, specifically if you have aging parents or parents that have health issues, of course, there's a certain level of legal things that you have to cross in order to get that type of information, for example, medical power of attorney. I'm able to get certain information for my parents based on that medical power of attorney and other things, but if you're at the appointment with your loved one and they tell the doctor that they can discuss info in front of you, then, yeah, you can also ask questions.

Alethea Felton:

Another thing is, say you're going to an appointment for a specific reason and you're having symptoms or you have a history of something. Be able to keep a detailed record of those symptoms, your medical history and any treatments or medications. Y'all family history is important. Now I want to say this and be sensitive to people that are adopted or perhaps people that don't have extensive medical history. Those are exceptions.

Alethea Felton:

You may not have all the information that you need, but if you know your family, even if you don't come from the best family, try to get some information from somebody about your medical history, because sometimes doctors will see patterns but yet not know where they come from. In my case, living with Crohn's disease, for a long time doctors thought I had ulcerative colitis. They're both inflammatory bowel diseases, but they're also treated in the same way. However, I always felt I had Crohn's, and my mom too. Why? Because a male cousin of hers has Crohn's and Crohn's in several cases is genetic. And finally some years went by and my doctor discovered hey, it's actually Crohn's. There was already a family history of it there. Or a person might get sick all of a sudden and you're thinking this is the first person that has something and you find out it's already a family history.

Alethea Felton:

So know your medical history of things about yourself, even if again, even if you have no medical issues, even if it comes to something like depression, which is something medical, but sometimes families don't talk about mental health, as I stated earlier, and if you have a cousin that is depressed and then you have an aunt that's depressed, or if you have this person or that and there's a pattern of it and you live with it as well, there may be a genetic link and from there the treatment options may be different for you, and I'm not necessarily talking about simply medication, but the way you go about navigating it and the way you can go about being able to understand what it is in order to get better. It can help you and it helps your healthcare provider, because when you go in and you have a documented history as well as all of your symptoms, it's almost as if you have now become a partner in that healthcare system. Y'all. Don't you dare just let somebody say they are gonna do X, y and Z on you or to you without you asking questions. And trust me when I say doctors want you to tell them. Doctors want you to be a partner with them because it helps them work more effectively for you.

Alethea Felton:

At the end of the day, whatever you think about doctors or not, when I talk to them one-on-one and I know they have certain bottom lines through insurance companies and all that but at the end of the day, doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals go into that industry to want to help and save lives. Honestly, I've talked to multiple ones and they have all told me that they want to genuinely, for the most part, save lives. I can't speak for every single person, but for the most part, majority want to help save lives and in order to help do that, you have every right to speak up for yourself and to use your voice and to just not take everything with face value. You don't have to be oppositional, argumentative, antagonistic. Communicate and ask the right questions, as well as keep documents of your symptoms and history. Also another step, the third step communicate assertively and clearly. What does this mean? Be direct and honest. Be direct and honest.

Alethea Felton:

If you're in your appointment and you're talking about X, y and Z and yet your toe has been hurting for months and you trying to just thug it out and be tough, knowing good and well your toe has been hurting, open your mouth and say my toe has been hurting, why? Because that could help the doctor more understand what's happening. This is a true story. A very close loved one of mine. Her feet had been aching for months. Her feet were aching for months she had been working out, exercising, thinking everything was well, until finally she could barely stand on her feet. She said to me Lili, my feet hurt. So she and her husband went to urgent care, went to the doctor's appointment, started a series of tests, found out she had blood clots in her feet which led them to discover she had stage four pancreatic cancer. Now don't you dare say, uh-oh, my toe hurts, so I have cancer. I am not saying that by any means. But what I am saying is that she was honest with her doctor about her symptoms of her feet. It was more than her foot hurting. She mentioned it and they did what they had to do to find out what was happening.

Alethea Felton:

So be direct and honest. Communicate your concerns, your preferences, your symptoms. Ask for clarity. If they're telling you something that you don't understand, ask what are they talking about? What does that mean? Use I statements. Frame everything that you say using I. I have a concern about, or I like more information on, or I am experiencing X, y and Z. Avoid keeping it generalized. Avoid saying you know well, sometimes people might get an ache. Sometimes people uh-uh. No, make it I Take ownership of it. For yourself, because this is your life and your health, and for your loved one. If you're advocating for them, say I have a concern when my mom gets up and she hurts. I have a concern that her hip has been in pain. For X, y and Z, I have a concern. Make it personalized, because when you do that, the conversation with your healthcare professional stays focused on your needs. This is all advocacy, this is all empowerment Using your voice to transform not only your life but the lives of others around you, and doing all that you can.

Alethea Felton:

Step four know your rights. Understand y'all. Begin to understand patient rights. Now I'm not going to go too deep into this because it can get complex, but on the most basic level, what I'll say is familiarize yourself with patient rights and responsibilities, including your right to receive clear information about your or your loved one's diagnosis and treatment, your right to a second opinion and your right to privacy. Okay, second opinion, second opinion, second opinion If you are diagnosed with something serious and major, you have the right to a second opinion and in fact, a lot of healthcare professionals encourage it. They do not get offended when you get a second opinion. A second opinion helps to not say, okay, what that first doctor said was wrong, but it can confirm it. But it also gives you other options to say okay, what is this doctor's treatment options? What's happening there? And then sometimes second opinions are opposite of what someone else said. In the case of a conflicting opinion, where one doctor says one thing and another says something else, then you can get a third opinion as that kind of tiebreaker, so as to speak. Okay, but you want all of this information and one day, especially in more of my speaking platforms, I'll go more into patient rights and understanding it.

Alethea Felton:

This is important for anybody, of all ages, so I just don't want you to think this is for baby boomers. No, this is for generation alpha, because they are going to grow up one day and be adults, and so you want to start empowering yourself now. Plus, a lot of kids nowadays are taking care of older adults. Yes, there is a study out that that shows I don't have the stat directly in front of me, but real talk. There's such a high percentage of children millions of kids in the US alone that are caregivers for their parents and grandparents and older loved ones and their minors, so even they have to become familiarized with these things. In terms of the healthcare system.

Alethea Felton:

Also, in addition to knowing the rights of your patient rights, know your insurance and financial rights. Understand your health insurance coverage, understand what it entails, how to navigate claims and disputes. Do not fear contacting the insurance company for clarity on something, to ask questions, to understand cost comparisons, to find out what's covered and not to find out what is excluded, to find out who is in network and out of network, call your insurance companies and ask that At the end of the day y'all, there's a person on the other line waiting to give you the information. And even if you get a bit hesitant or fearful of the higher ups, at the end of the day they are people like you and me who have to wake up every morning, brush their teeth, take a bath or a shower. They have to put on their clothes they got to put on drawers first. They are human beings and when we get into this mindset that everybody is a person, whether you are Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey or the custodian down the street at a school, we are all part of the human race and sometimes people block their own rights because of intimidation and in advocacy specifically for your rights and your health. You cannot be intimidated or fearful of the people that are higher up, or so you think. You better open your mouth and ask.

Alethea Felton:

And when I say insurance, I'm even talking about people that might not have health insurance. You still have patient rights and sometimes people think, oh, I don't have insurance. The US now? I know I have global listeners, but in the United States you can go to free clinics and, frankly, I'm gonna be transparent and speaking with people I know in other countries, a lot of their healthcare things are of little to no cost, so they don't even have some of these issues that we have over here in the States. But if you are in the US and you say I don't have health insurance, I can't afford it, there are programs and plans in place for affordable healthcare. Yes, there are, and do not let somebody fool you into thinking that it's not. One thing about this country is that if a person is on the side of the road sick and ailing, we just not gonna let you stay there. You can get help, and I know people talk about exorbitant bills and things. Those are a reality. So I don't wanna be insensitive. But this is why you also must understand your financial rights, because there are also programs in place that can help you and organizations that can help when it comes to even things such as paying exorbitant bills or helping you to get on certain payment plans or doing things based on income to get on certain payment plans or doing things based on income.

Alethea Felton:

So what I'm trying to get you to see here is that everybody, regardless of socioeconomic status, race, gender or religion or otherwise. You have the right to advocate in this healthcare system for yourself or for your loved one. And the last step that I'm going to give you this is just a crash course is build a support network. Build a support network At your appointments. You can bring somebody with you. You don't have to go into your appointments by yourself. Did you know that Sometimes a person might catch a ride with a friend or a loved one and they go in the back by themselves? It's up to you. If you want to go in the back by yourself with your doctor, that's fine, but if you want to bring somebody with you, they can not only give emotional support, but they can also be that extra pair of ears listening to make sure you don't miss important and pertinent information that you need. So that is why it is also important and yes, this is a part of advocacy so that you have that extra support and you can also connect with support groups.

Alethea Felton:

You may join support groups that are connected with your health condition or that of your loved ones, whether, again, it's a physical or mental condition. You have support groups out there. There are numerous support groups out there, virtually and in person, and what these groups do is that they provide information resources, build greater community and more support for you and y'all. You have the right to control as much advocacy as you want, as much as you want to speak up for yourself or your loved one, and as little. It is not as difficult as it seems, but you must have the confidence in order to do it.

Alethea Felton:

But the key y'all ask questions. I always tell people that Ask the questions, and the more you ask and the more you research and know for yourself, the more empowered that you will be. And you can find support groups specifically. You can look online. You can ask your doctors. You may be surprised that certain doctors that have specialties in certain areas are already connected with local foundations and can tell you about certain groups that they have for patients and their loved ones.

Alethea Felton:

As y'all can hear, I'm passionate about this and the Power Transformation Podcast. Yes, I love doing the interviews, but I also want to give you also a piece of me that can help you. So I want you to know that you can do this. You can do this, and feel free to send me an email, drop me a message, for any feedback on this or any questions that you may have where I can perhaps guide you in the right direction. I'm not going to be able to tell you everything, but I can at least help in that area. And if you're listening and if you want me to come out and speak to your groups or speak on a platform or something like that, I do public speaking and I am happy to do public speaking, just not on this topic, but on other topics as well.

Alethea Felton:

I am available for that as well. As several of you know, I did do a keynote speech recently for some of the graduates of the gastroenterology department at Georgetown University Hospital, and so I do public speaking. I do public speaking for teachers and educators, for healthcare professionals and for patient groups, patient advocacy groups, things of that nature. So I am available for speaking. Contact me and let me know. You can also email me at coach at aletheafeltoncom, but I am here for you to also do workshops in this area as well. So I hope that this episode has been enlightening for you. Again, I promise you I'm going to get back to the interviews with guests. I have some wonderful guests coming soon but I thank you for your support and again, use your voice be empowered, know that you are not alone in this and that when you do advocate for not only your own health but for the health of your loved ones, you ensure better communication as well as greater outcomes for the healthcare system overall.

Alethea Felton:

I love y'all. I love y'all. I love y'all so much and join me again next week. New episodes are dropped every Wednesday and soon y'all. Very soon, the Power Transformation Podcast will also start being on YouTube. That's coming down soon and I will share more with you about that. If you enjoyed today's show, then you don't want to miss an episode, so follow the Power Transformation podcast on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you usually listen, and remember to rate and review. I also invite you to connect with me on social media at Alethea Felton. That's at A-L-E-T-H-E-A-F-E-L-T-O-N. Until next time, remember to be good to yourself and to others.