Susan went out of her way to listen, to care, and resolve a problem for me and my family. My ex-husband has brain cancer and it has been a devastating few months as we have struggled to work through the maze that is healthcare. My son moved home and has been his 24 hour/ a day caregiver. He is tired and wearing down. A month ago he got strep throat and we had to quarantine him to the house and move his father out of their home due to his immunosuppressed state secondary to chemotherapy. Three weeks later the symptoms returned, and my son was retested but this time found to be negative. We took him to the ER because it was a Sunday and the walk-in was closed. He was given cough meds and pain meds, but no antibiotic even though he just had strep throat. The next day my son went to see his primary physician and was still not given any antibiotics and told to "sleep it off" We were told we didn't need to move my ex-husband.
A few days later I found my ex-husband almost unresponsive with a fever over 104 degrees and we went to the ER, he was found to have pneumonia. My ex-husband was released days later from the hospital and I was concerned about him returning home to the same environment as my son who was still sick and no antibiotics. I was told that my son needs to go back to his physician or ER again!
When we arrived at the Pharmacy we learned that my ex-husband's insurance did not cover the ordered antibiotic and they would call the hospital to ask for something different that they would cover. My son called several times throughout the day to learn that they still had received no new orders. By this time, the Pharmacy had closed, and I had no way of knowing when my ex-husband was due to have the next dosage or how we should proceed. I called into the Hospital to talk with the House Supervisor. The problem ended up being the Hospitalist who had discharged him would not be returning the following day, so they didn't know how to take care of the problem with my ex-husband coming into the ER or seen by his family physician.
I was also informed that no one on staff could enter the chart to see when the last dose of antibiotics was given because of HIPPA. I was at the end of my cope-rope and ready to explode. The next day I came in and talked to the case manager, Susan Sabo and I was pretty hot. By now, I was starting to come down with this virus myself and soon there would be no one capable of helping to care for my ex-husband, and I wasn't feeling listened to.
Susan Sabo stood in the hallway with me on Tuesday and let me vent. Then she went to work in helping me find solutions. It turns out the medication would cost $160.00, which had I know that with the outcome I would have just paid it and worried about the insurance nightmare later. She went on to research the use of Good Rx and got an even lower price for him; this was all rectified quickly! Sometimes it doesn't take a lot for service recover to occur. I needed to feel listened to and not just given the "party-line". I was ready to take my family somewhere else just in the hopes that I could get someone to use some plain old "horse-sense" and just help me!
Which is exactly what Susan Sabo did for me that day. Some will say she is just doing her job. But many others had the same opportunity and either could not or would not. No one treated our family badly - it was just a comedy of errors that lessened our faith in medicine in general. We have spent the last nine months bouncing from one physician to another, with little support and a lot of frustration. This was almost the icing on the cake, but a little caring and compassion went a long way to saving the day.
Thank you, Susan, you really made a difference for us!