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Blog: The Simplified Home
 The Importance of Having Medical Information at Your Fingertips
When it comes to your medical bills and records, you are probably like 90% of the population. You get an explanation of benefits (EOB) for a recent doctor's visit and it goes in one of two places. The EOB gets shredded or perhaps, you keep it and throw it in a drawer.
Then what happens when you receive a bill from the doctor's office stating the insurance denied the charge and you owe the entire amount. A frantic search ensues to find the Dr. appointment receipt and EOB so you can resolve the error.
Like most households, each month you receive a variety of documents having to do with your health status. From referrals, explanation of benefits to treatment instructions, the piles of medical papers add up. Multiply this by the number of family members in your household, and you can see how disorganized medical records can be a never-ending problem and a cause of great stress in the event of an emergency.
So what's the solution? You need a system for managing your medical records. Without one, chances are you'll never find the paper you need when you need it. For anyone who has experienced a medical emergency themselves or with a loved one, you know how critical it is to have quick access to organized medical records. I learned this first hand in 2008 when my mother suffered a stroke and heart attack! I needed to be able to immediately put my hands on her medical records, which included all medications she was taking. My mother didn't have any system in place that I could refer to, and due to her str  oke, she wasn't able to communicate to me where I could find all of that information. More on this later.
The Medical Organizer Kit is designed to solve that problem, and it certainly did for us. This kit is a ready-made system and 3-ring binder with dividers where you can store everything relating to your medical needs and bills, in order to keep this important information at your fingertips.
In 2008 my 73-year-old mother suffered a heart attack and stroke (simultaneously). Our world changed that day. As the only child living close to my mother (and also a single parent of two children), it became my role to coordinate everything related to her sudden illness ~ from Dr. appointments, multiple medications, referrals, treatment, therapy, diagnoses, and more. The amount of new information that was coming at me daily was difficult to wrap your arms around. If you've ever experienced a sudden or serious illness with a child, parent or yourself, you know what I'm talking about.
Fortunately, I remembered the new Medical Organizer system that I had recently begun recommending to my clients ~ I now had a reason to use it personally. I immediately tore open The Medical Organizer Kit and began organizing all of my mother's medical information in the binder by category. There was a place for everything including a notepad for taking notes at each Doctor appointment and therapy and sections for storing business cards. For the next six months during my mother's slow recovery, her Medical Organizer binder became the "go-to" place for all of the medical information we needed at our fingertips on a daily basis. The Medical Organizer went with us to every therapy, doctor's appointment and test. I felt in control again.
As my mother continued to recover and her memory became more reliable to her, the Medical Organizer was a God-send for her to track the history from the date of her stroke. She felt in control by having all of her medical history at her fingertips as she continued her therapy throughout this past year.
The moral of the story is to be proactive now for the inevitiable emergency. It will be critically important to be organized and in control during a situation that is really out of your control. Having The Medical Organizer kit at my fingertips helped me feel in control, so I could be there fully for my mother's needs.
In case you're wondering ... by the grace of God, my mother has returned to 95% of her old life, feeling a renewed sense of gratitude and appreciation for life. As am I and all those who love her.
posted on: 1/14/2009 12:30:13 PM by Janet Nusbaum, The Organizing Genie
category: Homes
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The Simplified Home
by Janet Nusbaum, The Organizing Genie
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About Janet:
Janet Nusbaum creates calm out of chaos, and loves bringing serenity and order to overwhelmed households, cluttered offices, frazzled parents, and transitioning seniors and families. Janet, President of Simplified Spaces & The Simplified Home, is an Organizing Consultant, Senior Move Manager, Author and Speaker.
She is the author of "Mom, Can I Help Around the House?" A Simple, Step-by-Step System for Teaching Your Children Life-Long Skills for Pitching-In & Picking-up".
She is a proud member: National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) & National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD)
Visit our blog - www.TheOrganizingGenie.com, and sign-up to receive our special report "SHELF LIFE OF 75 COMMON HOUSEHOLD ITEMS. Use this report to decide what to keep and what to toss ... then TAKE ACTION!!
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