Care Navigation Help Desk: Donna's story

People call Allina's Care Navigation Help Desk with many different needs and health care situations. Donna, the spouse of a patient, provides these examples of how she and her husband found help through the Care Navigation Help Desk:

Donna didn't know what to do. Her husband, Raymond, was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, and she was starting to see some changes in his behavior that concerned her. A recent MRI showed Ray may have had a "small stroke." He was sleeping a lot and didn’t want to shower or change his clothes.

After Raymond had lung surgery three years ago, he went to live in a transitional care center during his recovery. The couple decided that they would prefer to have Raymond at home in the future, and Donna has been caring for him at home ever since.

So Donna felt stuck. She didn't know what type of care their insurance would cover and she wasn't sure what to do about Raymond's change of behavior and attitude. So she made a call for help.

When Donna called the Allina Care Navigation Help Desk, the registered nurse she spoke to got Donna to open up about her concerns about Raymond.

Donna explained that Raymond had recently had home care, was no longer homebound and he was recently discharged from skilled intermittent home care support. The care navigator talked to Donna about other care options and checked the couple's insurance coverage to help determine what options they had for care. Donna knew she wanted Raymond to stay at home, but she was seeing changes in his condition and wanted him to open up to her. They agreed that it may be helpful for someone to come to their house to talk to the couple about what Raymond wanted to do about his health care.

A few days later, Allina social worker Maria went to visit the couple at home and completed an advance care planning session with Raymond. "Maria gave us a great deal of information," Donna said. She explained that Raymond decided that when his condition becomes terminal, he has chosen to stay at home with hospice care.

Advance care planning is an intentional and purposeful conversation about your wishes for medical care and identifying a health care agent to carry out your wishes. Planning ahead allows you to communicate the kind of care you want or do not want, leaving no questions.

Donna explained that part of the couple's concern was about their children not understanding their wishes. Maria suggested that maybe Donna would like to complete an advance care plan in the presence of the couple's son so they could talk things over together. That meeting took place a few weeks later. "It was a good thing to have our son included in my advance care planning session," Donna said. "I really felt it was needed and I'm glad that Maria suggested it."

If you or someone you loved could benefit from advance care planning, hospice, palliative care, home health care, home oxygen & medical equipment, advanced illness, housing referral & placement, private caregiving or life care management, please call the Allina Care Navigation Help Desk at 651-635-9173 or 1-800-261-0879.

Return to Care Navigation Help Desk.

Patient names have been changed to protect their privacy.