I’m a wife, a mother of two children, and a full-time teacher in Northern Kentucky. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease six years ago.
At the time, I knew only a little about Crohn’s – I was a little numb, a little sad, and a little angry. As time passed, I often felt like it controlled me more than the other way around. But now, I feel more in control with help from an entirely unexpected place – an app on my phone.
I was contacted by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, my insurance company, and offered a program called Concierge Care that helped me gain that control. The program works through a phone app with lots of information about Crohn’s, but what makes it work for me is that it connects me right away to a real nurse who responds to my questions when I have them. That changed everything for me. Having Kelly (my nurse care manager) available in between my doctor visits was incredibly helpful.
With my busy life, I’m able to text chat with Kelly, and she usually responds to me within a few hours to minutes. She also uses the app to check in with me to see how things are going. I log my daily symptoms as I feel them and that lets Kelly monitor how I’m doing and give me specific help. Having that convenient connection through the app has been life-changing for me.
The app also gives me access to a whole healthcare team including health educators, nutritionists, pharmacists, and backup nurses when Kelly is not available. I can read articles about Crohn’s, take part in stress-reducing exercises, set goals, track nutrition and develop customized plans with Kelly. The app even suggests treatments that I can talk about with my doctor. I love that it does all this right from my smartphone and it’s with me throughout the day.
I’m sharing all this because people with chronic conditions like Crohn’s, diabetes, and others need help with the day-to-day details of living with their disease. Having information and real people to talk to for the smaller questions or even receiving tips on whom you need to talk to about a health need makes a very big difference.
For anyone like me who is living with a chronic condition, I strongly suggest saying yes if your doctor, pharmacy, or insurance company offers you a program like this. It’s a safe space that’s readily available to ask about any worries or concerns with your health as they arise. It lets me spend less time worrying about Crohn’s and more time with my family. It’s worth a try.
Joliene Garlich is a resident of Fort Thomas.
Thank you for sharing! This is invaluable advice for anyone managing chronic conditions.
I didn’t know about any of these the first 3 years of my Crohn’s/UC treatment and spent most of my days in disbelief or struggling with “How did I get this?”, “Where did I go wrong?”.
Outside of insurance-sponsored programs, there are numerous free resources, forums and support groups that allow us Patients to share personal experiences. It always helps to read/hear about others when one realizes that I’m not the only one going through something like this.