Navigating International Medical Care: A Patient's Journey at Johns Hopkins (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: My name is Kendall Benjamin Harvey. I'm a middle school art teacher in Bermuda. When I got to the hospital they said your heart was operating at 15 percent. You need to get out of here, you know. So after I got here, after being air ambulanced out, I was in pretty bad shape, you know. So they, Dr. Russell received me at at Johns Hopkins and the care that he said he was gonna do, you know, was true to form. Like exactly what he said happened.

Speaker 2: That first phone call, we're there to assist with anything and everything that patients may need. From organizing their medical appointments, to travel accommodations, to even delivering prescriptions to their doorstep when they're here with us. We're there to assist with anything they need before,

Speaker 3: during, and after their visit with us. They usually come to Hopkins like because they've been trying in their local hospitals or around the area and they couldn't find a solution and they come in here like a lost hope. So they're already confused, they're already depressed, and coming here and dealing with where should I go, what can I do, how am I gonna find the doctor's office, is the doctor gonna call me when my lab result is ready, or if I get this five tests today, how am I gonna be able to get it? At that point, your medical concierge or your international care coordinator is there for you and then just grabs the lab suite from you. Why don't you have a little, you know, like a little break and have your coffee? I'm gonna arrange everything for you. What we

Speaker 4: do, or the advantage of having that one access, is you tell what you need to that one person and that one person is your advocate. They understand what you need and they will know who to get your records to faster so that we can get to your appointment, which is the the purpose of the call anyway. A little faster, if not a lot faster, than if you had to do things on your own. We know the establishment, we know the physicians, we know who is best at dealing with the care that you need, and therefore we can cut out a lot of the guessing game and get you to the goal, which is get you an appointment, get you here, and get you

Speaker 2: started with the care that you need. While patients have one point of contact, who is their care coordinator to assist them with everything, that care coordinator is part of a large team we have here within the international department. So it can make the patient's experience in terms of navigating the system much easier. A care coordinator can connect the patient and their family to a variety of different staff members that can assist with other needs they may have. Juan

Speaker 1: Ramirez was my coordinator. Excellent. He's been very, very good. Calls me, makes sure that I'm on time. You know, it's been, it's been sometimes a pain in the neck, but, but his, you know, he's been excellent. Very, very, very nice.

Speaker 2: You know, stress and anxiety created by planning and coordinating each step is something we don't want our patients to have to face. We want to be able to take

Speaker 1: on that burden for them. So, you know, the whole experience has, has taught me to be thankful people, you know, very caring and loving. It's been a, it's been a nice

Speaker 4: experience with him. You know, we all want the same thing. We may not come from the same place, but we all want the same, and that is we want to be respected, we want to be cared for, and we want to know that at the end of it all, everything's going to be okay. So it's personally enriching for me to be with people, to, to give of myself to others, but then also have a lot more given back to me. So I wouldn't trade this for anything.