I live out of state and my mother is in Green Valley. How does this work?

This is among the most common reasons families call. With your mother's consent, Amy attends appointments in person, sends you a written summary afterward and follows up with a call, so you have a real account rather than a secondhand one.

My parent spends summers elsewhere. Does that complicate things?

It is exactly the situation a consolidated medical summary solves. Amy assembles previous medical records into one document that travels with your parent, so the out-of-state physician is not starting from scratch and the medication list is a single list.

My father insists he is managing fine. Can you still help?

Amy's role is to support independence, not replace it — one stated goal of her ongoing work is assisting the client to become independent in their own care. Many clients start with a medication review and a records summary, which is useful without taking anything away from them.

Patient Advocate in Green Valley

Green Valley, Pima County, Arizona

Nurse advocacy for Green Valley patients and families

Green Valley is one of Arizona's established retirement communities, and it produces a very particular advocacy need. A great many residents are older adults living independently, often far from adult children who are in another state entirely — and a good number are seasonal, which fragments care across two sets of doctors in two parts of the country.

The combination is difficult. A resident manages well until they do not. There is no family member two streets away to notice that the medication list has quietly grown, that the last cardiology letter never reached the primary care physician, or that the fall in March was never mentioned to anyone. And when something does happen, the adult child gets the news by phone, hundreds or thousands of miles away, with no way to assess how serious it actually is.

Amy DuBois, RN, BCPA, is the person on the ground. She attends appointments and asks the questions that need asking, obtains previous medical records and builds a single medical summary for all the physicians on the case, and reviews medications for potential interactions — which matters a great deal when prescriptions have accumulated from several sources over several years. Afterward, the family receives a written summary and a call. Not a reassurance; an actual account of what was said.

For seasonal residents, that record is worth more still. A medical summary that travels with you means the physician you see in summer is not starting from nothing, and the medication list is one list rather than two.

Amy meets Green Valley clients at home, at local physician offices, and at the Tucson hospitals and specialists where more complex care takes place.

Questions from Green Valley families

I live out of state and my mother is in Green Valley. How does this work?: This is among the most common reasons families call. With your mother's consent, Amy attends appointments in person, sends you a written summary afterward and follows up with a call, so you have a real account rather than a secondhand one.
My parent spends summers elsewhere. Does that complicate things?: It is exactly the situation a consolidated medical summary solves. Amy assembles previous medical records into one document that travels with your parent, so the out-of-state physician is not starting from scratch and the medication list is a single list.
My father insists he is managing fine. Can you still help?: Amy's role is to support independence, not replace it — one stated goal of her ongoing work is assisting the client to become independent in their own care. Many clients start with a medication review and a records summary, which is useful without taking anything away from them.

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Patient Advocate in Green Valley

Nurse advocacy for Green Valley patients and families

Questions from Green Valley families

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