Denton County Living Well Magazine March/April 2016 | Page 50
If Only Healthcare
Could Be Run like a Chic-fil-A
By Tina Withrow
I
have to admit. I am crazy about Chic-fil-A. The moment
my eyes open, I start salivating for my daily dose of
chicken mini’s or chicken biscuit and a DDP (that’s diet
Dr. Pepper thank you very much!!!). I try to talk myself
out of going there, but the little voice in my head says,
“It’s chicken. It’s okay…You know you want it. You deserve
it!!” I have even eaten breakfast and dinner there, all in the
same day! I have often told the staff, “Please, if my family
is with me, act like you don’t even know me.”
from time to time and has to rely on the services at this
facility. He has served over 20 years in the military and
cannot get medical insurance outside of what they provide.
He is trying his best to survive his cancer until his Medicare
benefits start in July. He will then get to choose when and
where he receives treatment.
My client received bad news on this particular day. The
cancer was growing. It wasn’t the bad news that affected
me as much as it was witnessing the lack of empathy for
someone receiving bad news about his or her health. The
medical professional never made eye contact with my client, never asked how he was doing, did not explain his
blood work or the reason why treatment had to be stopped.
They were matter of fact and quite sterile in the delivery
of bad news. When I asked how they could be so cold
hearted, I was told that if I had a problem, to go ahead
and report them, it didn’t matter any way. Nothing would
be done. End of story.
Imagine, if you will for a moment, that healthcare and Chicfil-A were integrated and Chic-fil-A provided the customer
service side of healthcare.
The owners of my local Chic-fil-A have become friends of
mine. Mike and Becky Encinia are friends that I see and
talk to on a frequent basis. They know my role as a patient
advocate and cancer navigator and they share my passion
for helping out in the community when duty calls. They take
a personal interest in what is happening in my little world
and the everyday life of their customers. You can tell their
employees are happy people who love going to work each
day. They have a common goal. Make the customer happy.
The idea for this article came to me after I took a HealthSync client down to the local government funded facility for
follow up on cancer treatment. He has a nasty cancer that
rears its ugly head
Tina Withrow is a cancer
navigator and patient advocate
at Health-Sync. If you or
someone you know needs help
navigating a health-care crisis
or cancer, contact Tina at
214-546-2215 or e-mail her at
[email protected].
48
DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MARCH/APRIL 2016
You would go in to a facility, it would be crowded but it
would be organized chaos. You stepped up to the window
and you would be greeted by the cheerful professional who
would ask you what you needed and they would look you
in the eye and give you something called CUSTOMER SERVICE. They would tell you what they were going to do for
you and how long it would take. Your wait wouldn’t be too
long and even if it took longer than normal, they would
explain every process and why there was a delay. You felt
that the entity was taking your situation seriously and you
felt better overall leaving than when you