What Is The Role of A Patient Advocate?

Today SevenPonds speaks with Linda Garvin, R.N., M.S.N., a patient advocate with 35 years experience working in healthcare. Linda is the principal of Patient Advocate Bay Area, Inc, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through her private health advocacy practice, she assists individuals in managing their illness and navigating the complexities of the healthcare system.   

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Linda Garvin

Ellary Allis: I understand that you’re also a wellness coach in preventive healthcare. What made you want to extend your practice beyond patient advocacy?

Linda Garvin: The current healthcare system is disease oriented, with too little emphasis on prevention and maintaining wellness. When I work with people, they’re often thinking about how to prevent illnesses that might run in their family or chronic illnesses in general. In order to do that, they need to pay attention to the way they are living life and what they’re eating. 

As a wellness coach, I emphasize the importance of clean eating and decreasing exposure to toxins. Many of the foods, personal care products and other products people use around the home contain toxic chemicals that may cause headaches, chronic fatigue and neurological problems. Fragrances, for example, often have thousands of ingredients, some of which can cause dizziness, headaches, central nervous system irritability and depression. The same is true for products like suntan lotions and baby wipes. Because people use these products on a regular basis, these toxins can accumulate in their bodies over many years. Some household chemicals, for example, have been found in the tissues of women with breast cancer.

Treating illnesses such as chronic fatigue and cancer requires an awareness of these chemicals and their effects. Whether you have an illness or are trying to prevent one, you should remove as many of them as possible from your daily use. When I visit a client’s home, I am frequently asked to go through their refrigerator, cabinets and personal care products. I then encourage them to replace the items that contains toxic ingredients.

Ellary: It sounds like you’ve had success with your wellness coaching methods then?

Linda Garvin: Yes. People might chose to throw out and replace some food and personal care items or change their nutritional habits, but they report back that they feel better and have more energy once they do make these changes. Each individual reacts differently, but it stands to reason that getting all the junk out of your system will help you feel better, boost your immunity and increase your ability to prevent illnesses of all kinds.

Clean eating can boost health and wellness significantly
Credit: GEOlaviva via Wikimedia

Ellary: Have you had any success stories that stand out? 

Linda Garvin: Yes I have. I worked with one individual, a physician who had breast cancer. She had issues with sleeping, so I provided her with some relaxation tools. We also went through her refrigerator and pantry and personal care products and came up with a customized health plan for her. This client felt that these changes helped reduce some of her inflammatory markers that her other health care providers had not addressed.

Ellary: That’s fantastic. I have one last question for you. What are the benefits of working with a nurse patient advocate? 

Linda Garvin: There are numerous benefits to working with a nurse patient advocate. One of the most important is coordination of care. Unfortunately, our healthcare delivery system is seriously fragmented. 

There’s often poor communication and coordination between providers, so it’s helpful to have a nurse advocate who can help guide the patient in finding the best treatment options available to them. The decision always lies with the patient, of course. But the nurse advocate can help with finding the best physician for a particular diagnosis or explaining medications and proposed surgeries. This can help prevent a future health crisis or unnecessary hospitalizations. 

A nurse patient advocate can also help prevent medical errors by communicating an individual’s healthcare needs to the medical team and exchanging information with the family.

Most importantly, a nurse advocate’s allegiance is to the patient and their family. I’m not paid by insurance companies or hospitals; I’m paid by my clients. So I always act with the individual’s best interest in mind. 

Ellary: Do you have any last words to share with us?

Linda: I’d just like to add that one of the most important things I learned in life before I became a nurse was the importance of reaching out to individuals who need our help the most. At Patient Advocate Bay Area we understand how to support individuals and families at difficult times. It may be after a serious surgery, or after a serious diagnosis, or it might be while they are receiving palliative care or even hospice care. I feel privileged to have worked with and been able to help so many individuals and families over the years.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this information!

Ellary: Thank you so much for speaking with us and being willing to share your vast professional experience with SevenPonds! It was great to learn more about what you do!

Did you miss part one of our interview with Linda Garvin? If so, you can catch up here.