Episodes

She was a physician, a professional patient advocate, and in the middle of a heart attack — and she still told her husband she was being a hypochondriac. Dr. Tina Vandenbosch had a SCAD heart attack on a three-mile jog, six weeks after COVID and one week before a triathlon. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is the leading cause of heart attack in women under 50 and in pregnancy — a tear in a coronary artery with no plaque, no cholesterol, no clogged artery. It strikes healthy, activ...

Hospice isn't giving up. It's the only Medicare benefit covered 100% — the nurse, the equipment, the medications, even the supplies, wherever you call home. Yet most families find it weeks, sometimes days, before it could have helped them most. The word standing in the way? Hospice. Mary Pope, RN, BSN, came to nursing as a second career, sat at the bedside of dying patients as a hospice volunteer, and worked as a patient advocate — including at Allied Health Advocates, the company Robin co-foun...

Your mouth is treated like it isn’t part of your body — separate insurance, separate providers, separate records. Dental hygienist and Board Certified Patient Advocate Marissa Brubaker has spent 20 years as a dental hygienist, and one working interview with a mobile dental company serving seniors led to her career as a dental advocate. She explains why gums don’t bleed (tissue tears — and the bacteria head for your bloodstream), how dry mouth can quietly cascades into weight loss and withdrawal...

The doctor in charge of your hospital care is probably someone you've never met. Four questions change that. Every year, 36 million Americans — one in nine of us — are admitted to the hospital. And the physician running the show from check-in to discharge usually isn't the primary care doctor you know. It's a hospitalist: a physician who works only in the hospital, managing the care of admitted patients. Most people don't learn that until they're already in a hospital bed. Dr. Clark Coler has s...

Nobody can navigate healthcare alone — not even the experts. Anne Llewellyn spent four decades inside the system as a nurse, risk manager, case manager, and editor. Then in November 2014, a doctor said “you have a brain tumor” — and she couldn’t speak for herself. In the season opener, Anne shares what being a patient taught her that 40 years in healthcare couldn't, what a great advocate actually does (and what any spouse, daughter, or friend can copy tomorrow), and how to find, vet, and afford...

What if the words you use with your doctor could change everything? Welcome to Well Said Health. I'm Robin Shapiro, and for my entire career I've helped patients tell their stories — health experiences that inspire others to navigate healthcare better, ask bolder questions, and get the care they deserve. This podcast brings you real life stories from people who've faced some of the most common, urgent, and sometimes dangerous medical situations you might find yourself in. Each episode, gives y...