Have you had the experience where a healthcare professional seems to speak in a condescending manner to you or to your older parent? Have you been called "sweetie" or "dear" one time too often? How about when the healthcare worker asks a question like "What would we like for dinner?"

Jeanette Leardi is a social gerontologist who realized how ageism was affecting older adults in healthcare situations when she was the caregiver for her parents. She is a writer, speaker, educator and advocate for redefining aging in our society.

In this episode we talk about ageism in the healthcare industry. Healthcare professionals have been exhausted after several years of dealing with the pandemic. Many have left the profession. How can we advocate for ourselves in an environment where doctors and nurses a feeling stretched to the limit?

One thing to remember is that we are consumers of healthcare; we are the buyers and we have rights and responsibilities as the consumers.

We answered the question about what to look for, and how to go about, shopping for doctors. When you think about it, we take more time shopping for a car then we do for a doctor, but our bodies are going to hopefully last much longer than our latest car.

Jeanette explained who should be on our care team and how they would best work together.

We covered her Smart Patient tips, which follow the acronym HEALTH.

• Higher your team
• Enlist a care partner
• Ask effective questions
• Learn about your body
• Take care and control of your care
• Have vital plans in place

Thanks so much for listening.

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You can email me with questions or comments at [email protected]z

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Wendy Green is a Certified Life Coach, working with people going through the

sometimes uncomfortable life transition from full-time work to “what’s next.”

Find out more about Wendy’s 6-week “What’s Next Transition” Coaching workshop

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You can find Jeanette at jeanetteleardi.com 

Our website is heyboomer.biz

Our Road Scholar sponsor can be found at roadscholar.org/heyboomer