Emergency Health Information

Information on Taking Charge of Your Health Care

What?

• Information you can use to help you work on taking charge of or remaining in charge of your health care.

Why?

• Medicine is, at best, an imprecise art. That's why it’s important to be active and informed when seeking and receiving health care.

• While having trust and confidence in your health care providers is important, the “provider always knows best” belief can be harmful.

• Knowing how to work effectively with the health care professional and successfully advocating for your needs, as well as the needs of family members and significant others, is an important skill.

How?

• Be active in your health care to increase your chances of getting the health care you need.

• Strengthen your confidence and improve your communication skills to work more effectively with health care providers.

• Make preventive health care work for you.

• Create a health screening and vaccination plan to meet your needs.

• Use checklists.

• Keep your own medical records.

• Take charge of getting the right equipment.

• Remove or reduce barriers in fitness facilities.

Where?

Go to:

• Products from Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy, http://www.hfcdhp.org/products

• Health, Wellness and Aging with Disability http://www.jik.com/hwawd.html