• Bring your medical record timeline. Most electronic health record (EHR) platforms only capture records dating back to around 2012. Not all health care organizations use an EHR, Make the Most of Your Virtual Care Visit reflects back on the day when, at 13, her doctor gave her debilitating aches and pains a name: lupus. Lupus occurs when the immune system, which normally helps protect the body from infection and disease, attacks its own tissues, causing inflammation that can affect the skin, joints, heart, lungs, kidneys, circulating blood cells and the brain. “I didn’t really understand what having lupus meant, at the time,” said Jocelyn. “I just knew I hurt, was physically weak and that things were different for me.” It was the early ’90s when Jocelyn was 13, and lupus was a popular diagnosis for a wide variety of symptoms. When treatment wasn’t improving her symptoms, doctors realized it wasn’t lupus after all. She was subsequently misdiagnosed two more times over the years, further prolonging her discomfort and ability to live the active, pain-free life she longed for. Seeking relief Thirteen-year-old Jocelyn couldn’t have predicted that nearly 30 years later, a physician 2,000 miles away would help her find relief from her lifelong battle. “I live in Post Falls and had heard about the great care at Kootenai Health, so I made an appointment to see a rheumatologist there,” she said. A rheumatologist is a specialist who diagnoses and treats arthritis and other immune-related diseases and conditions. Currently, rheumatology is offered through a virtual care platform at Kootenai Health. “I was really skeptical at first,” said On Top of the World Thanks to specialty care via Kootenai Health Virtual Care, a patient fulfills a lifelong dream By Shannon Carroll What did 13 look like for you? Maybe you were running around outside, climbing on rocks, riding bikes and enjoying the freedoms that can only be known to a young teen. For many of us, that was the typical experience. But some kids are forced to go down a different path—a path that is neither easy nor fair, but one that inherently leads to a foundation that’s stronger than most. “My story has always been a bit challenging,” said Jocelyn WhitfieldBabcock without so much as a hint of self-pity. Now a 43-year-old married mother of two, Jocelyn 10
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