First-year University of Wisconsin medical student Jeff Mahlum had always wanted to become a doctor, a dream he became uncertain of following a diving injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.
After his accident and during recovery, Mahlum focused his attention on patient advocacy, which he discovered through the Center for Patient Partnerships, an education center that focuses on legal representation for patient rights. In the future, Mahlum said he wants to incorporate his patient advocacy skills into his career as he works to advocate for the best interests of his patients.
“I remember my neurosurgeon telling me in the hours before my spinal fusion surgery that he was confident I would become a doctor one day,” Mahlum said. “The Center for Patient Partnerships was a phenomenal opportunity to expose myself to many aspects of the health care system that I wasn’t familiar with.”
Patients with disabilities face numerous barriers in accessing health care, Mahlum said, including inaccessible clinics and inadequate medical equipment. Examples include wheelchair-accessible scales, height-adjustable exam tables and radiologic equipment, he said.
Besides physical equipment barriers, communication and financial barriers can be just as difficult to overcome in the process of accessing quality health care, he said.
“There are providers who may not understand the patient’s disability or may not treat patients with disabilities with the respect they deserve,” Mahlum said. “Financial barriers range from uninsurance to underinsurance to lack of adequate coverage for needed rehabilitation.”
Removing many of these barriers would go a long way toward improving overall care, he said.
The CPP does a lot to advocate for patients who are struggling with a life-threatening or serious illness, Sarah Davis, associate director and clinical assistant professor at the CPP, said. They focus on helping those in need deal with the complexities of the medical system but also the medical bills they are facing, issues with trying to work through their illness and any kind of legal questions they might have, she said.
“A lot of what we do is general access,” Davis said. “We make sure that people have insurance to pay for their care and that when they do have insurance it covers everything that should be covered. We think that people should be able to get all the care that they deserve and have a right to.”
Mahlum said the most important skills he took away from the center included actively listening to his patients and supporting them through difficult times. He said these skills will carry over into his career as both a medical student and a doctor.
The CPP has a four-part mission to form effective partnerships among people seeking health care and people providing health care, Davis said.
“Our main goal is to educate future providers and professionals, like Jeff Mahlum, who is going to be a doctor, and others who are going into services of social work or law,” Davis said. “It is important for them to understand the patient’s perspective about the health care system and what it is really like to be a patient.”
The CPP’s advocacy model is centered around each patient’s individual needs, Davis said. The CPP spends a lot of time actively listening to specific barriers to those with disabilities, either on an individual level, with just the person being affected, or on a broader level, with others who are experiencing the same difficulties.
“Hospitals do not always have a long-term relationship,” Davis said, regarding cognitive disabilities. “For those with long-term disabilities, the health care provider needs to know the specifics of each individual care.”
