Introducing ... Maria Cecilia Tacchi from Costa Women
Why Spain?
I came here in 2007 to work as a haematologist in a
hospital in Córdoba
Before Spain you were..?
I was living and working in Buenos Aires, Argentina
As a child you wanted to be a...?
Doctor!
Today you offer Patient Advocacy Services – how did
that start?
I started because I was very surprised at the way my
colleagues didn't take my opinion into consideration as a patient. I was
pregnant and doing the follow ups in the same hospital that I was the head of
the blood bank. Even though I had done my research and knew what I wanted
and why, they “followed protocol”. Following that protocol could have
killed me, but I found myself unable to be assertive. I thought that if
this was the way they treated me, a doctor of some standing in the hospital,
“normal” patients, didn't stand a chance! After that I moved here, and I
started researching about patient empowerment, and this is how I found patient
advocacy
What sort of services can we expect if we use your
services?
Together we can do two things to give you the best
healthcare. First, trick the bureaucracy. This is mind boggling,
more so in the public system, but even in the private with authorisations.
There are rights that are unknown, and the healthcare workers may try to
keep them that way (i.e. free choice of GP). I will teach you how the
system works, and how to work with it to get the results you should.
Second, I believe the times of passive patients has to
come to an end, patients are the most under-utilised resource in the
healthcare system. I will teach you how your body works and where to look
for medical information, and then how to analyse and understand it.
I think that going to a doctor’s appointment is like
going to an interview, you should have a message to convey and a goal.
Going prepared with knowledge will give you the best tools to convey that
message in the most effective way and let you achieve your goals.
There has been a lot of publicity recently about EHIC
– tell us about your research
I doubted that was they were saying was true in
Andalucía, so I phoned two hospitals (Mijas and Benalmadena). I said that
I had a British guest that only had the EHIC and abdominal pain, and if he was
entitled to care. They both put me though to their billing dept where
they told me that he was. Then I called Costa del Sol and asked the same
thing, the person that answered said that no, he was only entitled to care in
the ER, not for example a surgery if he had appendicitis.
So I called the regional health office in Malaga, they
told me that was very wrong, that any EHIC holder is entitled to the same
urgent care that any citizen. But then I realised that I hadn’t talked to
billing, only to the receptionist, so I called back and talked to billing, they
told me that, yes, he was entitled to care just with his card.
I doubt this would be a problem here, but in case you
know somebody that is on vacation, have put a “road map” of what to do if
anything like this arises in my blog http://compasshealthcare.blogspot.com.es
Share a story about one success you have had since you
started this service?
One of the most satisfying has been one older man that
has been fighting with the public system for a year! He had a GP that
didn’t speak or understand English, he had been operated for prostate cancer
and had had no follow up, so he was forced to go private spending thousands of
euros. Also he had chronic pain and no treatment. He had tried to
change his GP to no avail, they had told him that he had to stick to the one
near his house.
I made an assessment of his medical history (in
English for him and in Spanish for the Doctor). Then I went to a healthcare
centre where I know there are English speaking doctors to try and get him
accepted there. They tried to say no, but I had the regulations from the
SAS, so no problem there.
I got him an appointment for a new GP, he went the
same week with my summary. As I’m a certified physician from the Malaga
School of Physicians, and I can sign and stamp documents, I put as
recommendations the things that the Patient had been asking for all year (i.e.
two referrals). He left the healthcare centre with his two referrals,
something that he had been fighting for one year.
Where do you see your business in a year's time?
I would like to grow a little but not much, add
another English speaking doctor and perhaps a German speaking one. I
don’t want a huge firm where patients become numbers, I want something small.
You land on a desert island – what three things would
you have to take with you and why?
My tablet full of books and podcasts, a solar charger
for that (hey, I’m a pragmatist), and body/face moisturising cream
Favourite quote and
why?
"Los hermanos sean unidos, que si no
se los devoran los de afuera" ( Martín Fierro )
Brothers be united, if not, those outside will destroy
you.
For me it means helping each other in one’s community
Last book you read which made you laugh or cry?
The Brotherhood of the Snow (recount of an accident
that happened in the Andes) (La Hermandad de la Nieve)
Fictional heroine you most resemble?
Perhaps the interns at the “House of God”, a satirical
novel of medical internship by Samuel Shem
You can invite people for dinner; who would they be
and what would you serve them?
Christine Lagarde, Michelle Bachelet, Sister Simone Campbell, Brazil’s president Dilma
Rousseff, Sheryl Sandberg and Virginia Rometty. As I am a terrible cook, and I
suppose if I invited all of these influential women I could afford a cook, I
would do so, and let her come up with a menu for me to supervise….
You are given a gift of something really beautiful,
what would it be?
A trip to Bhutan
What are you currently listening to on your iPod, or
through Spotify?
Blind Pilot, Los Chalchaleros and Gregorian chants
Where can we find out more about your patient advocacy
service – Compass Healthcare?
Or phone: 674945204
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