Over the past year, my stepmom’s brother has been going through tough times; he is 81 years old, was diagnosed with cancer, and went through a divorce. He most recently had heart issues that required a lot of time in the hospital and, since then, my stepmom, who lives in Texas, has traveled back and forth to visit, and help coordinate his care in Kansas.
After consulting with his doctors about his health challenges and ongoing medical needs, they decided together it would be best for him to move into an assisted living facility. Shortly after doing so, the facility notified my stepmom about issues with his Medicare Supplement plan, so she turned to me for help.
I had recently joined Advocate Health Advisors, a company that has been providing Medicare guidance to people based on their specific healthcare needs for over 16 years. As part of my onboarding, I developed good foundational knowledge of Medicare, so I knew enough to realize we needed someone to help navigate the health care system. Being new to Medicare myself, I reached out to our Midwest Regional Director Larry Carrol for guidance.
Larry assured me our local Advocate Health Advisors Kansas team including Regional Manager Brad Gibson, and one of his local agents Marla would be available to assist right away. He wasn’t kidding—within the hour we were all on a conference call with my stepmom.
Marla listened carefully, asked questions, and gave clear guidance about the next steps. After a few days of working closely together (and a lot of phone calls), Marla and my stepmom resolved the issue!
I spoke with my stepmom recently and she said, “working with Marla has been a real blessing.” For me, I am so grateful that Advocate Health Advisors was able to help my family, and I am proud to work for an organization that partners with knowledgeable and trustworthy agents like Marla.
A Word from the Agent: Marla Gibson
Medicare is complicated and cumbersome, and it is my pleasure to help seniors. I created an agency not only to serve, but to delight my customers experience after experience. We believe in customer service, and we strive to simplify a complicated process into manageable steps. We walk with the customer every step of the way and education is the key to our success. Educating our members on the plans is our top priority so they can utilize benefits and feel confident in the Medicare space.
Our agency provides a sense of community for seniors, and we stress the importance of connected-ness. We understand that wellness isn’t just exercising and eating right. Of course, those things are very important, but connecting to a strong community filled with support and friendship is vital in our seniors’ lives.
I was a teacher for several years and I fully understand the value of educating members. The measure of your success as a teacher is often when your students educate the people in their lives. We hope that we are so impactful with our members, that they are delighted with our service, find comfort in our friendship and that they have the confidence to help the ones they love with Medicare as well.
Finally, I find myself not wanting to shy away from a complicated case, but rather, I’m quite frankly, attracted to them. I’m confident I can help and I’m excited to learn from each situation so that I can use my knowledge to help fellow agents and members with future situations.
