My Story

My name is Lori Bleich. In 2012, my then 16-year-old son was diagnosed with a very rare vascular sinus tumor that caused profuse hemorrhaging. Initially I was terrified, but having worked in the healthcare field since 1990, I thought I had the situation mostly under control. After waiting through his twelve hours of surgery, watching him endure three blood transfusions and five days in ICU, all followed by a bill for half a million dollars that appeared in the mail one day, I realized that no, I did not have it under control. I wish I’d had the guidance of a patient advocate during that time, but I was not aware such a person existed.

Since then, navigating the healthcare maze has become even more complicated. In the last 30 years, I have worked as a medical records reviewer and medical transcriptionist and have read the medical records of tens of thousands of patients in dozens of hospitals and clinics. I have witnessed firsthand how lack of proper communication between patient and physician can adversely affect patient outcomes. I have witnessed errors that I wish I hadn’t seen. I have advocated for friends and family members for years, through cancer diagnoses, heart disease, diabetes, and so much more, and I know that even for intelligent, well-educated people, navigating the complex and often convoluted healthcare system in this country is daunting and stressful.

An early focus of my advocacy work was with breast cancer. Much of my professional experience has been working for various breast centers and prominent breast cancer specialists. For most of the 90s, I was the Educational Coordinator for a national continuing education program in mammography run by a team of doctors here in Southern California. It was here that I first realized how important it was to empower patients, and the seed of a patient advocacy practice was planted.

For many years, I have looked for ways in which I could best use my experience to help people. As a board-certified patient advocate, using my accumulated knowledge to help empower people to make informed healthcare decisions and navigate a complex healthcare system is the most rewarding use of my experience and abilities. It is my hope that I can help to eliminate as much stress as possible so that my clients can focus on healing and remaining healthy.