Meet Mary Layton of Personal Healthcare Advocates

I have been a registered nurse since 1976, having worked mostly in primary care with large elderly populations. I have much personal experience helping family members with serious chronic conditions.
Several years ago, my 21 year old daughter sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. She was not expected to live. But she did. She survived two months in a coma, and, now, the life long journey of recovery. I became her caregiver, her advocate, and all-around support person as we learned to navigate the complicated world of brain injury, insurance companies and disabilities services.
At the same time, her older sister was suffering from mental illness, requiring multiple hospitalizations. As her advocate, I gained personal experience with mental health issues and the difficulties most of us have finding appropriate care.
A few years ago, when my mother was in her eighties, she struggled to continue to live at home, in Connecticut, by herself. I was living and working in Cape May County and I was not able to visit with her as often as I wanted and needed to. No one else in the family lived close enough to her to check in on her regularly. This caused me great concern and worry. Eventually, she came to live with my husband and me, here in Cape May County. I left my job at Harbor Family Practice to care for her at the end of her life. My time with her was precious. Through it all, I continued to learn about caring for the elderly and infirmed, lovingly, with dignity and respect.
My combined professional and personal experience has led me to create my business, Personal Healthcare Advocates. I see a need for personalized medical management for those individuals who do not qualify for home care services covered by insurance. There are many who need some sort of assistance within the home, but their family is not able to provide or they have no family in the area.
For example, they may need to have their medications monitored. They may need to be educated as to why the medications are prescribed and the importance of taking them as directed by their doctor. There may be nutritional needs that are not being met, as well as safety and other issues. Insurance companies can be very difficult to deal with over the phone, especially if there is a hearing problem, or language barrier. Medical bills and insurance statements can be overwhelming for folks who don’t understand the use of “codes” and “EOBs”.
Of course, there are the chronic conditions like diabetes, that require daily testing, that the patient may be having difficulty doing by him/herself. Also, there are those who have difficulty getting to their appointments and communicating their needs effectively to the doctor.
Very often, I see patients who require more time than the doctor has to give them during a typically scheduled office visit. I believe it would be helpful for both the patient and the doctor to have a liaison to interpret for the doctor and to be sure that the patients’ concerns are expressed fully in order for the doctor to provide the best quality of care.
The goal of Personal Healthcare Advocates is to work with our clients, their families and their physicians to improve their health and quality of life, prevent hospitalizations, and to keep the client living at home for as long as possible.
As the founder of Personal Healthcare Advocates, I am eager to develop a clientele that I can come to know well and who will become comfortable with me. I will provide a free in-home consultation with a prospective client and family member(s) to determine individualized needs and come up with a plan that is suitable for all involved. As an advocate and a nurse, I have the unique position of being able to assess a client and expedite care that may be needed. This service may prove to be invaluable, especially for those who are slow to recognize that a potentially serious problem may exist, or who may be in denial, or who are just plain stubborn about going to see their doctor.
-Mary C. Layton of Personal Healthcare Advocates is a registered nurse with over thirty years of experience. Her goal is to improve patient health through monitoring and encouraging compliance, as well as improving communication between doctors, patients, and their families.