Getting the right answer often depends on being able to ask the right question. And to ask the right question, you need to be informed.

On average, doctors now spend less than 15 minutes per visit with each patient. Unless patients come prepared with their questions and concerns, there’s a good chance something could be missed. And what’s missed could be critical.

We also know now that there is an important mind/body connection. A patient’s attitude about illness can profoundly affect the prognosis. It often means the difference between health and disease. Every health-care provider has worked with patients who are fighting critical and crippling illnesses. But some patients, because of their attitudes, seem like basically healthy people who are treating a disease. In other cases, it’s as if the disease is consuming a healthy person. The distinction is subtle, but it’s an important one, especially when the illness is chronic or terminal.

Particularly with regard to one’s health, we believe knowledge is empowering. Doctors can provide facts, counsel and cures. You need information. You also need the truth. And you need hope—which comes most often from other patients. Unfortunately, when you’re already sick, it's too much effort to go out and find other people who have dealt with your condition.

Doctor moderators present the factual data, but we wrap that information in real life. We put a face on the condition. We let patients tell the stories—of diabetes, of heart disease, of pregnancy, and even of approaching death. We hear and we feel what’s important from the perspective of someone going through it. And the information from the patients is what stays with people the longest.

• Cardiac Care
• Hospice: To Heal Ourselves