Jamie for Patient Testimonials

Speaker: Jamie Monaghan

Hi, my name is Jamie Monaghan and I recently retired from working a, a position in a childcare center for 30 some years. I like doing photography in my spare time, spending time with my husband, my grandchildren and my friends and I love hiking.

I was diagnosed originally several, several years ago. I think as a young person I always knew that I had respiratory issues and my family doctor was really good in working with me, trial and error, different inhalers and things like that. But now that I'm in this program, I've had a proper diagnosis and that's led to different treatments which have been much more effective.

So, once I was diagnosed properly, the first time my life was impacted in different ways in terms of trying to figure out which medications I could take when I always had to be near someplace that I could gargle and rinse because of, you know, possible side effects from the medications. It just, it was sad when I found out my diagnosis. It was, it was kind of depressing to be honest with you. And, it limited me because I would cough all the time if I didn't have my medication on me. So it really restricted me in terms of how I could, work in my position and things like that. And it, it also made me a little bit more skeptical when I was at the gym or hiking, on how far I could push myself.

So this Best Care program that I'm participating in has been a game changer for me. My educator has really helped me understand the different effects of the inhalers. She has made me feel like it's my responsibility in a way to learn about it so that I will properly, take my meds when I'm supposed to and be continuous with them, consistent with them. And because of that understanding, I feel like I'm finally getting on the right path and it's really impacting my, my lung performance. It's, it's been a game changer really. And I'm very, very grateful for, for this program and I wished it would have been around a lot sooner because, it, it, I get emotional when I think about all the years I've suffered with respiratory conditions and now I'm finally getting the help that I need.

So in terms of telling other people about this program, I have shared with a girlfriend of mine and because she noticed that I wasn't coughing all the time and that I had a lot more energy. So I told her about the program, I'm in through my doctor's office and I said you should ask your doctor about Best Care and her doctor actually is in the program as well. So she started going to it and she can't believe that the change in six months, how much her life is starting to change because of it. So, any doctors out there that have thought about signing up for this program, I just ask you consider it because it keeps, it keeps me healthy. It keeps me out of the emergency room with you know, breathing difficulties in the winter when I've over extended myself. And I know a lot of this takes funding. I know from my job as running a childcare center, how important funding these kind of programs are. So, anyone out there who has any, any powers that be, that have any impact on helping programs like this operate. That's where I want my tax dollars going to something that's impactful, that's making a difference for ordinary everyday people like me. So.