The hassle of transferring care

As of June of this year, our little family left the good ol’ state of Texas and moved up North to Maine.

It was quite the drive, lasting us four days and one tire blow out!

This drive was not easy with 3 kiddos in the mix and a few of our pet birds; but we made it.

Now in October five months after the big move, I am in the ugly hassle of transferring not only records for school but health records.

Normally, this would be pretty easy only consisting of wellness check ups and visits.

Unfortunately, this is not the case when you have a child or children with any type of health problems/diagnosis.

Diagnosed with spina bifida, Oliver has seen doctors since the very first day he made his appearance on Earth.

When I saw doctors, I am not only talking about pediatricians, but: urologists, podiatrists, neurologists, orthopedists, physical therapists, and the list goes on!

His amount of medical records could put the Harry Potter series to shame.

So as you can imagine, getting the whole gang to hop on board and get these records over to the new facility takes quite some time and hiccups.

The downside to this, is he cannot see anyone for routine care until they know his background.

This not only keeps them in the loop for the very specific care Oliver needs, but it allows them to send and refer us to other’s who can help.

In the world of healthcare, where technology is always advancing, transferring medical records is not my favorite nor the quickest thing to do.

I am glad to announce though, that despite the current pandemic going on, transferring school records and starting up Oliver’s new care plan for school has been awesome!

Although Oliver does not need any cognitive assessments or guidance, he does have a care plan for physical therapy offered through school.

Can I just say thank goodness for video calls??! We have already started our physical therapy through video chat, and have found awesome resources we did not even know we had in our own home.

For example, we use soup cans for building arm strength! Need help building core strength? Who knew a stepping stool and a box with scarves or clean face masks could do the trick.

Moving across the country definitely was not the easiest thing, and still continues to be a transition in progress; but I have learned through other families to continue advocating and pushing for what your child or children need.

Building from the ground up again, we will hopefully get to a care plan soon that fits our family.

Until next time, pray the fax machines don’t give out when sending our pages and pages of care history.

About Brittney Baumgartner

Mother to 3 boys, who are getting older by the second. Married to my best friend, Aaron. Living life day by day, in this rambunctious yet blessed household.