When Suzanne Wright kept losing her balance, her family feared she was having a stroke and took her to the emergency room. Turns out that wasn’t the case, so she went back home. But all was not well with Suzanne, and help was literally a phone call away.

“A lady called, and told me that she was from Ascension Care Management, and that she was part of my care team and would be a partner to me, coordinating with the hospital and my doctor,” Suzanne says. “She said if I had any questions or concerns she was there for me, but I didn’t plan to call her back. And then she called again, and again, so I finally called her back. That’s when she asked if she could come out and talk to me, and everything got started.”

Suzanne’s caller was Debbie with Ascension Care Management. When she met with Suzanne, she reviewed her ER visit and they talked about health concerns for a bit. Debbie also learned about Suzanne, who had been widowed years earlier and left behind a large group of friends to relocate and be closer to her daughter’s family.

Then Debbie let Suzanne know that she was a life skills coach, and that many of her colleagues were Wellcoaches®-certified. That opened up a whole new conversation.

“She asked me if I had any goals, and I said absolutely,” Suzanne says. “I told her I wanted to lose weight. Then she made me name three goals, and it got me really thinking. I was sleeping all the time, and very depressed. I’d drawn into myself and wasn’t really going out except for work or maybe to see family.”

For her part, Debbie says that Suzanne’s willingness to get moving, mentally and physically, made all the difference.

Easing into the flow

“She did all the work,” Debbie says. “After the first month of health coaching, she became more confident and kept adding new things to try. All I had to do was point her in the right direction.”

Wellness coaching is about setting goals, but it’s also about meaningful, measurable progress. Everything doesn’t have to be done at once. In Suzanne’s case, the two began meeting up for weekly walks. That led to more.

“My daughter mentioned some other walking programs, and I joined a couple of those,” Suzanne says. “I began watching my diet a little closer in the process, and every two weeks Debbie would ask me to set some new goals. That’s when I started getting out of myself, because one goal was to get out and introduce myself to people and get out of my comfort zone.”

A full life, rejoined

At the suggestion of Chad Baconnier, part of Suzanne’s care team, Suzanne has also begun some outside mental-health counseling for depression. Chad’s goal was to help her ensure that her hard work on physical and mental health paid off in the long term.

Debbie and Chad still stay in touch with Suzanne, checking in every so often to see how she’s doing. They both say that she has benefited greatly from the wraparound care that Ascension Care Management and its care team provides.

Suzanne agrees. She’s taken off some weight, and reconnected with painting and photography, longtime passions that she’d let slip away. Soon she’ll be putting on an art show, and now posts her photography, along with a blog, online.

“People who know me say how much I’ve changed recently, but I know it’s not just me,” she says. “Debbie, Chad and the team at Ascension Care Management have really helped me reconnect, both to myself and to the world around me. They have been such a blessing. My personality had just gone to sleep, and I’m so glad it’s awake. I’ve gotten back to me again.”

What can you do with a helping hand? Contact Ascension Care Management today at 1 (855) 288-6747 or email acmmembers@ascension.org to get started.