A female patient draws “Idea-Plan-Action” on her white board

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the founder
Head-and-shoulders photo of Dalia Al-Othman, patient advocate and the Founder of Health Care Navigators, LLC

Health Care Navigators, LLC (HCN) was founded in June, 2011 and primarily serves clients in Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding area. We are, however, continuously expanding, so please contact us to find out if we are available in your area.

The founder of HCN, Dalia Al-Othman, graduated from Harvard University in 1998, with a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature. She went on to obtain her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 2001. Dalia worked as a lawyer for several years—focusing on corporate, health care, and tax law. She left the law firm in 2004 to accept a position as general counsel and managing director at a six billion dollar distressed debt hedge fund, where she worked until 2007.

In 2007, Dalia’s work was interrupted when she acquired a staph infection during a stay at a well-known Boston hospital. She was forced to leave her job and begin the battle of her life—to rid her body of infection and save her leg from amputation. That battle lasted for nearly 5 years and included 17 surgeries, countless rounds of intravenous antibiotics, grueling physical therapy and rehabilitation that continues to this day.

Dalia was not new to illness. She had survived a very deadly form of bone cancer as a child. But it has been her recent health traumas as an adult that have truly taught Dalia what it takes to be a successful patient.

I don’t see the point of having a life-altering experience if you don’t do anything with it afterward.

Dalia, the Brink and Back: How One Patient’s Struggle with Infection Led to a Higher Calling

Dalia advocated for herself every step of the way. She put together a first-rate medical team, obtained second opinions, and regularly questioned her caregivers. She challenged her doctors and nurses to think creatively, and she monitored them diligently while in the hospital to reduce the chances of medical errors, oversights, and hospital-acquired infections.

After the staph infection was finally cured, Dalia arranged for a team of professionals to help her get back on her feet: physical therapists, personal trainers, yoga and Pilates instructors, aqua therapists, and meditation teachers. Dalia emerged from her medical traumas, not a broken soul as one might expect, but an ambitious and compassionate champion of patients everywhere.

Pen next to a piece of paper with “We Can Help” written on it

 

Dalia knows what it takes to be A Successful Patient.

She founded Health Care Navigators, LLC to advocate for other patients and provide them with the logistical and emotional support that they need in order to be successful in today’s often perplexing health care system.

In 2008, Dalia began researching patient safety matters, including medical mistakes/oversights and hospital-acquired infections; to say that she was alarmed at the statistics would be an understatement. For example, approximately 1.5 million people are harmed every year in the United States due to medication errors made by hospital staff. Approximately 100,000 people die in the U.S.A. annually because of infections that they acquire while in the hospital, while hundreds of thousands more are harmed by such infections. Dalia used to think that the hospital was a safe place to be for healing and recovery, but she soon realized just how dangerous a hospital can be for patients who are unprepared to protect themselves. Dalia raised over $100,000 for patient safety research (while she was still battling her own staph infection). She joined numerous patient advocacy-related organizations, volunteering her time to advocate for health care legislation that would protect patients and hold health care professionals and hospitals accountable for their mistakes.

Patient advocacy is a relatively new profession in health care. Dalia is thrilled and honored to be one of the pioneers in this burgeoning field. She is dedicated to helping to pave the way for patients to be safe, educated, and empowered, so that they can achieve the best medical care possible and become the most successful patients that they can be.




telephone & fax

800 518 8573

email address

info@health-care-navigators.com

mailing address

Health Care Navigators, LLC
258 Harvard Street #474
Brookline, MA 02446

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