Beating COVID-19 the Teamster way

TeamCare is partnered with Conifer Health Solutions, a voluntary health management program. 

Conifer assigns our members a Personal Health Nurse to help them with complex medical conditions. TeamCare would like to share the story of one of our members:

Dear TeamCare,

My name is Arthur, and I have been driving with YRC for 3 years. I’m writing to say how glad I am for having TeamCare. Because of you, I have had the support of a wonderful Personal Health Nurse named Allison at Conifer. She has been there to help me through it all.

I started talking to her in February after being diagnosed with COVID-19. We discussed the steps needed for me to get healthy and get back to work. Because of her, I was able to schedule
doctors’ appointments (which during pandemic was impossible), get the medical equipment I needed to get well, and was the link between me and the doctor’s office. She also helped with all the paperwork that needed to be filled out before returning to work.

She even helped me schedule my x-ray to make sure my chest was clear. This was very important to me and my wife, since I hadn’t seen a doctor since I was released from the hospital, and we wanted to make sure I was healthy and able to breathe before I went back out on the road.

Imagine one day being at work, going along with all your routine activities for a truck driver, driving several hours going through one city to the next, then stopping overnight for a break when suddenly you can’t breathe. That’s right, hundreds of miles from home and you can’t breathe. That’s pretty scary. I was admitted to the hospital, went through a battery of tests, and had a tube shoved down my throat in order to breathe, only to find out I had COVID. After 10 days in the hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, I was sent home to Charlotte, North Carolina to recover. Allison worked with my doctors every step of the way and walked me through all of their instructions.

She was able to make sure my oxygen tanks and prescriptions were sent to the right place and that I had all the medical equipment I needed to get back on the road to recovery. Before Allison intervened, I was ready to give up. I didn’t know what to do first. I still felt weak and out of breath all the time. I wasn’t working so I wasn’t getting paid, and then she stepped in. She was able to get the pulse oximeter to measure the oxygen in my blood, get the oxygen tanks sent to my house, and worked with my doctor’s office and work, so I could get paid. I am blessed and happy to say that I am now able to breathe like I was pre-COVID and I am back to work!

Because of my Personal Health Nurse’s help with my post hospital care, I am enjoying a full and purposeful life with my family! I have been able to go back to my normal day-to-day activities—
I’m beyond grateful. I feel good about going out on the road because I know I can count on people like Allison and TeamCare.

Thank you TeamCare!
—Arthur