Endorsements/Testimonials

Rocky got in touch with me right away and was most helpful with my sick husband’s situation. Although she could not take my case (she was out of State), she took the time to guide me in the right direction and help me to understand what I could do moving forward. Thanks, Rocky!

Katherinne S.

Morton Grove, IL

Rocky is very thorough and detail-oriented. It shows when she reports my mother’s situation to my family.

Michelle B.

Palos Park, IL

Rocky is very thorough in informing and educating us. Rocky, you are so patient and thorough with our family. You help us feel at ease when we could not be with our parents at appointments and hospitalization.

Christy H.

Orlando, FL

Rocky, you are a pleasure to work with. You see to it that what’s been researched and shown as best standards are practiced to keep my loved one safe.

R.Z.

Hendersonville, NC

Dear Rocky,

I can’t thank you enough for being with my sister at the Northwestern Medical Center Emergency Room and being with her until after her admission to the hospital room. It helped to calm my sister down. I am grateful to you for keeping me updated with the plan of treatment.

Sherry

Chicago, IL

Dear Rocky:

I told the doctor how much you helped and influenced my family member and how amazingly wonderful you are.

Harriet

Norwood, N.J.

Raquel, “Rocky”, made us feel comfortable from the beginning.  She was very patient and understanding of our situation.  We unexpectedly lost our mother to multiple illnesses and my father was searching for answers.  Rocky not only worked with us to understand what happened, she took a personal and compassionate interest in the grief my father was feeling.  As my father tried to get information from the hospital and doctors on the front end, Rocky, with her medical and practical experience, worked the back end to obtaining the information we needed.

When it came time for Rocky to explain the events that lead to my mother’s death, she did it with great compassion for my father.  I truly believe her warmth and understanding of what my father was going through helped ease my father’s question of “what could I have done differently or better?”

I wish we would have found Rocky in the early years when my mother was alive and as her condition deteriorated. Not that it would have changed the course of my mother’s health but maybe it would have helped in the care and treatment of my mother’s conditions. Dealing with the complexities of the healthcare industry is very daunting when you are caring for a loved one.

I recommend Rocky to anyone that needs professional assistance and compassion when dealing with the health and care of a loved one.

Rocky, I mean every word that I have written for you.  Thank you for all of your assistance.  Thank you for sharing your personal struggles with us.

J. Schelinski

Frankfort (Will County), Illinois

My sister and I were at a loss trying to find doctors for our father following his recent move to the area. Rocky was instrumental in listening to my dad’s preferences, looking for candidates and interviewing over a dozen doctors, then setting up appointments. Her leg-work and success at finding doctors to care for our father’s mental and physical wellbeing provided everyone, not the least our dad, with peace of mind. Her help during his hospital stay allowed my sister and I, who don’t live close by, to know that everything was looked after. We’re extremely grateful for her connections and communication with us.

L. D.
Chicago (Cook County), Illinois

Rocky, as she is affectionately known, is the most conscientious, motivated, intellectually curious, and caring patient advocate we know. We met “Aunt Rocky,” as our kids call her, when, as a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Registered Nurse at the University of Chicago Medical Center, she took on the particularly difficult case of our first child. Elena was in the NICU with a rare neonatal illness, one which none of the doctors was prepared to handle. Rocky saw an infant – and new parents – in distress, and she stepped up to the challenge. Rocky educated herself on our daughter’s condition, devised a nursing care plan, including a feeding regimen that literally saved Elena’s life, taught the other NICU staff about Elena’s illness, instilled in us the confidence necessary to care for a baby in such a fragile state, and held our hands all the way through. If it weren’t for Rocky, I’m pretty sure our oldest would not be here today. When it came time for our second delivery, seven and half years later, we alerted Rocky in advance, and she was there to see our son through his time in the NICU. When Julian was born, we felt completely relaxed and confident that all would be well, simply because Rocky was by our side. Rocky never shies away from difficult cases, her first priority is to serve her patients, and to that end she leaves no stone unturned. For eighteen years, Rocky has been a constant caring presence in our lives. We are blessed and grateful to know her.

Laura Skosey, PhD, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and Professor Robert LaLonde, PhD, Harris School of Public Policy, The University of Chicago, Chicago (Cook County), Illinois

Dear Rocky,

You gave our family the best gifts anyone could ask for, and that is the loving and expert care of two of our children shortly after birth, and your continued love to all three children since 1995! Wow! Do we have a gem in you!

Laura Skosey, PhD, Chicago (Cook County), Illinois

Dear Rocky,

Thank you isn’t enough. You are the best!!! Your communication is excellent. You were the king pin. We couldn’t have done this without you. You made a difference and helped my sister’s family immeasurably in a most difficult circumstance. I am thankful for your good work and will continue to recommend your services…

All the best, please stay in touch. Let’s have lunch to celebrate!!

Mark Wight
CEO, Wight and Company
www.wightco.com
Headquartered in Chicago (Cook County), and Darien (DuPage County), Illinois

As a Private RN Patient Advocate and Care Manager, Rocky is a highly professional, empathic, knowledgeable. She works tirelessly for her clients who always come first. She is one of the best advocates I have ever met, is skilled, thinks out of the box, knows how to get things done, listens and responds to client needs and expectations. Caring does not adequately describe her. Rocky is the best at what she does, hands down!! She was hired more than once. Her top qualities include great results, being personable, high integrity.

Barney Cohen, Attorney, Concierge Attorneys, LLC, Healthcare Law, Formerly, Senior Counsel, AMA
Chicago (Cook County), Illinois

I’ve personally known and worked with Rocky for over twenty years, initially, at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the University of Chicago Medical Center then, as a Research Nurse for Pediatrics and Neonatology at the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago/University of Chicago Medical Center. Armed with a certification in Adult Critical Care (CCRN) and later, in Neonatal Critical Care (NCCRN), she applied her knowledge by diligently taking special care of the most ill neonates, always exploring ways to make the ordeal more tolerable to parents and relatives. The experience inspired her to return to school where she completed dual graduate degrees: in nursing science as well as in business administration.

Rocky became an advocate for my 38 year old severely autistic son who lives in a group home. She would research the prescribed medications and analyze how they help in my son’s behavior patterns. In my husband’s and my absence, she would call on the group home for updates on our son’s condition and daily care. Because of her advocacy, we are able to go on vacations, confident that there is someone, besides relatives, checking up on our son, while we are out of town.

When both her mother and father, living 1800 miles away, started to have increasingly complex medical management, increasing number of prescribed medications, more frequent doctors’ appointments, repeated emergency room visits, and repeated hospitalizations, Rocky would fly to her parents’ aid and collaborate in person and/or by long distance communication, via telephonic or electronic means, with her parents’ physicians, surgeons, nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, imaging centers, insurance providers, even medical equipment suppliers, to ensure timely and safe care. She would research the most appropriate specialists, the various applicable procedures, the complex insurance requirements, etc.

When her father suffered from clostridium difficile (c. diff), a severe, recurrent infection due to antibiotics therapy, she helped the doctors find the latest research in several academic centers in Chicago and the country and successfully worked with them in caring for her father and preparing for the worst case treatment needs. She even contacted researchers in Australia and in Kansas who shared their protocols with her regarding a cost-effective treatment, then known as fecal bacteriotherapy, now increasingly gaining recognition as a standard treatment, referred to as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), as a potential option for her father.

Presently, her father and mother, 87 and 80 years old respectively, are medically stable, living at home, and continue to enjoy the best of care.

It dawned upon Rocky that there is an urgent need for personal RN healthcare advocates to help others in similar situations. Thereby, she decided to establish Chicago Health Advocates.

Sofia H. Dino, RNC-NICU
Orland Park (Cook County), Illinois

Hi Rocky!

Can’t thank you enough for making this happen!

Michelle M.
Chicago (Cook County), Illinois

Hi Rocky!

You deserve all the credit!! It was not an easy feat!
Congratulations to you on a very great job!!

Kristen K.
DuPage County, Illinois

Dear Raquel,

How terrific that you took time to work on the “Tips for Getting the Best Health Care” Handout! Fabulously helpful! I’ve incorporated some of your suggestions in the list that will be used for the audience at our first panel presentation…and kept all your suggestions for possible later uses.

The workshop was great. The Tips Handout was very well received.

It is an honor to have you with us on The Volunteer Health Advocacy Project. Many thanks for your service and support and all the good you do for others!!

Stuart Miller, PhD
Monterey County, California
Dr. Miller saw the need for a humanistic reform in healthcare and founded The Institute for the Study of Humanistic Medicine
Founder, The Volunteer Health Advocacy Project (VHAP).
Founder, “Monterey County: The First Share The Care County in America