Belonging to your health team

Belonging to your health team. Seems oxymoronic. Of course you belong to your health team. There is no health team without you. Yet sometimes people feel out of control, not accepted by their team. Maybe it’s because it’s not their team. Professionals and caregivers sometimes act as if or really feel that they are the team, separate from the people they serve. Today I received an e-mail report from a friend describing the meetings of the team caring for her husband with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The hope, the optimism, the details of how to manage, the welcoming, warmed my heart. The key is the welcoming across a threshold. Before the professionals weren’t part of their team. After they were. Just like that. Same day, I received an email describing the separation, frustration, lack of communication, of a friend caring for her husband who had surgery. Although the outcome was good – successful surgery – she seemed glad to be away from those professionals. They were never part of the team. How do we as ePatients welcome professionals onto our team?  How do professionals acknowledge that they have joined ePatients’ teams?