My Very Own Medicare Paraclete

January 6, 2016 — coach, health, Iora, iora health, Medicare, Paraclete

Haley in the greenhouse

I am excited to have lived long enough to make it into Medicare. I have expert guidance and very good luck in my choice of providers. Iora Primary Care recently opened very near my home.  I will go to my first appointment next week, but yesterday I met my new Paraclete.  Her name is Haley and I like her a lot.  She will be my helper/guide/uplifter at the medical practice.  We visited the Tucson Botanical Garden yesterday while getting to know each other.  I am an enthusiastic new patient of this brand new model for Medicare Advantage clients who are insured by Humana.

Haley has experience in different kinds of yoga and fitness.  She is assigned to me as a coach.  The problems with using the word coach are various.  For one thing everyone and their dog is a coach now.  It is impossible to know what the term is supposed to mean in each case.  Also coaching implies some kind of external pressure rather than helper by one’s side.  We tried out the word paraclete on some people we met at the gardens.  It does sound exactly like parakeet, and nobody knows what it means, so it is high comedy.  We met the botanist in charge of the butterfly greenhouse, whose first language is Italian.  He was able to guess the meaning, but I think it will be an uphill struggle to get this word into common use.  Religious people use it to connote Holy Spirit.  I like the idea that Haley is my personal Paraclete, provided and paid for by Medicare.  Whatever we call her she is the bomb.  This was worth the wait.

Haley in the greenhouse

Haley at the Gardens

Haley at the Gardens