Tom's Story

Tom Diehl retired “early” at age 65 — not out of desire, but due to a growing list of health concerns. Atrial fibrillation. Kidney problems. Mitral valve replacement surgery in late 2009, and two years later, a pacemaker to help regulate his arrhythmia.

Today, he’s added another technology tool to the mix — an electronic personal health record he uses to track and monitor his own health.

Tom began logging into his PHR to track daily vitals — his blood pressure, weight and pulse. He entered his allergies and a list of his medications, plus a list of all the doctors he sees. Over time, he started working on his family medical history, immunizations and a list of the procedures he’d had done, and he found himself feeling more involved than ever in his own health.

He says, “There is so much you can put in this system so people don’t have to be so naive or ignorant. If they have any kind of health challenge, they can keep all the information organized here. Today, when I go to the doctor’s office, I can take a print out from my PHR, go down the list and confirm and recognize things. It’s allowed me to educate myself and report information from my doctor that I documented so they can see where I struggled.”

“I probably know 30-40 families right now and I bet at least ten of them could do everything I’m doing with my PHR,” Tom says. “I’ve worked with the PHR now for almost two years and it really does help you take control of your own health.”

Marty's Story

As a 73-year-old retiree from Chicago, Marty Cardelli thought he would be enjoying the good life on his family vacation in Hawaii…until he started to have chest pains after eating a piece of meat. Chest pains are always worrisome for Cardelli because back in 1995, he had bypass heart surgery and has been on medication and a strict diet ever since. He knew that this was something to take seriously.

“After eating a big meal consisting of meat that I shouldn’t be eating, I started to feel like there was something stuck. Then the chest pains came and I had trouble swallowing. I was hesitant to go into the hospital because they will typically keep heart patients overnight and we were scheduled to fly to Maui the next day. I didn’t want to ruin the vacation for my family.”, said Cardelli.

After some prodding from his family, Cardelli decided to go into the hospital’s emergency room. “At this point, I was starting to panic, my concentration was not the best and I couldn’t breathe. It would have been very difficult to give the ER staff (who didn’t know anything about me) a clear account of my medical history,” said Cardelli. “Fortunately, my son had an iPad with him and pulled up my NoMoreClipboard account.”

From the iPad, nurses and doctors were able to access Cardelli’s NoMoreClipboard PHR to obtain details on his past heart surgery and procedures and a run-down of all of the medications (with dosages) he was taking for his heart condition. “I was relieved I didn’t have to deal with these conversations and my son was also thankful because he doesn’t know all the specifics about my chronic health problems.”

Jack's Story

“I used to keep all of my health records in a paper notebook and it was hard for me to keep everything organized where I could easily find information when I needed it. I heard about personal health records and asked my doctor for his opinion. He encouraged me to use one.

“I researched a few of the PHR vendors Medicare recommended and chose NoMoreClipboard because of the features it offered, including the doctor office questionnaires that can be filled out online prior to your doctor’s appointment and the emergency access card which would give emergency responders immediate access to your health records.

“The NoMoreClipboard personal health record is user-friendly, too, and not as intimidating as some of the others I’ve seen. As with anything new, there is an initial learning curve. However, this learning process was short and most of the tasks are easy to use.

“I feel much more confident and more in control of my healthcare now that I have a well organized filing system in place with NoMoreClipboard. As new health records arrive, I can easily incorporate these into my personal database so all of my doctors can see and understand my complete medical history before prescribing treatment.”