Link Health System

The Story Behind Link Health System

   My name is Susan C. Linkman.  I currently work as a Telemetry Monitor Technician.  I am a Certified Non-Invasive EKG technician and Certified Cardiographic Technician.

   My passion for helping others, organizational structure and attention to detail have always drawn me towards the medical field.  I am an ambitious, resilient individual with an eagerness to be an exceptional asset at increasing the likelihood of desired health outcomes.

   My Dad has suffered from heart disease since 1999, when he needed a quintuple bypass heart surgery.  Over the years his heart disease progressed to heart failure.  In 2013, he was diagnosed with CHF and needed an ICD.  I believed exercise was essential to keep his heart function from deteriorating, however is was difficult for him to do because of degenerative osteoarthritis.  In 2015, I advocated for him to receive a total knee replacement, coordinating care at this time between the orthopedic surgeon, cardiologist and electrophysiologist.  During his total knee replacement surgery, it was discovered he had a fractured lead wire with his ICD.  2016 he needed a laser lead extraction for the fractured lead wire and a bi-ventricular ICD pacemaker was implanted. 

   Some doctors my father has had include a PCP, Cardiologist, Electrophysiologist, Nephrologist, Orthopedic surgeon, Rheumatologist, Pulmonologist, Endocrinologist and Infectious Disease specialist.  The number one issue has always been the lack of communication between the different health systems because they all use different patient portals. 

   I organized my father's medical history and created a Medical History binder for him. I typed up the notes from various physicians and included all of his test results.  As I am more of a visual person, I created images to get a better understanding of what his heart looked like based off of his test results.  Using my creativity, I made a website specifically for my Dad that linked his patient portals to one convenient location which made it easier to access, manage and share his medical history.

   Unfortunately, by 2017 my Dad was in cardio-renal failure.  He had few options, get transferred to another hospital and receive an LVAD, or pass away.  By keeping a detailed medical history, I helped eliminate the need for repeat medical testing and surgeons were able to implant the LVAD along with a temporary RVAD within 8 days of being transferred to a different hospital. 

   I became my father's caregiver and advocate in 2013, ensuring that he would not have to go through his hardships alone.  I dedicated my time, being his caregiver was a fulltime job but without pay and I put my future on hold to help him achieve the best quality of life.  Some things I did selflessly did, included accompanying him to numerous doctors appointments on a weekly basis, advocating for him to receive the best medical care, coordinating care between physicians, filling up the 48+ medications he took a day, helping him file for disability and changing his LVAD dressings.  My father is now a heart-kidney transplant patient. 

  I have learned how to be flexible, improvise, adapt and overcome complex situations.  This perspective I gained has allowed me to come up numerous ideas that I have been able to implement to help improve the quality of care throughout America.