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By: David Deschesne

Margo (Fortier) Corbett holds her fondest childhood memories right here in Fort Fairfield where she attended 7th and 8th grade in 1958-1960.

She fondly recalls picking potatoes, being selected as a cheerleader for the basketball team and eating popcorn and giggling every day after school with her two best friends, Mary Putnam and Cynthia Averill.

“My father, George came here to help build a dam. When the job was over two years later, we moved again,” Corbett told the Fort Fairfield Journal. “As I look back, I find it amazing that those two years hold such a huge proportion of my childhood memories.”

She hasn’t stopped moving – in location or in life. Her journey has taken her many places and through a variety of careers. She earned a degree in Medical Technology from the University of New Hampshire, but fell in love with virus research while on a work-study program. That love took her to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Years later she was hired by a startup biotech company to set up the quality control department then became their Total Quality Management / Knowledge Management Trainer and Consultant. Kodak purchased the company and she transferred to Rochester, NY and then to their spin-off company Eastman Chemical in Tennessee, where she retired from her consulting career in 1999.

Not one to sit still long, she entered East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, where she now lives, and graduated with a Masters in Storytelling in 2003. Throughout her adult years, she has had her share of health problems, surviving three medical errors and cancer. She often told friends, “God must want me alive for something.” Little did she know that a defining moment in February 2003 would eventually provide the answer.

“My husband, Lee, was diagnosed with kidney failure. With barely an introduction, the doctor told him, “We need to admit you to the hospital immediately. My first job is to save your life, the second to keep you off dialysis as long as possible.”

As Margo lay awake all night watching her husband’s every breath, a form came into her head - one that had all the pieces of his health story on one sheet of paper.

“The information on that form included his symptoms as they developed, information about his chronic conditions and what they could lead to, test results, and more.”

Corbett says filling in the form would have educated them, leading them to ask questions that were more knowledgeable and/or request a second opinion. Instead, the complete faith they had in their doctor lulled them into a passive relationship, accepting the answers – even though they were bothered by them - and almost costing Lee his life.

“The next year-and-a-half was filled with surgery, infections, and the discovery of other underlying conditions, including cancer. They found themselves in one specialist’s office after another.”

Finally, she created the form that popped into her head that night in the hospital, followed by others, to help her keep track of all that was happening.

“During that time, my 80-year-old neighbor was in and out of the emergency room and hospital. Without her children close by, I became her advocate, giving rise to more forms. When friends and neighbors learned of the forms they wanted them for their personal use and as they say; “the rest is history.”

Last year, Margo developed the Partner With Your Doctor (PWYD) System and authored, Lead Your Way to Better Healthcare: Help Doctors Help You. (Infinity Publishing, 2006)

“As I look back, every job, degree and on-the-job training course I took, as well as my personal medical experiences, prepared me to write the book. Some people are fortunate enough to know God’s plan for their life before they die.”

She feels blessed to be one of them. She says the book was a “God thing” to begin with. She was praying about which ministry area(s) she should get involved with, when it became clear she was to write this book.

She recalls a conversation with a friend one night; “can you believe I am writing a book? I am a science/math person and never learned how to type.”

After a lot of prayer and asking God to give her the words and sentence structure, the book was published in the fall of 2006. Since then, Corbett has spoken to a wide variety of audiences and appeared on several radio stations. She’s been a guest lecturer for nursing classes and to her surprise; the book is being used as a textbook.

She wrote the book mainly for those over 40 with chronic conditions and caregivers of loved ones, but says it is a valuable resource for parents, or anyone wanting to take an active role in their health care.

“It is a course in how to be a patient. I feel people must take control of their healthcare in today’s medical environment. In so doing, they will gain better care, prevent medical errors, and save money, thus helping to cut healthcare costs. Even more importantly, they will gain confidence and peace of mind, because, as studies show, knowledgeable patients ask good questions, make joint decisions with their providers, and experience better outcomes.”

Born in 1946, as a first year “baby boomer,” Margo speaks a lot about the collective power of her generation and the huge impact they can have in cutting healthcare costs; “that is, if we get more involved in our own healthcare and wisely steward our resources.”

As healthcare professionals work to fix their part of the medical system, she says, “It’s time we, as patients realize we must fix our part. We must change the way we think about our health and healthcare providers; the way we participate in and manage our care.”

Richard Stone, healthcare consultant and author says, “While healthcare professionals are scrambling to tackle the problem, the system will remain broken until they are met as equal partners by the patients they serve.”

Corbett recently volunteered to be part of a regional project as the team leader for patient outreach and education in her area. “The project is receiving a lot of national and government attention. It is called CareSpark. The website for it is www.carespark.org ”

Corbett feels very fortunate to have found her mission in life. “I am grateful God has kept me alive and enabled me to embark on this new journey. There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing something you have done has helped someone else. Nothing, that is, except having children and grandchildren.”

Between them, Margo and Lee have seven children and eight grandchildren. More information about Margo and her book can be found at www.pwydhealthrecord.com