Dorlyne Jones:

I have congestive heart failure, diabetes, fibromyalgia, MS, scoliosis in my spine. You know your body better than anybody else. So you have to take control of your life.

Dorlyne Jones:

My name is Dorlyne Jones and I live in Chicago, Illinois. I'm grateful that I've lived to be 72 because I wasn't supposed to live past two. So I kind of beat the odds by 70 plus years. I love to do a lot of things. I love to paint. I love to draw. I love working in my garden. I have a big beautiful garden. I'm grateful for a loving husband, which we've been married for 29 years. He's my rock.

Dorlyne Jones:

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure when I turned 18, which shocked me because I was only 18 and I didn't think young people had high blood pressure. And then I had my first seizure when I was 24. I kept getting a funny sensation in my back and I couldn't figure out what it was. Running tests and running tests and they couldn't figure it out. I was constantly moving from doctor to doctor and each time things was getting worse. My health was starting to decline

Dorlyne Jones:

It was tough finding a doctor because first of all, you need to know what type of doctor that you needed for whatever the situation was. It was difficult.

Dorlyne Jones:

Is that Tanya? Hi Tanya!

Tanya Klauck:

Hello Miss Dorlyne Jones.

Dorlyne Jones:

Well hello Miss Tanya. Tanya is my Optum nurse case manager. I didn't know what that meant at first. I said, "What's a care manager? What you going to be doing different from any other nurse?" And she said, "I'm going to make sure you get everything that you need. That's what I'm going to different. I'm going to be your advocate."

Dorlyne Jones:

Tanya's been my nurse like five or six years. I can call her when I need to call her and she'll call me back. She been like a sister to me.

Tanya Klauck:

Have you had any changes with your health?

Dorlyne Jones:

I'm grateful that Optum brought me Tanya, because she truly has been a lifeline. She monitors my weight, my lungs, my heart. When I needed a psychiatrist, she helped me to find one

Dorlyne Jones:

United Healthcare and Optum made sure that whatever specialty that I needed, they made it available. They made sure that I had the ability to go to see whatever doctor I needed to have, to have whatever surgeries that I needed to have and I've had a lot of surgeries over the years and they've been there on the spot, taking care of it.

Dorlyne Jones:

Technology has helped my care this way. Every morning, I have to weigh myself on the little tablet and it goes directly to Tanya. It helps her to track my weight. Having that tablet is also a lifesaver because it helps me stay focused on what my weight need to be and to keep my weight down. Especially for seniors, they need somebody like Tanya, they need an advocate. You have to take control of yourself and I was glad I did it. I lost all the weight. I changed my eating habits. Tanya says "See, when you listen to me, we get stuff done. We get it done." And we do. Because when you do that, you're going to take care of yourself.