Shae Marden on Blue Care Network HMO

Shae Marden — a member since 2004

On quitting smoking with Quit the Nic

I smoked for 16 years. I tried to quit smoking a few times before I was part of BCN. I would always quit for about a month and then go right back to smoking. I wanted to quit to be healthier, get in shape and breathe easier. Finally I took advantage of BCN’s free stop smoking program Quit the Nic.

My last cigarette was Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 10:50 p.m. I’ve got the date in my cell phone. When I started Quit the Nic I said I’ll be smoke free within the next 30 days. I quit on the twenty-ninth day. I said I’m never going to smoke again, and I haven’t.

"My Quit the Nic nurse was amazing and helped me realize it was not impossible to quit."

Shae Marden

On her medical care

I think having preventive benefits is essential. Not having to pay for or worry about them is definitely important.

I love my primary care physician, Dr. Tobin. He’s awesome. He was cheering me on when I quit smoking. I’ve found that having a PCP helps a lot. He knows what’s covered and that information helps me. Also, it’s really good that a doctor’s office does referrals electronically. It’s much less of a headache than having to pick up a paper referral and take it to a specialist.

After a hospital stay, I visited my PCP and he already knew everything that happened to me medically. It’s not up to me to keep him updated on every detail. I was in the hospital for an emergency, he found out all the details.

And care management was unbelievably helpful after I was released from the hospital. Because of BCN, an aftercare nurse came to my house once a week. I had a PICC line to my heart so I could take care of my medication at home. I didn’t have to go to the hospital for the medication since the aftercare nurse checked to make sure everything was OK.

On getting information and help

When members join BCN, we get a card and we care that doctor visits are covered, and that’s most important. We don’t think about everything available. It’s neat to go to MiBCN.com to find information I need. That’s how I found Quit the Nic. I’ve also registered for Member Secured Services and used it to check on why I had a copay. It showed me what services were rendered. I’ve also called Customer Service and found them really helpful. I’ve never called and found a cold or mean person.

page modified 09/23/2011