Helping people be well: A member's story

- I was a police officer for 25 years. I love to hunt, I love to fish, I'd been basically healthy my whole life up until 2010 when I was diagnosed with some lung problems. Well, it got to a point where I was wanting to sleep a lot, was having some memory problems. I can cook you some breakfast stuff outta that.

- He does all the cooking.

- [ROSS] My wife was getting ready to go to work and she had a voicemail and it was one of the ladies from OptumRx.

- [WIFE] It was Lisa Tran and she had said "I called your husband, to try to verify information to ship him his medication, and I couldn't really understand what he was saying." And I was like "Well, he hasn't been acting right."

- [LISA] She said he wasn't feeling quite right and he was very confused. I informed her that, you know, I'm worried about him and she was actually out the door, couldn't get off that day. So it was a lot of convincing trying to get her to take him in. I said I would check back with her in maybe an hour or so. So if I promise that I will call them back, I do, no matter how busy my day is.

- She convinced me to take him to the hospital and he actually went into respiratory arrest four hours after we got there. They ended up intubating him and then they life-flighted him to Houston, which was about two hours away. We found out later on the oxygen machine wasn't putting out like it should have.

- People don't realize that one phone call that the young lady from OptumRX made, changed my life, saved my life, period. Hello, Lisa, how are you?

- Hey, thank you.

- Oh, you're very welcome! You look very good, Ross.

- [LISA] Later, they called back in wanting to speak to me, to thank me for being there.

- I said I wasn't going to get emotional again, but I really do, I appreciate it. You're the whole reason I've had the last two years with my family.

- Aw!

- [LISA] We're very grateful.

- [ROSS] Lisa had the, I don't know if it's the training or the skill or just the heart to know something wasn't right.

- Without her reaching out, he would not be here today. I'd be a widow and my kids would be fatherless.

- I am empowered to help people be well. I feel like, just listening, that's the key thing, because it builds trust with our members. Together, I feel like our team helps all our patients, we are focused on that one patient to help them live their best.

- I took my little 15 day stint in the hospital and I haven't missed a beat since. Since that day there's a lot of things that I've been grateful for in my life; I look at my kids different, I look at life different. Everything. Just that one person, and I kinda get emotional, taking that time, to save my life. And I appreciate it.