La Rhonda’s story
At the end of 2008, La Rhonda S. started experiencing pain caused by fibroids, which grew over the course of the following year. Having no health insurance, La Rhonda turned to her naturopathic physician friends to deal with the worsening pain and anemia. But no remedies worked.
“I’m a musician,” La Rhonda said. “The pain started to affect my daily life and my job. I had to take fewer gigs, and I still performed through the pain. It affected how I could care for my two young kids because I couldn’t get out of bed, sometimes for days.”
Then serendipity struck. A woman who had booked La Rhonda and her band for a concert and who happened to work at Self Enhancement Inc. recommended the North by Northeast Clinic Community Health Center.
La Rhonda visited the clinic in the spring of 2010, anxious during the afternoon wait because she had to work that night.
“Then I went in,” she said, “and was blown away that everyone there was a volunteer. The professional level of the staff, doctors, and nurses was amazing.”
After an intake with Virginia Weekes, a doctor examined La Rhonda, and she got enrolled in Project Access NOW.
“Virginia explained the process, called to let know about appointments or just to reassure me things were moving along when nothing seemed to be happening,” La Rhonda said.
La Rhonda got assigned to Dr. Elizabeth Reindl at Providence Medical Group’s Columbia Women’s Clinic.
La Rhonda said, “I was amazed again that Dr. Reindl gave her services for free. She’s so excellent at what she does. She listened to me and put my mind at ease about the procedure because I had reservations about getting a part of my body taken out.”
In September 2010, La Rhonda underwent a successful surgery and has fully recovered.
“I lived with pain for so long, I’m happy to have my life back. I’m pain free and have all the energy I need. As an uninsured person I thought there was no way I could get any help. I’m overwhelmed about how much people do care about each other. I’m back to my weekly gigs now and I’m looking to work even more. Thanks to Project Access I just got a new lease on life.”
(January 2011)
