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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Help is spotty in medical crisis
By Jim Cornelius

The Sisters community has rallied repeatedly to help local folks who have a medical crisis.

Fund-raisers and direct donations have helped several people handle large medical bills. Naturally, the more widely a person is known in the community, the easier it is to raise funds.

But there are others in the community who face crises with few resources -- people who are not well known to the community.

Theresa Slavkovsky sees many of these people in her role as a family advocate with Sisters Family Access Network.

"There are (people) out there that no one knows about," Slavkovsky said. "I don't know how they're getting by. I really don't."

Slavkovsky sees many people who do not qualify for the Oregon Health Plan but either choose not to take out health insurance or can't afford it.

Some would qualify for the Oregon Health Plan, but they have procrastinated about filling out paperwork.

Some have their kids covered, but not themselves.

"If something happens to them, they just don't go to the doctor," Slavkovsky said.

FAN maintains a fund for emergency financial help, but the funds are nowhere near enough to cover major medical bills.

The best FAN can offer in financial support is usually to pay rent or utilities for a month or so while someone is out of work due to a health crisis. Even that help is limited.

"I can't pay rent for six months while they're recovering," Slavkovsky said.

Local churches and the Sisters Ministerial Association also have crisis funds.

Sheryl Whent at Sisters Community Church noted that churches can't raise money to give to an individual due to Internal Revenue Service restrictions.

Sisters Community Church maintains a benevolence fund to help church members in need and elders of the church are responsible for making decisions about dispersal of funds.

The funds can be used to help non-church members. Whent said that two or three times a month, people approach the church for help in a crisis of one kind or another, including medical problems.

Mary Girardo at St. Edward the Martyr Catholic Church said the church also has a crisis fund.

She noted that while churches can't raise funds for an individual, members often contribute when accounts are already established at local banks to help a community member.

In all cases, checks cut from crisis funds don't go to the individual. They are written to a landlord or a service provider to cover a bill.

Slavkovsky also tries to set her client up with donated clothing, firewood and the Kiwanis Food Bank to help them save money to handle their bills.

Often, the best service Slavkovsky can provide through FAN is help for her clients in navigating through the medical care system.

In a world of heavy paperwork and tangled telephone trees, it is often hard to get information.

That can be unbearable for people who are already under severe stress.

"You get somebody in a crisis, they're going to give up," Slavkovsky said.

Slavkovsky refers clients to Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital or Doernbecher Children's Hospital, which have low-income plans.

St. Charles Medical Center has financial assistance plans and can help emergency room patients sign up for the Oregon Health Plan if they qualify.

But establishing payment plans requires action from the patient or his family -- action that those in a crisis often fail to take.

"They can't wait till they're threatened with being turned over to collections," Slavkovsky noted.

Payment plans don't get patients out from under their bills. Sometimes they end up saddled with bills for years. But at least their payments are manageable.

"I have some people making $10-a-month payments on medical bills," Slavkovsky said.

While Slavkovsky has great compassion for her clients, she readily acknowledges that people make choices that have dire consequences: They fail to get insurance when they can, thinking "nothing's going to happen to me." Or, they spend scarce money on habits that also have a deleterious effect on their health.

Cigarettes are a prime example.

They are an addiction that is hard to break, one that a hooked smoker will feed at almost any cost.

"(Smokers) are not going to give up their cigarettes to pay their medical bills," she said. "If they have no money, they'll collect cans to buy their cigarettes."

There is no pot of money in Sisters for people in need. But there are many resources and plenty of people willing to donate money, time and effort to help others.

FAN's main purpose is to connect clients with services that can help them -- or help them help themselves.

For more information, call 549-0155.

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