Kimberly’s story
During her July 2008 hospital stay, Kimberly developed calciphylaxis. Her OHSU financial assistance plan for low-income people covered a lot: her primary care at the Outside In clinic as well hospital stays and tests at OHSU. Medication was another story.
The new and unexplained illness caught the former certified nurse assistant and single mother of two off guard. “Just a few months ago I couldn’t walk,” Kimberly said. “I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die.”
It soon became clear to Dr. Tanya Page, Kimberly’s primary care physician at Outside In, that Kimberly’s prescriptions would be an issue. She referred Kimberly to Project Access NOW and its Pharmacy Bridge program. Project Access now provides for all of Kimberly’s specialty medication needs.
Kimberly’s mother Sandra Caron moved to Portland from Phoenix, Arizona, to care for her and her family. “I drained my savings account to pay all the bills,” Sandra said. “Kimberly’s prescriptions were too expensive and not covered. I wasn’t able to support her much longer. She would have been on the street and died had it not been for Project Access.”
After months of tests, procedures, and medications, Kimberly slowly healed. “I am pretty much a miracle,” she said. Just as no one could explain how she got so seriously sick, her recovery confounded doctors as well. She’s left with a lot of nerve damage and still fighting the disease. But she can walk, and though she’s still in a lot of pain, she’s thinking about doing back to work.
About Project Access, Kimberly could only say “I’d like to give them a big thank you. Especially to Margaret [Lamb, Pharmacy Resource Specialist], who saw that I get the care I need. She was a great advocate for me.”
Kimberly’s mother Sandra is soon moving back to Arizona to resume her life. She said, “Project Access stepped up to the plate whenever we needed it. It feels wonderful. They saved my daughter’s life.”
(July 2009)
