EMPTY STOCKING: Health center is 'like family'

Jennifer has an important role at a nursing home.

She’s a hair stylist who makes residents feel good about themselves.

She gets a lot of joy from her work, but she doesn’t get insurance.

So, it was a blow five years ago when her husband became disabled and lost the job that had medical coverage for the family of four.

It was with hesitation that Jennifer went to Peak Vista’s Family Health Center at Fountain.

“You think, ‘community health center,’ who are you going to run into?” she said.

Who they ran into were folks like them: Hard-working people who fall through the cracks of insurance coverage.

“It doesn’t feel like a community health center,” said Jennifer, 29, whose last name isn’t being used to protect her privacy. “They really go out of the way. They are quick getting us in and taking care of us. It is almost like a family there; they know us by the sound of our voice.”

Peak Vista is one of 14 area charities receiving grants from The Gazette-El Pomar Foundation Empty Stocking Fund. The agency served the medical needs of 46,585 patients in 2008 at its 15 health centers and 12 service sites.

It isn’t free for the family, which pays on a sliding scale.

Jennifer also goes to Peak Vista’s Women’s Health Center.

“I’ve had six miscarriages. They sent me for genetic counseling to see if anything was wrong; the doctor really explored every single option, more than my doctor did when I had insurance,” she said.

The pregnancy with her 1-year-old daughter was a success.

“They took care of me. My daughter was a high-risk pregnancy. I had routine ultrasounds,” she said.

When she had a breast cancer scare during this pregnancy, she wasn’t expecting a call from her doctor the morning of the biopsy. “She called me at home and wished me good luck,” Jennifer said.

That biopsy came back normal.

“Even if I won the lottery and I got pregnant again I’d go there,” she said.

Her daughter had a serious respiratory infection earlier this year at age 4 months.

“They had to call an ambulance from there to get to the hospital,” Jennifer said. “The staff called and checked up on her for four days.”

It’s like her daughter knows.

“She goes running up to them when I take her in,” Jennifer said.