Trinity, Fla. — Maria Johnson is all in regards to the colour pink.
“Did you forget to wear pink today?” she mentioned to a buddy on the West Pasco Business Association get collectively. Almost everybody within the room was carrying some sort of pink, as a result of Johnson had requested them to.
What You Need To Know
- Maria Johnson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020
- Johnson mentioned that Premier Community Healthcare in Pasco County helped get her care, and linked her to assets to get insured
- By April 2021, Johnson was cancer free
She loves this job — connecting individuals within the business neighborhood to at least one one other. But her job, like many roles on the market, doesn’t come with a well being insurance profit. So for a number of years, she lived with out it.
“In my personal case, it is expensive, and I just chose not to have health care,” mentioned Johnson. “It’s a little bit of a gambling process when you do that, because if you don’t have it and you need it, then you can get in a lot of trouble.”
Trouble got here in 2020, when she went to Premier Community Healthcare and was urged to get a mammogram carried out.
That mammogram confirmed indicators of cancer.
“I really didn’t know what to do. It is a scary situation. Obviously, the diagnosis is super scary, but I am going to promise you, when you don’t have insurance, that is even scarier.”
Fortunately for Johnson, Premier is used to serving to individuals who don’t have insurance.
“Premier Community Healthcare, the first thing they did was guide me to the breast and cervical program in Pasco County, throughout health department,” mentioned Johnson.
Then the Pasco Health Department helped get her on emergency Medicaid. An excellent factor too, as a result of by December 2020, Johnson had an official analysis — she had breast cancer.
She needed to get a lumpectomy carried out and then did radiation in 2021. By April 2021, she was cancer free.
“I am proud of myself,” mentioned Johnson with tears in her eyes. “It is hard to know that, I was given a really, really hard diagnosis. And I am proud that I did it.”
Johnson nonetheless goes again to Premier for checkups. The nonprofit well being system serves Pasco and Hernando counties, and mentioned 78% of its sufferers are uninsured or use Medicaid.
Physician Assistant Theresa Christmas mentioned she typically sees the fear on individuals’s faces once they assume they received’t be capable to afford care.
“Oh my gosh, it is almost like they are carrying their shoulders up here, and I am like, ‘Don’t worry about it, we can get you a mammogram for free, or we can get you the medicine for $1.99 or free,’” she mentioned. “Their shoulders just drop and they are like, ‘Good, thank you so much.’”
Johnson mentioned she felt identical to that — grateful some helped her in her time of want. She typically says Premier, and these different providers, saved her life.
“I could not do it on my own, especially when you are going through treatment. Especially when you are going through the unknown,” mentioned Johnson.
Her future is thought now. She shall be getting yearly mammograms, and she is on a therapy plan to hopefully assist her keep cancer free.
Premier is one in all Florida’s 52 Community Health Centers, or FQHCs. FQHCs assist the medically underserved throughout the state of Florida, seeing over 1.6 million sufferers a 12 months.
In 2021, Premier helped over 112,000 individuals. Ninety-seven p.c of these individuals reported incomes at or beneath the poverty degree.
“All the time we are trying to fix a bigger systemic problem with the health care system,” mentioned Christmas. “It sometimes feels like never ending, and exhausting, and having Maria to come back, and other patients like her to say, ‘Hey, you know you were able to fill a need that I couldn’t meet myself, and this is what happened. And if I hadn’t done this, then it would have been a lot worse.’”
Johnson and Premier encourage ladies to get their yearly mammogram at age 40, and annually after.
