As a relatively young organization, Taller de José has done a lot of adapting and changing in order to really define what it is we can offer to our clients. But because Taller was founded based on the needs of the community, I think it is part of the nature of the agency that it will continue to adapt, even once it has been around much longer. One such way we have been adapting in recent months is an increase in offsite accompaniments to medical providers. Sometimes this is because clients are seeing a physician who doesn't speak Spanish, other times because they are nervous and don't have a family member to accompany them, or a whole slew of other reasons. In the case of one of my clients, not only did she not speak any English, but she was unable to get to her visits on her own (or even navigate the hospital once she got there) because she had recently become blind due to very severe cataracts in both eyes. I'll call her Maria.
For several years, Maria had only been able to see out of her right eye due to a worsening cataract in the left eye. Then, in early 2012 she developed a cataract in her right eye, which quickly became so severe that she couldn't see anything. The loss of vision made it extremely difficult for her to care for her two children, especially her oldest son, a 15-year-old with Down syndrome and other conditions so severe that he is non-verbal and will attempt to eat paper products (or most other things in sight) if not closely monitored. Without health insurance, Maria wasn't sure where to turn to receive assistance, or whether it was even possible to regain her vision. Luckily, Maria was already receiving some case management services from another agency, and her caseworker was able to get her a referral to the Opthalmology department at Cook County Stroger Hospital, the "safety net" hospital for many of the county's low-income and uninsured residents. But Maria couldn't get there on her own, had no family that was willing to go with her, and her social worker's case load was far to big to allow her to accompany Maria. Enter Taller de José.
When Maria came in for her first appointment at our offices in March of this year, her caseworker came in with her, and when she had to hold her hand to guide her into my office, I realized the severity of her condition. During the appointment we agreed that both her caseworker and I would try to find a clinic that could see Maria. We both spent the next several weeks calling clinics and other agencies who might be able to help. The case is a great example of the type of collaboration between organizations that Taller de José strives to achieve; the fact that 47% percent of our clients are referred by a partner agency, church, or school, is a pretty good indication that we're succeeding.
A few weeks later, Maria's caseworker called. Maria had gotten a referral to Stroger and had a surgery scheduled for mid April-- would I accompany her? I agreed to do so and we arranged for the caseworker to give her a ride to the hospital. (Generally clients come to our offices and we accompany them on public transportation; for liability reasons we cannot transport them in a car. Because Maria's condition made it nearly impossible for her to come on her own to our offices, at future appointments I would go to meet her at her house and accompany her from there to the hospital and back again. We were fortunate that several times her caseworker was able to assist with the transportation.) When we arrived at 8:30am for what we thought was a 10am surgery, we were informed that, no, it was just a pre-op assessment, and that usually wait times to see the doctor are between 2 and 6 hours after the scheduled appointment time. Unfortunately for us, our wait was much closer to 6 than 2 hours; a little before 4pm that afternoon, Maria was finally able to see a doctor for a total of about 15 minutes. Those of you who know me well know that I really like things to be organized and on-time. The past year at Taller de José has been a big lesson in patience for me. (Coincidently, a virtue I'm also learning to practice during my running; training for a marathon is a long, slow process). That first day was a pretty good indication of how the rest of her appointments were going to go. The wait times are so long because Stroger is overwhelmed by the number of patients seeking care who can't find or afford it elsewhere. (I'm now reading County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital, which is providing some interesting history and insight about the hospital).
Now, about 3 months later, Celia has had successful surgery on both eyes, giving her near perfect vision again. We've spent a total of 45 hours together between riding public transportation and siting in waiting rooms for her 6 appointments. The first time I saw Maria after her first surgery (which gave her vision back in her right eye) she exclaimed "Oh, eres bien güerrita!"which essentially means "Oh, wow, you're really white!" We'd only spoken Spanish together, so she had mistakenly assumed I was Latina. Though not necessarily the most tactful of comments, it was so wonderful to see how excited she was to see again (and all the surprises that came with it!). That day she was much more independent and has since learned how to get to and from the hospital and our offices on her own. This new-found independence and self-sufficiency is exactly what we hope for all of our clients. She told me, "Isn't is such a miracle that when we first came you had to hold my hand so that I could get places, but now I can see again and do things on my own?" I agreed that it was.
"One doesn't ask of one who suffers: what is your country and what is your religion? One merely says, you suffer, this is enough for me, you belong to me and I shall help you" - Louis Pasteur
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