Chiricahua Cares Fund helps ease patients’ minds with financial assistance

By Shar Porier shar.porier@myheraldreview.com Nov 17, 2024

SIERRA VISTA — During hard times, it’s important to recognize not just the health needs of patients, but also to recognize when they are having a difficult time paying for rent, utilities, medications, food and the list of everyday necessities of life.

After all, stress from worrying how to pay bills and buy groceries and medicine can impact the overall health of anyone as rents increase, food costs rise and wages remain stagnant. One severe health episode or reduced work hours or not having money to pay bills can throw a person into a tailspin when trying to meet the inflated costs of living.

Chiricahua Community Health Centers, Inc., staff has been stepping up to relieve patients through a worthy, special program called Chiricahua Cares Fund which is 100% funded through donations from individuals, nonprofits and foundations.

This recognition can begin in the doctors’ offices or at the inhouse pharmacy window as staff asks additional questions about how their personal lives are going. When did you have your last meal? Are you still living in your home or apartment? Can you pay your utility bills? Can you afford your medication?

As physicians and nurses gathered the responses, Chiricahua decided to step in and help as best they could. The program was born.

For Robin, a former teacher with 14 years of experience, to continue in the chosen profession he loved was not possible. Life’s difficulties weighed on him, became more than he could handle. He was father to his wife’s four children which added another dimension to his mental tension. He saw himself in a downhill slide. He was drinking to excess.

As he put it, “I was a mess. I was dealing with a lot from the students, with gang members, kids with horrible family problems and drug issues. I was practically being a social worker, and a parent, because they didn’t really have an adult to turn to. I did a really good job. I was a really good teacher for a long time, but I don’t have alligator skin, you know.

“I had students that were murdered. I had students that were kidnapped. Died at 16. Kids running illegals to Phoenix.”

He ended up being a grief counselor while teaching English. At the same time, his students would come to him between class with other problems.

“Really, there wasn’t anything left of me.”

By 2016, he was having difficulty dealing with it all and experienced a breakdown.

“I was leaving work and just going straight to buy, a bottle of wine or something, just to stop myself from shaking. I think I just completely gave up. I just broke down. I didn’t care about anything. I’ve been in counseling for like, a year and a half. The meds helped me with the generalized anxiety. I’m doing much better now.”

When the COVID–19 pandemic hit and everything shut down, the isolation in itself impacted Robin’s health. Thankfully, the government provided rent help during that time and he was able to meet that and other expenses. But, when the funding ended, he was left without a job and found himself three months behind in rent. In 72 hours, he would be out on the street experiencing an entirely different situation.

But, thanks to the Chiricahua Care Fund Coordinator Janet Rodriguez and Martin Rubio, Integrated Community Health Worker, they were able to provide the money needed to help him remain in place.

It was not an easy task, though. The apartment manager gave no quarter and demanded payment within the 72 hours in spite of the requests of Rodriguez and Rubio to extend his deadline.

The two set about calling all the different resources in the state and county to raise the funds. They have established a list of reliable resources and the phone calls began. Though Chiricahua Cares has some funding, it cannot cover everything and the patient is expected to come up with some sort of payment.

They even went to a Sierra Vista police officer who was involved with the Good Neighbor Alliance, a shelter for homeless men and women. Though Robin was not homeless, a requirement to get their help, and strongly professed he did not want to homeless, they came through with a sum that would help meet the goal at 6 a.m. on the morning of his eviction scheduled to take place at 10 a.m.

Then the apartment manager informed them of the late charges Robin would have to cover, an additional $60. So Robin and Rubio set about selling his possessions, his books.

Then with just five minutes to go before the court hearing, they were able to pay the $3,560 owed. But, they were still $4 short. Rubio, a jovial compassionate man, pulled put his wallet and paid it.

Earlier in the day, pharmacy technician Marvel Moore was able to assist a patient with the cost of insulin. She did not have enough money to buy the prescriptions she needed. Rather than turn the patient away, Moore called Rodriguez and she got the ball rolling to provide her with the insulin she needed within minutes.

It’s a frequent problem. The care program provided $11,445 specifically for patients who have difficulty paying for the medicines that keep them healthy.

Dennis Walto, CCHCI Chief of External Affairs and Foundation Executive Director, has the job of raising money for the program. He found partners in the Geneal McMoran Fund; Freeport McMoRan Foundation; Banner Community Investment Fund; Cox Communications; Vast Commercial Real Estate; Marsh McLennen Agency, LLC; LabCorps; Arizona Complete Health and Adobe Population Health.

Last year, the program was supported with $127,757 which went to pay for a long list of needs for 945 patients. Funds covered support for the parents of autistic children, food, housing, clothing, medicine, dental care, utilities, domestic violence victims and more. Housing alone cost the program $42,955.

So far in 2024, Walto said the program has served 866 patients through October 31 at a cost of $123,933. Housing costs have increased substantially to $54,396. He raised $150,000 this year, but is concerned the program will run out of money before the end of the year.

“Housing has become this incredible crunch, and we’re  going to raise more funds. Before the end of the year, I’ll be asking asking our primary supporters for more help,” he explained. “Many times people are okay in their housing, but it’s like, my water is going to be shut off, my electricity, my gas. We have to step in.

“I’m always in fundraising mode. We have a great donor base of individuals throughout the county, state and even country, who contribute. We have good corporate partners who have come to the table and helped. We have a couple of very special donors of the Geneal McMorran fund, which is held at the Community Foundation of Southeast Arizona. It has been a champion donor now for two years. We really couldn’t do it without them.”

Banner has been “an amazing partner“ with the Cares program as many patients are also Banner patients, especially if they’re on Medicaid.

He continued, “And increasingly, I think here in Cochise County, there’s a collective realization that the social determinants of health are so critical to a person’s physical, mental, oral, complete health. If we look at the whole person, we know these social drivers are things that need to be addressed for them to obtain better health.”

Walto is optimistic the needs of these patients will be met as the whole CCHCI staff and donors are behind the successful program.

Robin is trying to be optimistic about his future and would like to return to his roots in art. He sold a painting to the drummer of Megadeath. It was a scene in which Johnny Cash was beating up a furry devil. The man saw it and had to have it.

Robin received an award for a short story he published 20 years ago and also illustrated three children’s books for other authors and had “a slew of cartoons published, like back in the early 2000s before I started teaching.”

He said he was doing fairly well with the illustration work; even had a website. But, in 2017 his Mac fell off the table and was destroyed. Gone was his life’s work and thousands of dollars in software.

“Will I ever been able to replace my computer with satisfactory one,” he said in response to the question what could help him get back to his art. “That that would be a hell of a lot to ask for anybody.”

True to his nature, he said he could do “any odd jobs or something part time to help me get going. Something where I can earn the money. It’s definitely a priority, because I feel like I can earn money doing that. I was actually really good, you know, I had skills. I learned publishing and stuff in college and worked on a magazine. I think it’s a realistic thing I could do.”