During the
intake interview, our financial counselor learned
that the couple had three young daughters:
Terry, 8, Sarah, 5, and Missy, 3. Ten months earlier,
Sarah started having frequent episodes of high fever and infection. She became
pale, lost her appetite, and was abnormally tired and short of breath while
playing. She also began having frequent nosebleeds that persisted for hours
at a time. The couple knew their daughter was seriously ill, but since they
didn’t have a family doctor, they made a number of visits to the emergency
room at Wake Medical Center. After several weeks, they received the devastating
news that Sarah had childhood Leukemia and was subsequently hospitalized.
This, however, was just the beginning...
Both John and Emily were working: John as a construction worker and Emily as
a part-time secretary at a local law firm. Their combined income was $32,000.
John had medical insurance through his job, but the high deductibles quickly
exhausted what little savings they had. Before Sarah became ill, the family
didn’t maintain a budget and were just barely able to make ends meet;
yet they thought they were doing ok. Then the cost of Sarah’s medications
grew to over $200 per month – even with insurance co-pays. After Emily
quit her job to care for Sarah, the family’s income dropped to $22,000
per year, and medical bills began to mount. The couple quickly realized that
they no longer had the means to support their family. They began to run up
all their credit cards, and John resorted to “payday loans” to
help cover the rent. Unfortunately, he was unable to repay these loans and
was soon paying over 443% in interest.
Neither John nor Emily had family or friends in the
area they could turn to for help. John was in a panic;
Emily sat in tears. She had wanted to seek financial
help months earlier, but John – a proud and private man – wanted
them to handle the situation on their own. Desperate, Emily finally called
United Way 2-1-1, a 24-hour crisis line, and was referred to TFS. By the time
they scheduled their first appointment, all of their resources were depleted,
and the couple was struggling not only with the despair over Sarah’s
illness, but also with the fear of possibly losing their home, and the increased
tension the situation was having on their marriage.
After John and Emily completed their initial intake
interview, Triangle Family Services immediately began
to mobilize a variety of resources to help stabilize
the family’s financial and housing situation.
After a careful review of their budget, their credit counselor determined that
the family could meet their financial obligations if they consolidated their
bills into a single monthly payment though our Consumer Credit Counseling Program,
got caught up on their rent payments, and found a way to pay their medical
bills. TFS negotiated lower interest rates with each of their creditors to
significantly reduce their total monthly obligations; the agency also provided
a 10-month interest-free loan to eliminate all payday debts that John had accumulated.
The family enrolled in our Emergency Housing
Assistance Program and received nearly $1,500 in
financial assistance to get caught up on their rent
and medical bills. Their case manager contacted their landlord and stopped
the eviction process, thereby removing the threat of homelessness. Over the next couple
of months, our staff continued to make home visits to help the family restructure and maintain their budget, identify
additional community resources to help pay for Sarah’s medical and prescription
drug expenses, and to ensure that the needs of their other daughters are not
overlooked while the family focuses on Sarah’s medical situation.
John and Emily began meeting with
a therapist in our Mental Health Program to begin
repairing their marital relationship, which has suffered
during the past year. The couple learned how to talk with one another about
the many complex medical decisions they need to make for Sarah, and to deal
more effectively with the stress related to increased financial worries. They
also began working with their oldest daughter, Terry, who began to have severe behavior problems both at home and at school. And after meeting
with our psychiatrist, John began taking medication for depression – an
illness he had struggled with throughout his life, but never sought or received
treatment for.
Sarah’s situation continued to unfold. For
a time it seemed that she was not responding well
to treatment, but her condition seems
to
have stabilized. Doctors warn that difficult times remain ahead, but for now
they are feeling more hopeful and more equipped to care for her needs.
While this family will
likely need more support in the future, they are on their
way to overcoming the challenges they face and regaining control of their lives.
With the help they received through Triangle Family Services, they
avoided eviction from their home and possible bankruptcy; they gained
the skills needed to more effectively manage Sarah’s medical condition,
and they how to work – together - to provide a safe, healthy, and
nurturing environment for their children.
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