Sen. Claire McCaskill joined grassroots leaders and staff from Missouri's GRO and Communities Creating Opportunities.
Yesterday, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, joined us for a news conference at the Dirksen Senate Office Building to discuss Caring Across Generations–Medicaid Matters.
Pictured above are, from left–
- Reverend Raymond Burns from Communities Creating Opportunities (CCO) a PICO affiliate based in Kansas City, and Joy Friedman, organizer with CCO;
- Fenny Dorsey from Mexico, Missouri whose granddaughter is wheelchair bound and Medicaid dependent. Fenny is the caregiver for her disabled brother with SSI, Medicare and Medicaid support.
- Joan Wilcox from Columbia, Missouri, whose only income is Social Security and whose husband died after struggle with cancer. She is grateful for Medicare and VA benefits coverage that allowed him to live a longer life and die with dignity.
- Senator McCaskill
- Jennifer Hill, GRO board member – recently moved to Delaware – daughter depends on Medicaid for her healthcare
- Robin Acree, GRO Executive Director
It was a good day for Missouri and health care and GRO was glad to be a part of it.
Without Medicaid, I would not have survived the catastrophic illness I had for two year in 2006 to 2008. I was stricken with a MRSA infection in my spine requiring 2 major surgeries a week apart, reconstruction of my spine, and one and one half years on Vancomycin with the addition of other IV antibiotics and Rifampin, an oral antibiotic. I had to learn to walk again, which was a triumph, because after the surgery I couldn’t even turn myself without the nurses’ help.
I was in the worst nursing home in Columbia. My PICC line (for the antibiotics) got infected once (I had a total of SIX!) and I had to sent to the ER immediately! There was a streak going straight up the vein towards my heart! One time my daughter and her husband came to visit came to visit me, and they found me almost unconscious. My daughter went out to get the nurse, and demanded that she call 911. The ambulance came for me, and I ended up in the Med-ICU for three days, where I slowly regained consciousness. After two more weeks on the floor, (they found a fracture in a weight-bearing part of my pelvis that was excruciating to try to walk on and put me on strict bedrest). The next six months I was determined to make it, regardless of what I had to go through. I had run out of room for PICC lines but still need my IV Vancomycin and Cephalosporin IV, so off I went to the hospital for. . .a POWERLINE! Like a central line but less likely to get infected. To continue treatment with the antibiotics and my bloodtest that indicated my level inflammation was coming down slowly! This is only the tip of the iceberg of the tests I went through to diagnose and treatment this awful, awful infection that had such a choke hold on me. Without my Medicaid, I don’t know if I would even gotten in the door. But would now be scattered over the Lake of the Ozarks, or sitting in an urn probably in my daughter’s closet. Please let Wall Street go! For once! For twice!
And my SSI? exactly what am I supposed to live on? You “public servants” should be ashamed of yourselves! I wasn’t always sick. I was a good nurse, a very good nurse. And then when I had to go no disability, I did a lot of volunteer work on the days I felt well to do so. And now you want to leave me on top of Niagara Falls in a barrel, while you watch, laughing from the shore?