Sylvia Rauch and her husband Ted were used to doing without health care. She gave up her private health coverage when it got too expensive; he was denied due to a pre-existing condition. They made do with hospital visits when something was serious. But things got a lot more serious earlier this year, when Ted started walking strangely and losing weight. Then his vision deteriorated. Suddenly he couldn’t drive. “He had diabetes and we didn’t know how serious it was. It was affecting his vision. His eyes were bleeding. It got to the point where we were desperate,” said Sylvia. (Sylvia and Ted’s names have been changed at their request to protect the family’s privacy.) Ted’s mother called Puente Safety Net Manager Lorena Vargas de Mendez. When she met with the couple, she knew she needed to act fast. Normally, getting someone enrolled in Medi-Cal takes between 45 days and 6 months. But Vargas submitted a personal request for expedited processing. She was able to back up her request with a statement from Karen Hackett, a San Mateo County Public Health Nurse who has an office at Puente. Hackett was available to examine Ted on short notice, and free of charge. It worked. Ted’s Medi-Cal application was approved within a month, instead of 6 months. Ted had laser surgery on … Continue reading We were desperate: health care transforms a family