Myra’s Story

I visited Myra at her home in Bristol on a beautiful October afternoon. She invited me in and introduced her beautiful cat and constant companion, Bug. "Like June Bug" she said. We sat and watched Bug play with a bag of treats and Myra began to share the journey that brought her to Healing Hands Health.

“I am who Healing Hands is here to help. I am why Healing Hands exists.”

To escape the chaos and pain of her past, Myra boarded a bus and headed to Bristol to start over. She found a place to live, secured a job and made Bristol her home. That was four years ago.  Myra is still employed by the same company but has never had health insurance through her employer. When she needed a doctor, Myra's supervisor shared that her husband was a patient at Healing Hands Health Center and suggested she call.

Myra came to Healing Hands with existing medical and emotional conditions that were exacerbated by social and financial difficulties. She was recovering from drug addiction and was still struggling with alcohol addiction and had been diagnosed with bipolar depression. After the initial appointment with her provider, she met with Brea to learn about the services available through a Community Health Worker. Myra had no idea how much those services would immediately impact her situation.

Myra had been seeing her provider for back pain and he was having difficulty identifying the cause of the pain. During a home visit, Community Health Worker Brea, noticed there was no furniture in Myra’s apartment. Myra explained that all of her furniture had to be thrown away because the apartment was infested with bed bugs. Brea began looking for furniture resources and later that evening delivered a bed for Myra to sleep on. Sleeping on the floor was the cause of Myra’s back pain.

Myra said, "Home visits provided through the Community Health Worker service at Healing Hands are so important. They can assess what others cannot see."

There was an occasion when Myra experienced a mental health crisis.  Brea conducted a wellness check and upon learning that Myra had run out of the medication she needed to manage bipolar depression, worked with her provider to get enough medication to last until Myra's next appointment with her mental health provider.

One weekend, Myra began experiencing numbness in her arm. She contacted her provider. He came to check on her and later admitted Myra to the hospital where she underwent surgery to have a stint inserted into a blocked artery.

“Healing Hands helped when I had a mental health crisis, a health crisis, needed a bed to sleep on, needed an advocate to negotiate difficult situations with the property owner. The entire team at Healing Hands makes me feel like I am their most important patient.”

Community Health Worker Brea with Myra