Missouri foundation for health
We teamed up with Missouri Foundation for Health to take the storytelling on the road for #TheNetBenefit and share people’s stories from across the State of Missouri. Here we highlighted what Missourians say they need to lead a healthy life – with the help of real stories from real folks about the importance of food, shelter, health care, and economic supports – and how taking care of our residents who need help most leads to stronger communities and a stronger state.
“To be successful in life does not mean that you make a lot of money. To be successful in life means that you did the right thing to help people. Sometimes you come in here and there’s tension. People are upset or mad. People have bad days. Our saying is, ‘What are we going to do today to help someone?’ Just one person. And if you can have that philosophy in your store, success is going to follow you. I had a cancer patient come in this morning. This person doesn’t have insurance. This person doesn’t have much money and can’t afford to spend a dime in our drugstore. But he doesn’t have to. God’s given me enough that I can give back. We pick patients up, take them to the doctor, and then take them back home. I hope other people do this. So, am I a safety net? I hope so. I hope Butler Drug Store is a safety net for a lot of people. And I think it is, or we wouldn’t have so many patients that keep flooding in here.”
(Portageville, MO)
“Mama right here found out she had breast cancer the very last week of December. My dad had just filed for his insurance in December, but it wasn’t approved until January first, so they called her cancer a pre-existing condition. It happened days apart, and they wouldn’t cover it for her. So she had to get Aflac and Blue Cross Blue Shield. But before that could kick in, she still had to get regular chemo treatments. She was going for her chemo treatments every two weeks in Memphis and Jonesboro where her doctors were. The doctors told my dad that he had to come up with $3,000 out of pocket every week before the insurance kicked in, or she couldn’t have the chemo. It gives me chills just talking about it. My dad’s a very prideful man. He doesn’t ask for stuff like that. But when it came to her, the whole family gathered and did what we could to make sure she got her treatments. Everybody came together to help her out. There were only two chemo treatments before insurance took care of the rest, but that was scary. Like, ‘If you don’t pay $3,000, she’s going to die.’ The bills were gigantic. They’re still paying for it, but the insurance did help. When something like that happens, it opens your eyes, and you learn you took things for granted that you shouldn’t have. Thank God, she beat it. She’s good now, but that was a rough time.”
(Greenville, MO)
“What do you think makes someone healthy?”
“A balanced diet. Being fit. And, mentally, having lots of compliments at hand ready to use.”
(Hermann, MO)
“The only hospital here is shutting down completely. But we need it. There’s so much crime in this town – shootings and stabbings and fights. And there are babies being born. I’m speechless.”
“So where will people go for healthcare?”
“Cape. Poplar Bluff. About an hour or more away. I’ve been here all my life. I’m 51.”
“Why do you stay?”
“Because my mom’s been here all of her life, and she’s not going anywhere. She had nine kids, and this is where all my family is.”
(Kennett, MO)
“Something I won’t eat? Sloppy Joes. I don’t like the name. I don’t like how they’re sloppy. And they don’t taste good.”
(St. James, MO)
“Pastor Meg and her husband, Brad, saw me and my wife come in there every day. When I first moved here, I had some money, but I couldn’t find a job. I spent all my money on motel rooms, eating out, going back and forth to St. Louis, and I went broke. We heard about an overnight shelter that you could go to during the wintertime from November to March, from six in the evening to seven in the morning. We did that for one year. When they found out that we were sleeping downtown, they walked by where we were to see for themselves. The next day we went to work, Pastor Meg asked my wife, ‘Would y’all like to move in downstairs? It’s got everything that you’ll need. There’s a restroom. Y’all can cook. There are two bedrooms.’ So we agreed. They let us stay at their place for free, but we ended up eventually moving into the Welcome Inn. That’s the cheapest motel out here at $165 a week. They even helped us out with rent there, too, because I didn’t have enough to maintain the place and get to the next payday. Brad said, ‘Don't worry about that. We got you.’ So for a time, they paid the rent at the motel for us. I found a job at the Broadway Hilton and tried to get my child support paid up. After that, we got a three-bedroom place, which is pretty good and where we’re at now. Everything worked out for the best. That’s what it’s all about – helping you turn your life around.”
(Columbia, MO)
“When I was growing up, it was always me and my mom as a single parent. She worked long hours. She worked all the time. It took a village. My grandparents filled in a lot. We have the strongest relationship. She lives three minutes away from me. I would never even think of moving unless I could pick her up and take her with me. When I was 19 years old somebody asked me what my favorite memory was with my mom. I said, ‘We used to have vegetable dinners.’ We had green beans, corn, and a bunch of vegetables. She had this blue dress with little white flowers on it, and I used to twirl around in it. So we dressed up and used to eat vegetables by candlelight. It was my favorite. We dressed up, ate dinner by candlelight, and watched Titanic on repeat because we didn’t have cable. When I was 19, I was telling the story to somebody, my mom was there, and she got tickled. She said, ‘We did that because we couldn’t afford meat.’ It just goes to show, you don’t have to have a lot to have a lot of love.”
(Hayti, MO)
“The third of the month is Overdose Day. They’ve gone without. They’ve used all their money up. And they’ve kind of gotten a little bit clean. So when they go to buy drugs, when their SSI and their disability checks come in, it hits them hard. And the calls come in: overdose, overdose, overdose.”
“The quality of the drug varies. They’ll get used to something and then the stronger stuff comes out.”
“And the last time they used, it didn’t do anything. They’ve been without for a week or a week and a half, so they double the dose.”
“Or lace it with something else. One time someone cut heroin with fentanyl, an opiate”
“They make these fentanyl patches, too, and people chew them or smoke them. They poke holes in the patch, lay it on aluminum foil, heat it, and inhale the vapors. That is an extremely strong high they get off of it.”
“I’ve seen people save their urine, let it dry out and crystalize, crush it, and resmoke it.”
“You can’t take care of those who don’t want to take care of themselves. I learned that a long time ago. You can just give them some chips, and a sandwich, and a bottle of water.”
“What’s your biggest need right now with the work that you do?”
“More help.”
(Poplar Bluff, MO)
“At the school district I was at before, during one of my worst years, one student had to have 13 teeth pulled because they were all abscessed. He constantly had a fever. I had him in first grade, and when I moved to second grade, I begged my principal to please let me keep him. I said, ‘He has so much potential.’ He didn’t have any running water at his house, so imagine when that child came to school. He had so many other outside factors affecting him that learning was near impossible until he was healthy. We had an amazing school nurse who found someone in town to do all the dental work for free and basically told the parents, well, his aunt, ‘You have to get him there. This is happening. And if you don’t, there will be consequences.’ His mom ended up going to jail, and his dad ended up dying during in those few years. My husband and I agreed that we would foster him, if he was going to be put in the system, and our school nurse was going to take his sister. Collectively, together, we all worked to help this family. He fell in between the ages of my kids, so we sat down with our two children because we had to let them know he might come live with us for a while. My son gathered up a bunch of his clothes, and we gave it to somebody else to give to him because I didn’t want anybody to see that I was sending them home with him. But, of course, he would show up to school wearing them, and I thought, ‘Good! He’s got some new clothes.’ His grandparents ended up taking him, the last I heard. He was so sweet. I will say, one thing I miss about public education is fighting for that underdog. The ones where, when they came to school, you were the only one who sometimes could help them feel that they truly were loved.”
(Cape Girardeau, MO)