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Story Collective

Now is your chance to tell your own story about how you use Medicaid to keep you and your family healthy.

Helen

Helen

Helen is a very busy mother of three children (ages 10, 8, and 2 years old). She has big plans, a big heart, and the ability to make all her dreams come true. Not everything is easy. She has a few health problems which she working to get resolved. They leave her exhausted, but she laughingly acknowledges that parenthood also leaves her exhausted, so she just gets through everything as best as she can. She loves her children dearly and realizes that life isn’t perfect or easy – but you can always figure it out with the right information and a lot of support.  

Helen is working hard to make a good life for her little family by going to college, studying hard, and making sure she creates balance and fun by prioritizing family time. She likes to take her kids on walks and is lucky to live in a city with a lot of safe, well-marked walking trails. They love the peace that comes from being together in the great outdoors, and her children have come to love the beauty they find in nature.  

Helen’s life seems idyllic, and in many ways it truly is! But much of what they have is thanks to her watchful eye. When Helen noticed her daughter was falling behind, developmentally speaking, she wasn’t shy about getting her some help. It was around this time she discovered the *"Elizabeth Richardson Center”, the most comprehensive provider of disability services in Northwest Arkansas. Eventually, all three of her children would end up receiving services from the Center, and these services were life-changing! Each of her children received highly individualized services from experts who worked with them in the Early Childhood Program. Helen’s children were able to get specialized treatment (e.g., speech therapy, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, etc.). All she had to do was get a referral for therapy from her child’s Primary Care Physician, select an in-network place, take her child in for an evaluation, and (voila!) her children received the services that they needed over the years. How does she pay for these extra services? She uses Medicaid. Regarding Medicaid, she has only one thing to say, “I absolutely love Medicaid!” 

Helen feels like everyone is on her side when it comes to creating a good life for herself and her children. While her older children are in school, her youngest attends preschool at the Elizabeth Richardson Center. This is when she finds the time to attend college classes that can help make her dreams come true. She is very grateful and acknowledges the wonderful support she receives from her own mother in caring for her children. Without her mother, the Elizabeth Richardson Center, and Medicaid, Helen knows that life would be much more difficult for her and her children.  

 

*The Elizabeth Richardson Center (ERC) is the most comprehensive provider of disability services in Northwest Arkansas. The Early Intervention Program serves children from birth to kindergarten. Therapies are provided by a certified teacher and developmental specialist to help each child reach their developmental milestones and to help parents participate in the development of their child. 

* Stock Photo Credit: https://www.ercinc.org/history.html 

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