Recently I tested positive for COVID-19. I am 69 years old. I feel the Providence Health Care system failed me. I got my results too late to call my doctor’s office on a Friday. So I called in the morning, since they were open on Saturday. My call went to an answering service, which said sometimes they don’t take the phones off. The answering service took a message. Not wanting to wait, I contacted urgent care, which my doctor recommended if they were not available. I was told I first had to be evaluated, which meant waiting for an appointment. I was blessed to have a neighbor who is a PA, who suggested I call for the monoclonal antibodies. I did this immediately when I got my results that night, and they responded within an hour or less. The lady who runs the program explained to me everything I needed to know and told me they were open Saturday. She took my name and said someone would call me back. They did the next morning and I got my treatment.
I never heard from my doctor’s office until 5:23 p.m. on Saturday. The nurse said the same thing: Go to urgent care. Urgent care closed at 7 p.m. Now, there is a timeline for the antibody treatment: the sooner the better. I was on top of it. Yet the doctor’s office seemed to not care, dumping me to urgent care instead of the doctor on call to write a prescription. A 10-minute virtual appointment would have been all it would have taken. I didn’t even get a phone call telling me they couldn’t see me until it was too late.
My neighbor was here for me, thank God. The staff and the women from the infusion center were there for me. These were the people who cared — not the ones I pay to see. I sincerely thanked them and was told they are closing due to lack of funding at the end of June. Yet our state is one of several that have high COVID rates now. This treatment helped me so much. I am asking others to talk to our senators or representatives to continue to fund this center. We need it now, since we can’t rely on the offices we pay for care.
— Barbara Barrett
Anchorage
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