Raves, rants and reality

It is that time of year when people are dealing with the dreaded flu and other illnesses. When you are sick, tired and weak, it makes everything in your life more difficult not to mention, emotionally stressful.

Thank goodness for the good and competent healthcare professionals at Kimball Health Services. Many of them are indeed amazing people with true compassion for their fellow humans who are dealing with anything from the common cold to cancer.

I want to RAVE about an experience I had at KHS this earlier this year. I had not been feeling well for nearly a month but with no specifics symptoms, I couldn’t justify getting an appointment. I finally broke down and went to see Holly Dubrinksi when, what I thought was a pulled muscle in my calf, refused to heal. Dubrinski was literally my life saver that day and after a series of tests and scans, diagnosed me with pulmonary emboli (multiple blood clots in my lungs). The recovery process was not an easy fix, however, as I had to go to the hospital twice a day for 17 days, having both my blood drawn and receiving a shot of warafin. Throughout the treatment, the medical staff was truly compassionate and considerate, taking upmost care with me when my tummy inevitably ended up bruised from hip to hip from the blood thinners. Even the lab technicians who drew my blood daily were gentle and considerate.

During this frightening time of my life, I was incredibly lucky to have health insurance. After the ordeal, my insurance paid over $15,000 to KHS for their care. Again, I am truly grateful for both the care and the insurance that allowed me to heal from what could have been my early leave from this reality.

My RANT this week is also about KHS, specifically the person in charge of collections. Now, I have not met every person that works at KHS, but I personally feel that this woman is quite possibly the most rude person that works in this great little hospital. Let me share some specifics, as I said before, KHS has already received over $20,000 from my insurance and when all was said and done I owed KHS around $1,500. At the time I was not making enough to live on, let alone pay that bill, so I was unable to make any payments for several months, something that literally ate at me on a daily basis. Once I started working here at the newspaper, I began, happily, making monthly payments to KHS. I set up a payment schedule with the amazingly sweet and compassionate woman who works at the front desk, Stephanie Shoup. I explained my situation and she has graciously and professionally received my payment every month since she set up my payment schedule.

Last month was a tough month for me as I came down with the flu in mid October and honestly, it’s still holding on over a month later. More than half of the days of last month I was too exhausted to do anything let alone go into a hospital -with a fever, to pay my bill. I did, however, manage to get my check there by Oct. 30 (a day before it’s due date), although Ms. Shoup was not there at the same time I was, so I left my dated check with another woman in the front office.

On Nov. 9 at 8:32 a.m. I received a very rude phone call from the collection woman at KHS insisting that I was going to be sent to collections for non-payment for the month of October. I tried to explain that I had been physically too ill to bring it in earlier in the month and also, that I had, in fact, made my monthly payment on the 30th. She refused to hear me, interrupted me while I was talking and threatened me with court action. To be clear, IF I would have missed the payment, it would have been the first payment I had missed since setting up the payment plan, yet this woman was so threatening and hostile she made it sound like I was a low life criminal.

The very next day, I received an unsigned form letter from KHS threatening to send me to collections for non payment in Oct. I took the letter to the hospital and talked with Ms. Shoup who was able to confirm that I had made payment on the 30th but that they had not deposited it until after the first of Nov. In my repayment plan, it specifically outlines that I need to make a payment by the end of the month. Although I clearly made payment on time, I was still called, a letter mailed and I was threatened with court action when I was actually within my repayment contract.

The REALITY is that I actually know of many, not several - many people who feel the same way as I do about the collections department of KHS. We are more than willing to pay our bills and I know that personally, I am grateful for the payment plan, as the other option is impossible for myself, but do we really need to be harassed and treated like criminals when we are in fact, not criminals? Is it not too much to ask that KHS employees be just as compassionate after care as they are during care? Although the health staff is incredible, the next time I need a healthcare professional I will be traveling out of town for that care. And yes, all because of one woman.