When Lorraine Sevigny moved to New Hampshire, she still had health insurance through COBRA from her previous job but had to stay in her HMO network. “I became ill about a month or two after I came up and I did end up going down to Massachusetts to see my doctor,” so that her insurance would cover the cost.
The two hour drive each way to visit her doctor took its toll her. “It makes you feel very disconnected from the community. I realized that this was going to have to change pretty quickly.” That’s when she found out about Good Neighbor Health Clinic, so she set up an appointment.
Hers was the sort of case that GNHC specializes in, finding affordable health care options for people with limited resources. After visiting their offices, Sevigny received more than a simple reference to a local health care provider. “They were willing to listen to my issues and direct me to the community help lines that were available to me to help me to get settled. It was like coming home.”
Sevigny has worked in the health care industry for decades in a hospital as well as at an insurance company, but was moved by the team of professionals at GNHC, “Everybody is there because they want to be there, they volunteer. And it is to make other people’s lives better.” She was so moved that once GNHC helped her to resolve her health care issues, she joined the staff as a volunteer, “to give back and be part of the good work that they do there.”
Sevigny says she is continuously reaffirmed about the work the clinic does simply based on the reactions of their clients: people in need of help, “they’ll come into the offices in tears and leave with smiles.”
