The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A worthy project that saves lives
Rafael Crespo is full of praise for “my angels,” whom he also calls “the girls at Project Access,” for lining up his intensive — and free — medical treatment of persistent cancer.
Crespo, 59, of New Haven, said if his doctors and the staff at Project Access-New Haven hadn’t worked together on his behalf, “I would have died.”
He greatly appreciates the expertise, attention and generosity of his doctors, who are based at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven and are part of Project Access’ network of more than 400 physician volunteers. But Crespo has a special affection for the women who set it up. “I love them dearly. I couldn’t re-pay them. They’ve given me a lot of strength going forward.”
Crespo is just one of about 1,800 patients enrolled in Project AccessNew Haven, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing increased access to medical care and services for underserved people in Greater New Haven.
A neighbor of mine, Dr. Peter Ellis, board chairman for Project Access-New Haven, has been telling me about this worthy effort for many months. Recently, the staff found a patient willing to talk about his medical condition and be photographed. Crespo is not shy.
In his email to me earlier this year, Ellis said Project Access-New Haven “enables patients without health insurance, with a serious medical condition, to obtain urgent specialty care at no cost.”
Ellis added “At the heart of the organization are specialty physicians who donate medical care at no charge and patient navigators who help acutely ill patients who live in New Haven or surrounding towns to navigate our complex medical system.”
Those navigators are the “angels” in Crespo’s eyes.
Ellis contacted me when President Trump was trying to persuade Congress to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act. Ellis, at that time, noted we didn’t know what would happen with this effort. But he added, “our ‘safety net’ that relies on physician good could become increasingly valuable in our local community.”
Although Congress did not overturn the ACA, last week, Trump signed an executive order clearing the way for potentially sweeping changes in our health insurance system. There would be fewer benefits and protections for consumers than those mandated under “Obamacare.”
And on Thursday, the Trump administration cut off crucial Obamacare subsidies that help reduce health care costs for lowerincome Americans.
When I asked Crespo what he thinks about Trump’s health care moves, he replied, “Mr. Trump is a businessman. I believe he will always do very well in business. But you can’t run this country like you were running your business.”
“Barack Obama tried to help the people who had never had medical benefits,” Crespo added. “President Trump has different beliefs. He has never wanted, he has never needed. He’s a billionaire. Unfortunately, the rest of the U.S. is not in his situation.”
Crespo said many people in the New Haven area badly need an organization like Project Access-New Haven, which began in 2009, based on a model implemented in more than 150 communities across the country.
“A lot of people like me are in a bad situation,” Crespo noted. “Without Project Access, they would literally be left on the side. In a country as rich as ours, nobody should be dying for lack of medical help.”
When I met Crespo last
Tuesday morning at the second-floor apartment he shares with his wife, their 9-year-old son and Crespo’s mother-inlaw in the City Point neighborhood, he didn’t look like a sick man. But during our interview, he was coughing a lot. “It’s because of my lung,” he said.
Crespo has cancer on his right lung and on his left kidney. “They took out the cancer I had in my bladder. They say I have a rare cancer.”
But he stressed his case is not terminal. “Not yet, thank God.”
Last Thursday, he and one of his doctors came up with a game plan: starting chemotherapy and radiation treatment Oct. 23. “It’s a good prognosis. It’ll take a little work.”
The cancer was discovered about 90 days ago. He had come down with pneumonia and a doctor recommended a CT scan. “He saw a dot on my chest,” Crespo said. A biopsy was done and it revealed the cancer.
In order to be eligible for Project Access-New Haven, a patient must be referred there by a health care provider. When Crespo’s doctor alerted that organization, its “angels” met with him and determined he qualified for the program because of his urgent medical situation, low income and lack of medical benefits.
Crespo said he was a police officer in New York City for 15 years, then moved to New Haven in the 1980s. He said he did maintenance work for the city of New Haven for nearly 20 years before retiring. But he said the city suspended his medical benefits because of a dispute over his qualifications.
Crespo called the past couple of months the toughest of his life. He spent six weeks in the hospital. He recalled being rushed to the emergency room because “I started coughing up blood. I notified the girls (his “angels”) and they immediately went to work. They said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’”
Clearly, he’s happy to be back home. He proudly showed me around his home, which is full of family photos and model ships with big sails. “I collect toys,” he told me. “These are my boats. After all, I live in City Point.”
(For more information on Project Access-New Haven, go to www.pa-nh.org).