Maria's Story
May 24, 2021For years, Maria Rodriguez had been overweight, depressed and in pain, and feeling anything but good about herself. The Holy Cross Health Center in Silver Spring changed everything. As with all of the Holy Cross Health Centers, Maria’s serves community members who are in financial need—whether, like Maria, they are enrolled in Maryland Physicians Care, a Maryland Medicaid health plan, or are uninsured.
From the start, Maria felt comfortable with her health center. It was close to where she lives, its staff spoke her language, and her care provider made her feel that “she had a real interest in helping me.” So when nurse practitioner Jessica Mikuliak told Maria she was pre-diabetic and had to lose weight, Maria listened. And when Holy Cross Health’s Diabetes Prevention Program educator Diana Echenique called to explain the program, Maria enrolled.
Over the course of the one-year program that was presented in Spanish and conducted at Holy Cross Hospital, Diana taught Maria portion control and how to replace higher-fat staples with low-fat alternatives, such as low-fat milk. Cardiovascular, resistance and weight exercises gradually became more strenuous over time.
Maria Rodriguez’s health risks have dramatically lessened because of the care she received at the Holy Cross Health Center in Silver Spring and through our Diabetes Prevention Program.
By the time Maria completed the program, she’d adopted a new lifestyle. Maria has kept off the 40 pounds she lost during the program, is pain free, and requires almost no medication. “I feel like a 15 year old. I can move faster and I have more energy,” she says, glowing. “I feel very well. I feel pretty.”
Partnering to Care for the Vulnerable
One of the largest safety-net providers in Montgomery County, Holy Cross Health focuses its diverse community benefit activities on the most vulnerable and underserved.
To bring more services to more people in our community who are in need, Holy Cross Health partners with a wide array of committed organizations. Together, we are:
- Providing medical care for uninsured, low-income residents as members of the Montgomery Cares consortium of clinics, hospitals, health services and volunteer practitioners. In partnership with Montgomery County and Primary Care Coalition.
- Offering HealthChoice coverage for qualifying Maryland Medicaid members through Maryland Physicians Care, a Medicaid managed care organization, partly owned by Holy Cross Health.
- Supporting Nexus Montgomery’s specialty care referral program, serving low-income, uninsured individuals who have been recently hospitalized. In partnership with all of the hospitals in Montgomery County and Project Access.
- Connecting students of nursing, pharmacy and social work with the health needs of complex patients at the Holy Cross Health Center in Gaithersburg. In partnership with the University of Maryland.
- Providing direct financial support to community members in financial need and to the
- Holy Cross Health Centers and programs that serve them. In partnership with the generous donors to the Holy Cross Health Foundation’s Kevin J. Sexton Fund to Increase Access and Improve Community Health, named for Holy Cross Health’s former president and chief executive officer.
The four health centers of Holy Cross Health provide affordably priced health care, including timely primary care, screenings, chronic disease management, behavioral health and wellness services, all with the goal of providing high-quality care and preventing the need for emergency care later. The first center opened in 2004, and in 2017 the health centers served 10,897 patients and provided 38,806 patient visits.