Trinity, Fla. — Maria Johnson is all about the color pink.
“Did you forget to wear pink today?” she said to a friend at the West Pasco Business Association get together. Almost everyone in the room was wearing some type of pink, because Johnson had asked them to.
What You Need To Know
- Maria Johnson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020
- Johnson said that Premier Community Healthcare in Pasco County helped get her care, and connected her to resources to get insured
- By April 2021, Johnson was cancer free
She loves this job — connecting people in the business community to one another. But her job, like many jobs out there, doesn’t come with a health insurance benefit. So for several years, she lived without it.
“In my personal case, it is expensive, and I just chose not to have health care,” said Johnson. “It’s a little bit of a gambling process when you do that, because if you don’t have it and you need it, then you can get in a lot of trouble.”
Trouble came in 2020, when she went to Premier Community Healthcare and was urged to get a mammogram done.
That mammogram showed signs of cancer.
“I really didn’t know what to do. It is a scary situation. Obviously, the diagnosis is super scary, but I am going to promise you, when you don’t have insurance, that is even scarier.”
Fortunately for Johnson, Premier is used to helping people who don’t have insurance.
“Premier Community Healthcare, the first thing they did was guide me to the breast and cervical program in Pasco County, throughout health department,” said Johnson.
Then the Pasco Health Department helped get her on emergency Medicaid. A good thing too, because by December 2020, Johnson had an official diagnosis — she had breast cancer.
She had to get a lumpectomy done and then did radiation in 2021. By April 2021, she was cancer free.
“I am proud of myself,” said Johnson with tears in her eyes. “It is hard to know that, I was given a really, really hard diagnosis. And I am proud that I did it.”
Johnson still goes back to Premier for checkups. The nonprofit health system serves Pasco and Hernando counties, and said 78% of its patients are uninsured or use Medicaid.
Physician Assistant Theresa Christmas said she often sees the worry on people’s faces when they think they won’t be able to afford care.
“Oh my gosh, it is almost like they are carrying their shoulders up here, and I am like, ‘Don’t worry about it, we can get you a mammogram for free, or we can get you the medicine for $1.99 or free,’” she said. “Their shoulders just drop and they are like, ‘Good, thank you so much.’”
Johnson said she felt just like that — grateful some helped her in her time of need. She often says Premier, and those other services, saved her life.
“I could not do it on my own, especially when you are going through treatment. Especially when you are going through the unknown,” said Johnson.
Her future is known now. She will be getting yearly mammograms, and she is on a treatment plan to hopefully help her stay cancer free.
Premier is one of Florida’s 52 Community Health Centers, or FQHCs. FQHCs help the medically underserved across the state of Florida, seeing over 1.6 million patients a year.
In 2021, Premier helped over 112,000 people. Ninety-seven percent of those people reported incomes at or below the poverty level.
“All the time we are trying to fix a bigger systemic problem with the health care system,” said Christmas. “It sometimes feels like never ending, and exhausting, and having Maria to come back, and other patients like her to say, ‘Hey, you know you were able to fill a need that I couldn’t meet myself, and this is what happened. And if I hadn’t done this, then it would have been a lot worse.’”
Johnson and Premier encourage women to get their yearly mammogram at age 40, and each year after.
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