Loretta Medellin didn’t think much of the small blister that formed on her foot as she danced the night away at her daughter’s wedding. The high-school Spanish teacher and mom of two assumed it would heal in a few days.
But it didn’t. That small blister would turn things upside down for Medellin, who soon couldn’t walk. She took medical leave from her job, then lost her job and then, unable to keep up with mortgage payments, lost her home.
Medellin eventually got on Medi-Cal, California’s public health insurance funded by Medicaid. Determined to avoid amputation, she found care in Alameda and started going to weekly appointments at the Creedon Advanced Wound Care Center.
Medellin’s story is the first featured in a new monthly column provided by Alameda Health System and appears monthly in the Alameda Post. Read the full column here.