Social Workers are being recognized during Social Worker Month as being essential. This has been so true when it comes to our Social Workers here at EPCH.

Cancer does not care who you are, where you are from, and unfortunately does not care if you have the funding or not to fight it. Here at EPCH, we are challenged to ensure our patients get the care they need regardless of funding. We are truly grateful to have Social Workers to help with these challenges. Recently, we had a patient that came to EPCH after failed treatment in another country for her Cancer diagnosis. Her mom was desperate to seek better care for her child, so she came to EPCH. As a non-funded patient needing treatment, it becomes difficult to navigate the treatment plan due to cost. It took countless hours of work from our Social Worker Vanessa Escareno to get the help the family needed. The family applied for funding and the funding was denied. The patient, a citizen, could not provide proof of residency. Vanessa quickly jumped in, assisted the patient being enrolled in a local school district, and arranged to have her teacher come to EPCH to meet with her at the bedside during her treatment. Vanessa helped the family reapply for funding since our patient needed ongoing outpatient treatment. As a result of Vanessa’s countless hours working with the family, funding was approved.  The patient can now receive the best care and now have hope for recovery. This is a true HEART Story. The family still reaches out to Vanessa for guidance, which validates that Social Workers are truly essential.