SAVING A FOOT, RESTORING A LIFE
Earlier this year, Dr. David Wolf was on a mission to save patient Miguel Navarro’s foot. Struggling with uncontrolled diabetes, Navarro came into CHRISTUS St. Mary’s Clinic with an ulcer on his foot. “Initially, he didn’t think the ulcer was that bad, so he continued to work, and it got worse,” Sister Rosanne Popp, M.D., Medical Director at CHRISTUS St. Mary’s Clinic, said. The foot was at the point where in most cases his leg would have been amputated. “Anywhere else, they wouldn’t have even tried to save the foot,” Dr. Wolf said. “A patient who has an amputation has a 30% chance that in five years the other leg will be amputated. A lot of these folks are underserved and don’t have anyone to advocate for them. Thanks to St. Mary’s Clinic, they do.” Dr. Wolf secured vascular surgery on the foot, as well as tissue donations to regenerate the growth - all free of charge. In four to six weeks, Navarro will be able to return to his job as a landscaper. “I am very thankful for everything Dr. Wolf has done.”
CATCHING SILENT KILLERS
With the easing up of Covid, CHRISTUS Healthy Living Mobile Clinics reinstated health screenings in January for those most in-need in the community. The screenings cover blood pressure and glucose and lipid panels. The Mobile Clinics are seeing many patients with very high blood pressure, often requiring medical intervention. During a March visit to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, the team encountered 63-year-old Norma,* a patient with extremely high blood pressure. “She said that she was on medication at one point, but didn’t feel any different, so she stopped the medication,” Laura Clay, Mobile Clinics RN, said.
The team took the time to educate Norma on what it meant to be asymptomatic, and the reason why these conditions are called silent killers. “We immediately sent her to St. Mary’s Clinic where they worked her into the day’s schedule,” Clay said. “She was prescribed new blood pressure medication and was even given a gift card to fill the prescription.”
The team followed up with her, and she was thankful for the service. “Norma said no one had ever cared enough nor treated her the way the CHRISTUS team did,” Clay said. “She said ‘God sent angels to save her’.”
*not patient’s real name
Through your support, we are caring for those who fall through the cracks of the cracks. Those who are essential to the progress of our great city. Those whose good health helps us be a stronger Houston.
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