Barbara: A Healthy Future

In her youth, Barbara led a happy, healthy life. But on a visit with her family to Poland, where she was born, her beloved father passed suddenly and everything changed in an instant.

“I was very close to my father,” Barbara says softly. “The loss of him was a terrible shock.”

She found herself having a severe nervous breakdown at just 21 years old. It left her hospitalized and in a coma, receiving ongoing shock treatments for a month. As soon as she was well enough to leave the hospital, her mother took her to America. Over the next decade, Barbara found herself hospitalized more than 40 times. The residual stress of her breakdown left her with terrible anxiety and sleep issues, each one compounding the other and resulting in hospitalization. It was a cycle that just wouldn’t stop, leaving her without her health, without income, and without a home.

“The doctors didn’t know what to do or how to help,” Barbara recalls. “So they introduced me [to Heartland Alliance].”

Over the months to come, her doctors transitioned her to Heartland Alliance’s medical team to get her safe, stable, and healthy. Before coming to Heartland Alliance, she was hospitalized eight times in one year. Since first receiving in-home medical care through Heartland Alliance, she hasn’t been hospitalized at all. To help her stay stable, her social worker, Derrick Davis, also helped her file for disability and connected her with a money management course. Now that she’s stabilized, Barbara is enjoying something that’s easy to take for granted – making plans for her future. A few months ago she realized one of them – saying goodbye to her visa and becoming an American citizen.

“I have to thank Mr. D for that,” Barbara says laughing. “He helped me file the forms so I could become a citizen and he quizzed me for the test. And he went with me to get sworn in!”

“I just wanted to see her through it all,” Derrick says, showing off pictures from the day of her naturalization. “She’s been successful because she’s worked so hard. She deserves this.”

How You Can Help

Donate » Help Us End Poverty

Heartland Alliance—the leading anti-poverty organization in the Midwest— believes that all of us deserve the opportunity to improve our lives. Each year, we help ensure this opportunity for nearly one million people around the world who are homeless, living in poverty, or seeking safety.

Please consider making a donation today to help others like Barbara.