Stories of Hope

Meet Yvette Hicks “the Vegetable Queen” and one of Community of Hope’s first patients to take advantage of our new Fruit and Vegetable Prescription program. The program provides fresh produce to Community of Hope patients on the Care Team with chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

In 2012, life was going great for Jeffrey Stewart. He had recently gained sole custody of his two sons, Alonzo and Romeo, and the family lived comfortably in an apartment in the city. Jeffrey’s job as a night shift cook allowed him the flexibility to spend time with his sons during the day. But two years ago, “everything just started going downhill with no breaks.”

In early 2015, newlyweds Elisabeth and Brian had started new jobs and were living with her mother to save money. But three months later, her mother passed away after a long battle with cancer. Life as they knew it changed for the young couple, who had only been married for three years.

Packing up and moving was all too familiar for now 24-year-old Angel. Since she was seven, she had bounced in and out of about 15 different foster homes in the city and Maryland suburbs. She says moving around was difficult as a teen, but she was comforted in knowing “there was always somewhere to go home to at the end of the night.”

For this Ward 8 grandmother, “family is everything.”

And in order to enjoy family, you’ve got to have health.

When Betty Jean got diagnosed with diabetes three years ago, she knew she had to make a change. “I needed to get healthy not only for myself, but for my family… to enjoy things like picking my grandbaby up from school.”

While Betty Jean has been in mostly good health, she was not unfamiliar with the disease: four of seven of her siblings, already have diabetes. Her eldest brother died after suffering from a diabetic coma.  

Imagine approaching your doctor’s office, worried over your child’s mysterious rash, only to be told that you won’t be seen because you are poor. For Abdissa, a 53-year-old Ethiopian refugee, he was surprised to find healthcare without hassle.

"In Ethiopia it's really terrible because without a certain income to pay for treatment, you can't get care," he said.

In Ethiopia, there’s no insurance and all costs are paid out of pocket. For a family of seven, even if they have money, they would skip care unless it was life threatening.

A complicated birth, domestic violence, and homelessness – Natasha Howard, a mother of three, has “seen it all.” But hope keeps her going.

A year ago, Natasha lost her home following a domestic dispute. She and her children – one with special needs and the other still a baby at the time – spent six weeks living in a motel room. They endured a cramped living space and noisy conditions. Natasha was ecstatic to soon find housing through Community of Hope’s Rapid Re-Housing Program.

“With a roof over our heads, we could be a family and do everyday things together.”­­­

By Jamey Burden, Vice President, Housing Programs and Policy

Five months ago, families facing homelessness would have to enter the overcrowded and expensive shelter system. Now, our city is equipped with a new intervention: the Homeless Prevention Program. The program, which was developed by the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness, is modeled from a New York City program.

When Carmen and her husband Mario walk into our Family Health and Birth Center (FHBC), they immediately feel at home. They know their way around the building and the staff knows them on a first name basis.

For 11 years this mother of six – soon to be seven – has been a patient at Community of Hope.  “Every time we come here for an appointment, I know I’m in the good hands of people who care about me and my children.”

A minor neck pain was a wake-up call for Steven.

The middle-aged father of two’s blood test revealed that there was far more going on.

“[The doctor] told me my blood pressure was extremely high,” said Steven, who learned after a visit to our Conway Health and Resource Center in December that he was at risk of a heart attack, diabetes and stroke. “She showed me what could happen to me if I kept up my lifestyle. I could die if I didn’t change.”