By Sara Brown, CIS Program Manager, Grundy County High School
I was out helping in the parent parking lot after school when my walkie went off, “Ms.
Sara, are you still in the building? I have a student who needs help.”
I found the student, Lilly, and we started talking. She did not have health insurance and hasn’t had it since she was around 2 or 3 years old. She wanted to take a work-based learning class and one of the requirements was medical insurance. I told her not to worry, just ask some questions at home first and we will get to work in the morning.
We found out for sure there was no insurance, so we went online, and I helped her apply. A few weeks went by with no response. Then one day she found me and said, “Ms. Sara, look what came in the mail today!” She then showed me her insurance card. She was able to get into the work-based learning program and do her first interview for a job.
Not even two weeks after receiving her insurance card, she got hurt and had a pretty significant concussion. But, because she had health insurance, she had no out-of-pocket expenses.
She is continuing to recover from her injury and making progress every day. The school library is being converted into a STEM Lab, and Lilly and her classmates helped save some books, ensuring they were donated instead of destroyed in that process. She has a bright future ahead of her, having received college acceptances from the University of Tennessee Martin, Bethel, East Tennessee State University, King University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Tennessee Tech.
