There are many more heroes like the people mentioned in this article, and I see them in action in physician's office all the time, spending hours on the phone working to get the care and treatment coverage needed by their patients! It is not only the clerical staff, but the physicians as well involved on the phones, sending documented patient information and working to get the approval needed for the care of their patients. 
In many instances the patients are not even aware of the unsung heroes working to get the care needed, unless they have to involve the patient in the process, and then and usually then only does it come to the forefront of how much red tape and documentation and downright pleading and threatening in some cases is involved in the process. Sometimes its a process of getting the full treatment plan or drug required approved as it becomes a dickering match back and forth with only a partial approval initially of what the physician needs to complete the treatment plan for the patient.
One of the websites mentioned in this article is a site called NeedyMeds.com. I recommend this site for anyone needing information and links to other sites whereby solutions can be found. Hats off to all the Healthcare Heroes working hard for all of us patients! BD
PEORIA - Sitting in a fast food restaurant at the Wal-Mart where she works, Vickie Noll looked away to gain her composure as she talked about her ordeal running out of insurance coverage at the start of cancer treatment. Then she looked back head-on and silently mouthed the words, "I love him."She was referring to Dr. Paul Fishkin.
Her feelings are not just for the doctor but for the practice where he works, Illinois CancerCare, 8940 N. Wood Sage Road. "I felt like the insurance companies were telling me to go and die in the gutter," she said.
The founding doctors are prone to say the 31-year-old practice has never turned away a patient because of lack of insurance or means to pay. That's too astounding a claim to ring true until it comes from the voices of patients. There are four staffers at Illinois CancerCare who work full time looking for financial help for patients who can't pay for drugs or treatment. Noll was in regular contact with them about her situation, but the doctors, nurses and technicians never discussed her $95,000 unpaid bill or compromised her treatment.
"People think cancer clinics and drug companies are only out to make money, but most of the drug companies we work with have programs to help these patients," she said.
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