Maria, shown here with family friend and interpreter, Jessica, makes regular appointments with Dr. Woodward to treat her thyroid condition.

Maria was afraid she wouldn’t be understood.

About a year ago, a friend told her about the Medical Care Mission. Maria felt sure she would qualify for services, but she doesn’t speak English and wondered if a language barrier would prevent her from receiving care.

When she arrived with an interpreter, Maria found that several of the Mission’s staff members speak Spanish and are able to translate should her own translator not be available.

“Everyone treats me so well here,” Maria said through family friend and interpreter, Jessica. “That’s why I like coming back.”

During the past year, Dr. Woodward has helped Maria treat her thyroid condition, which requires her to take a prescription pill every day. She says receiving treatment anywhere else just isn’t possible on the current household budget.

Maria has been unable to work since 2001. Her husband does his best to find enough work as a mechanic to pay the bills and care for Maria and their three children, but his income is not consistent. The children qualify for Medicaid, but Maria and her husband rely on the Mission for their own care.

“We have nowhere else to go,” she said. “We don’t have enough money.”

Barbara had no way to manage her diabetes.

She reached the point, 10 years ago, when she could not afford to see her endocrinologist anymore. She had been trying to manage her illness with diet and exercise, but she knew that she needed additional care.

That’s when her mother told her about the Medical Care Mission, and Barbara has been a patient of Dr. Stoebner’s ever since.

“Dr. Stoebner is very attentive and helps me monitor the medication that I need to work with my diet and exercise to keep my diabetes under control,” she said. “The care I receive here is better than at an other doctor’s office.”

In Dora’s 56 years of life, she has never had medical insurance, even while holding the same job for 16 years. In fact, she’s never seen a general practitioner.

Until now.

A couple of weeks ago, Dora was feeling dizzy and nauseated for days at a time. At the Trauma Center at Hendrick, she was referred to the Medical Care Mission.

“In a day or two,” she said, “I saw Dr. Stoebner here. He takes good care of me.”

And now Dora has peace of mind in knowing that she has established a relationship with a physician who is aware of her medical history and will see her at a rate she can afford.