Local woman needs, deserves our help





Your story about Robin Josephson, Oak Park registered nurse who currently is fighting for her life due to breast cancer was interesting, but hardly as compelling as the lady I met while I was visiting a friend at the Oak Park Apartments. What was the point of running this story if not to impress upon the public the extreme lack of funds this lady lives with. All of her savings have run out.


A couple of Oak Park friends and her sister are all that she has. Her parents are both deceased and her husband has abandoned her with all of their assets since diagnosis and he is not in the United States. Her story is compelling, but I believe you’ve omitted some important points that make her story more compelling.


•She’d been stuck in Saudi Arabia for six months after she was diagnosed with cancer because she was too sick to travel.


•She only has money to pay for her apartment until the end of October and then her money runs out.


•The friend she once lived with (who you mentioned in your story) has been unemployed, is physically disabled and unable to care for her, so that’s no longer an option.


•Robin must live close to her sister so there is someone to help care for her. Robin’s sister and brother-in-law live at Oak Park Apartments.


•Robin isn’t eligible for disability payments because she worked out of this country as a traveling RN for too many years, despite the fact that she worked in Los Angeles prior to that for approximately 10 years.


•Even though she has worked full-time all her life, and originally got her job as a traveling nurse through a company advertising here in the U.S., the health insurance that she received as part of her employment won’t cover her in this country.


•Robin had successful back surgery that removed vertebrae due to cancer in her spine and replaced them with spacers. She now has trouble walking. She no longer is eligible for any more home health visits for physical therapy that she needs desperately.


•Robin is now receiving Medi-Cal for her health insurance. However, Medi-Cal does not pay for any of the scans needed to determine continued treatment, and they cost $2,000 to $3,000 every couple of months.


•Medi-Cal does not pay for certain medicines if they’re not on their particular formulary, even if those medicines would be more helpful for Robin and her doctors order them.


These are just a few things I learned after meeting Robin and her sister. Her story is compelling and sounds like a Hollywood movie, but this is real life in our little city. Despite all odds Robin Josephson still has a loving and giving nature.


We’ve all heard life isn’t fair and this is one example. It isn’t fair that someone who gave and gave all of her life—picked up and moved to a Third World country because there was a need for newborn intensive care nurses, despite the political ramifications of going there, just to help God’s children—should wind up not only with cancer but penniless.


And yet, if you knock on Robin’s door, despite the extreme pain and fear she’s experiencing from her plight, you can count on Robin’s little voice inviting you in and asking you, "Want something to eat or drink?" even though she may not be able to get it herself.


If anyone can afford to donate to help Robin Josephson, you’ll be investing in a life worth helping.


S. Niebloom


Oak Park



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