Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera is helping rally support for a 31-year-old mother who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury this Summer and is now at risk of losing access to the intensive rehabilitation care she needs to walk again.
Viera urged the public and state leaders to help support Kristina Andrews, who fell from the fourth floor of her Tampa apartment building, in a video posted on social media last week. The accident left her paralyzed from the chest down with severe orthopedic injuries. Andrews had no health insurance, and is one of 27 million Americans who Viera said remain uninsured.
“She is working on a dream,” Viera said in the video. “A dream that she cannot afford … just living a life where she can be a mom and hold her daughter again.”
Andrews spent a month in Tampa General Hospital and has qualified for Medicaid, but the program does not cover the specialized rehabilitation she receives at NeuLife Rehabilitation in Mt. Dora to regain mobility. There, she undergoes daily physical therapy and electrical stimulation therapy aimed at reorganizing neural pathways, the only possible route toward recovering movement in her legs.
Without Medicaid coverage, Andrews faces discharge to a 24-hour nursing facility that does not offer the same intensive therapy, Viera said, putting her long-term recovery at risk. Staying at New Life costs roughly $1,000 per day.
Viera is calling on state leaders to approve Medicaid coverage for that type of rehabilitation, saying Andrews’ case highlights a wider gap in care for Floridians who experience catastrophic injuries without adequate insurance.
“There are too many of our fellow Americans who suffer a terrible illness or tragedy and either have no health insurance or inadequate health insurance,” Viera said. “If we take care of our own, then we should make sure women and men like this good person here get a pathway back to dignity.”
Andrews said she has accrued more than $1.5 million in medical debt from her hospitalization and has spent months advocating on her own by contacting charities, state officials, sports teams, and community leaders in hopes of securing help. Her 3-year-old daughter, she said, remains her driving force.
“I want to be able to stand and walk with her,” Andrews said. “It’s me and her in the end.”
Viera encouraged residents to contact state leaders on Andrews’ behalf and to support her ongoing fundraiser, which he linked from his video. Andrews said any assistance helps extend her stay at New Life, giving her a chance to continue the only treatment that could restore her independence.
“She needs your prayers,” Viera said. “But she also needs a system that does not give up on her.”