Christy Perez says she lost all hope until two programs from Travis County Central Health came along. She says they saved her life.

AUSTIN, Texas — Fifty-three-year-old Christy Perez had a dream of someday travelling the country with her Great Dane in her remodeled school bus.

But her work on converting the bus into a home on wheels came to a stop last year when Perez was diagnosed with cancer.

She couldn’t afford her health insurance to treat her illness and had to cancel it. But just when things looked bleak, she met someone who told her that there was a way to get help.

“Somebody said, ‘Hey, I have a program that might help you,’” Perez recalls. And I said, ‘OK, what’s that?’ And they’re like, ‘MAP, the Medical Access Program.’ I was like, ‘OK.’ So, I went up there and I checked it out and applied for it, and within 10, 15 minutes I had insurance. And it was paying for my chemo and my radiation and my trips up and down there while my car was broken down.”

The Medical Access Program known as MAP is a Central Health coverage option for people with low income.

Central Health is Travis County’s taxpayer-funded hospital district. The district seeks to provide a high-quality healthcare system with care and coverage for Travis County residents who are low income, uninsured or underinsured.

Central Health also supported Perez with palliative care. Not to be confused with hospice care, palliative care is supportive care for people living with serious illnesses. Perez’s palliative care was focused on treating symptoms, pain and stress.

“We are a medical specialty that works in cooperation with other specialties to improve quality of life and symptom burden in patients going through serious illness, and we provide emotional support to families,” Dr. Brooke Wagen, palliative care physician at Central Health said. “With palliative care and a person who is their partner, they feel less alone and more hopeful, more engaged in care and like they’re not adrift in this sea of overwhelm. Like, there’s a safe place.”

With resources through Central Health, Perez said she is hopeful her life will return to normal.

“A year and a month ago, I went on an end-of-life tour,” Perez said. “I went to see my loved ones so that I could say bye because I thought I was going to die. I was ready to give up, but MAP saved me.”

Perez received some good news recently: Her cancer is in remission.

There are more than 170,000 Travis County residents that the Central Health system serves each year. You can get more information online at centralhealth.net.