Silvia Garcia is a former intercultural elementary school teacher. Intercultural teaching establishes a more creative and healthy learning environment where students learn to accept and respect differences and work with and support classmates who are different. It’s beautiful to mesh cultures, understand how people live in other countries, and support those who integrate their customs and beliefs in a new place.

Teaching exposed Silvia to constant changes and challenges. Working with young children daily could be cumbersome, but it was nothing compared to her biggest obstacle – living without healthcare. The cost of medical insurance is just too expensive for her to afford.

Silvia is currently unemployed and hasn’t received any options to take care of the medical assistance she needs long-term financially. The high costs associated with insurance and out-of-pocket expenses are unfathomable, so much so that Sofia declined to go to the hospital after two car accidents. The car wrecks and the decision not to see a doctor have negatively impacted her health, but Sofia doesn’t feel like she has a choice.

Vision impairment compounds Silvia’s poor health. She has visited an optometrist, but the doctor’s recommendation was one she may never be able to see — a cornea transplant. The procedure would remove either the entire or partial thickness of the diseased cornea and replace it with healthy donor tissue. The process relieves eye pain and cloudy and blurry vision.

Silvia is making do with the vision and health she has to carry on. She couldn’t imagine going into more debt and adding more stress to the added financial burden. Silvia loved being a teacher, but unfortunately, most careers of passion that make a difference in the community often don’t offer much to live on, let alone save for the future. She longs for a healthcare system in Mississippi that will not only appreciate her contributions to the community but will step up and provide care simply because she’s a human being.