ORLANDO, Fla. — A new initiative is set to put millions of dollars into Polk County’s health care system.
It is set to help those who either don’t have insurance or are within a lower tax bracket.
Spectrum News set out to find families who could benefit from this and found Cristina and Justin Lively. They have six kids, one of whom was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer last year.
“I stopped working,” said Cristina Lively. “There’s appointments every day, hospital stays. I’m only home once or twice a week.”
Lively said her son Conner was playing video games with his cousins when they noticed a bump on his leg.
“I gave him aspirin for two weeks,” said Lively. “We went to the doctor after two weeks and they said you need to go get an x-ray; that day I got a phone call that he was diagnosed.”
Conner, who was 11 at the time, was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer called Osteosarcoma.
"Chemotherapy is rough," said Conner. "The hardest thing really is just not being able to go anywhere, but I make these videos for fun."
Conner showed off his TikTok account, which was full of fun, upbeat videos.
"I like to make these. Some are pictures, others are videos," said Conner. "I like to show people that even though chemo is hard, I can still do it."
Conner is currently being treated at the Nemours Children Hospital in Orlando. Lively said she stays overnight in the hospital room and Conner and his stepdad and siblings stay at the Ronald McDonald House next door.
“We already have kids that are on antibiotics, prescriptions daily,” said Lively. “He has to be on at least 15-20 medications.”
That’s where the new health care initiative for Polk County comes into play. County leaders invested just over $4 million into bridging the gap for affordable care. So, while this won’t pay for Conner’s chemo treatment, it will help with other needs.
“We have six kids. Anything helps,” said Lively. "Conner has been on chemo for a year. They asked me for $2,000 up front the other day and I had to tell them I couldn't do it."
A GoFundMe page to help with bills has been established. Click here to learn more.
The Polk County’s communication division released this information on the new efforts:
The Polk County Board of County Commissioners approved more than $4 million in funding for primary care, dental services and behavioral health services for Indigent Healthcare Services at a board meeting.
Two contracts with Central Florida Health Care, Inc., were approved:
1. To provide primary care services to eligible low-income county residents (total amount not to exceed $2 million annually).
2. To provide dental services to eligible low-income county residents (total amount not to exceed $1.5 million annually).
Additionally, the board approved the second amendment to the contract with Winter Haven Hospital, Inc., d/b/a Center for Behavioral Health, to provide behavioral health services (total amount not to exceed $1,022,625 annually).
Polk County’s Indigent Healthcare Services administers a local health care safety net program that is funded by a one-half cent sales surtax. This safety net – which helps underinsured and uninsured Polk County residents access health care – is critical. Nearly 37% of Polk County residents use Medicare/Medicaid and 11.5 percent have no insurance (per the 2020 census).
Primary care, dental services and behavioral health services are available for full-time Polk County residents who are uninsured or underinsured with an income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. For more information, contact Indigent Health Services at 863-533-1111 or visit https://www.polk-county.net/indigent-health-care.
GoFundMe.com, or any other third-party online fundraiser, is not managed by Spectrum Bay News 9 or Spectrum News 13. For more information on how GoFundMe works and its rules, visit http://www.gofundme.com/safety.