The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation

Doug Paquette

Doug was evaluated by the surgical team in New Hampshire and they agreed that Doug’s best chance for survival would be high-risk surgery. They felt he would be best treated in a center that had expertise in the management and surgical correction of patients with complex congenital heart disease, and after careful investigation and research by Doug and his family, they decided to follow the recommendations of the New Hampshire team and pursue help at the Tufts Medical Center and the Floating Hospital for Children in Boston.

The cardiologists who specialize in congenital heart surgery and the cardiac surgery team at Tufts Medical Center were in agreement that Doug needed open heart surgery and they scheduled it for early June. Despite the urgent need this operation was cancelled at the eleventh hour due to the lack of medical insurance and the Medical Center encountered many obstacles in their attempts to get insurance payments from Medicaid of New Hampshire. Even though the state of New Hampshire does not have the resources to treat patients with complex congenital heart disease, they steadfastly denied to pay for his care elsewhere. Doug’s insurance quandary was further complicated by the fact that his medical condition prevented him from getting a job where he would have had the benefit of medical insurance. He truly was in a seemingly untenable situation. Without successful surgery, he could not work; without work he could not undergo an operation to treat his life-threatening condition. These unfair inequities in our health care system unfortunately create a plight faced by many in the current environment.

Fortunately for Doug and his family, the physicians and the administrators at Tufts Medical Center were genuinely committed to managing Doug’s health issues at all levels. With the assistance of the Development Office and using our personal contacts, we elected to seek the much needed support and assistance from The Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation. For many years Tufts Medical Center has called upon Mr. Tye and his Foundation to secure financial support for children and adults with congenital heart defects. After direct consultation with Tye’s Foundation, we received the necessary financial support to proceed with surgery. The cardiovascular team and the hospital administration were absolutely thrilled to hear this heartening news of the Foundation’s generosity. The Paquette family was even more thrilled.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 12:13 pm and filed under Spotlight.