CountyCare Member Story

Homeless Man Feels He Has His Life Back Thanks To CountyCare Care Coordination

For Oliver Gray, 63, life has proven to have its challenges. For more than 10 years, he has been homeless. Oliver used to be a healthy person and stable in his job. In fact, he had a spacious house, where most of his family members used to live and for many years, he trained dogs for Chicago celebrities.

After he had a son 18 years ago with his girlfriend at the time, her family denied him the ability to see him, creating a legal battle that took seven years. During that time, Oliver suffered three heart attacks and a stroke. “Those were stressful times for me,” he remembers. He lost everything—his house, the opportunity to see his son and his job. He first saw his son when he was six months old and, after some time, was granted five years of visitation, one hour a week, to spend time with him. “My relationship with my son is still weak because I don’t get to see him as much. I recently went to see him at a football game about four months ago, and we hugged.” His son just started college in August of 2022.

Lonely and feeling hopeless, Oliver received a call last year out of the blue that changed his life. CountyCare’s Social Work Care Coordinator Samantha “Sam” Sota reached out to him as part of the services the health plan offers to its members. “I was in the hospital when Sam called. My heart was weak from my heart history. I lost a lot of strength and was using a wheelchair to help me move.” The two connected right away due to similar challenging environments they both experienced growing up. Since that call in 2021, Sam has been working closely with Oliver to make sure he has access to the care and support he needs. In fact, she even helped Oliver find a free bike to keep him active.

Sam joined CountyCare in 2019, and she is one of the many dedicated team members within Care Coordination who provides personalized, coordinated care to members to ensure they achieve the best outcomes. She is the first member in her family to attend graduate school. “It is a rewarding feeling to coordinate critical health care services for members, especially to those most in need, particularly in the most underserved communities. I can’t see myself doing anything else but this,” says Sam.

Care Coordinators play a critical role since they support members’ health care needs before these escalate into an emergency room visit, where costs can prove higher.

They:

• Schedule appointments with primary care providers and specialists
• Connect members to valuable resources as needed
• Support and educate members about aspects of their health
• Check medication status to ensure members follow their regimen

Prior to Sam working with Oliver, he was missing his medical appointments. Now, Sam makes sure she coordinates his medical appointments with doctors and specialists and reaches out to make sure he attends. During this journey, they have empowered each other. “Sam is amazing. She is a gem. I was in a bad psychological state when she first called me,” remembers Oliver. “She was an inspirational person who kept telling me that I needed to go back to the things I like to do.”

Since being a CountyCare member, Oliver has benefited from free medications to treat his high blood pressure, heart and asthma, transportation services to his doctors’ appointments, the expertise of specialists and dental offerings like crowns.

Nowadays, you can find Oliver doing street art, sculpturing and mentoring children on art skills and how best to train their dogs.

“I am grateful for CountyCare. I didn’t know these services existed. I appreciate getting my medications and transportation to my doctors’ appointments when money is tight,” says Oliver.

“The Creator has been good to me. You can’t sit around and cry. I am a fighter. It’s on you to do it,” says Oliver. “I am in pain but walk, my walk is a struggling one, but sexy,” says Oliver as he laughs.