Health Services of North Texas Listens to You
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Tina Adams has a host of health problems: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoarthritis, and endometriosis. Juggling all of that and raising six kids on her own would be tough on any woman, but for Tina, it put her in a depression that was hard to get out of.
“I was going to the Christian Community Action in Lewisville…I was going every three months,” Tina says. “The doctor they had in there, I loved her to death. She listened to me and was understanding…but they closed [the medical side] down and I was like ‘where am I going to go?’”
Tina was worried that she wouldn’t be able to find another doctor that could listen to her. Her osteoarthritis, for example, wasn’t officially diagnosed until she was 30 years old, yet she had been in pain for years up until that point. Her endometriosis, a condition that is still not fully understood or curable, was written off as just worse-than-usual cramps.
“If you’ve got a woman doctor who doesn’t have any issues, she doesn’t understand what you’re telling her…[she’d say] ‘everybody has a period, big deal!’ And a lot of the doctors were men when I was growing up…try telling a man how bad these cramps are!”
When Tina started coming to Health Services of North Texas (HSNT), however, she found that she had nothing to worry about.
“My depression, we just started treating a couple of years ago, and Dr. Siegel has changed my medication just once since he’s been here. We just changed it at the first of the year and that’s made a big difference for me. Dr. Siegel is one of the best doctor’s you’ve ever had.”
Tina didn’t even realize that she had been getting care under HSNT when she first started. She had been taking her daughter to HSNT’s women’s health clinic at Medical City Denton and just didn’t make the connection until she saw one of the same providers at HSNT’s main clinic in Denton. Since then, she’s been amazed at the wide breadth of services HSNT offers.
“[I use] the Prescription Assistance [Program]…I was getting child support, but then my son’s dad got sick last August, so I applied for TANF. When I did that, that put me in a new bracket, and it also got me Medicaid…and that helped out because I was still paying for some of it before.”
Tina also sees Kayla Whitworth, one of HSNT’s licensed social workers, and says that Kayla has helped tremendously with her depression.
“[There are] a lot of doctors that don’t listen. You tell them that you’re in pain, and they think you just want pain meds…Dr. Siegel though, when you talk to him, he will track it down, try to find out what is wrong. He’s really determined to try and make it better…this is one of the best clinic’s I’ve ever been to.”
Struggling with depression? There are many different treatments available that can help reduce and shorten your symptoms. Your doctor or mental health professional can help you determine a treatment that works best for you and help you learn more about what depression is, what causes it, and who gets it. Some treatment options include:
- Therapy or Counseling
- Medication
- Lifestyle Modifications
Want to Help Make a Difference?
The care that HSNT provides to families and individuals like enables them to live with peace of mind, knowing that their health is in good hands. Give your neighbors a hand up with their healthcare.