By Angela Marshall
Jones has been laid up in a hospital for more than three weeks, recuperating from a diabetes-related infection.
Like most families, Sarah and her husband, Booker, would rather keep their finances to themselves. But their inability to find insurance for Sarah has forced them to set aside such preferences as hospital bills climb by the thousands of dollars every day.
The Methodist Church does not have insurance programs for their secretaries and despite searching for two years, St. Mark's Pastor Roger Johns has been unable to find a group insurance plan that would cover Sarah. It just makes me sick, he said.
Booker, a longtime bus driver in the Five Towns, cannot add his wife to his insurance. And the only plans he could find to cover Sarah charge $300 or $400 a month, more than the couple can afford.
Sarah tried to be careful and to treat herself whenever possible to avoid trips to the doctor. That's what she did almost six weeks ago when she stepped on a tack she tried to treat it herself.
But an unattended sore on a diabetic is like a snake bite. It goes through your entire system, according to Dorothy Zaiser, a longtime parishioner at St. Mark's. Zaiser delivered a speech praising Sarah during the staff appreciation service.
She is her pastor's right hand man and our pastor's right hand man, Zaiser said. We hope she will be with us for many years to come and we never have to replace her.
Sarah and Booker of Inwood attend the First Baptist Church of Lawrence, where she is on the Board of Trustees and active in many church activities.
Booker said he visits his wife every day at Peninsula Hospital. One of her toes had to be removed, but Booker is thankful doctors did not have to remove her foot.
He doesn't know how much longer she will have to stay in the hospital, but Booker said, Her spirit is good.
As though Sarah's illness and the family's finances weren't problems enough, their emotions had already been stressed by ongoing uncertainty concerning their son, Anthony, who suffered cardiac arrest during a severe diabetic attack. He was without oxygen for a period of minutes and has been in a coma for almost a year. This has weighed heavily on Sarah, Pastor Johns said.
Pastor Johns began looking for ways to help the Jones and hopes others in the community will make donations to offset Sarah's medical treatments.
Booker expressed his gratitude for the support and his respect for Pastor Johns, saying he has known him since the minister joined the church.
Sarah has been the secretary of the church for 11 years and is known by many of the parishioners for her array of exotic hats.
We wish you a complete and speedy recovery, Sarah, Zaiser said. We need you back here among us.
Donations can be sent to St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 200 Hempstead Ave. Rockville Centre, 11570. Checks should be made out to St. Mark's UMC and should say that they are designated for Sarah's medical bills. For more information, call (516) 766-2080.
