‘Why did I choose UC Davis Health for my health care needs?’ is such a loaded question, because at first I didn’t. I’ve worked for the health system for over 17 years and have always been a patient of another provider in the community. My husband and daughter have preexisting health conditions, so for continuity of care we’ve always stayed with our long time provider. However, all of that changed for my family and I in 2019 when I was diagnosed with a very rare autoimmune disease called Amyloidosis. Our care provider was great, but when things went south for me the care wasn’t up to par.

Before my diagnosis was uncovered, I was hospitalized numerous times and met many road blocks with my provider. I was constantly under extreme stress and felt like I wasn’t being supported by my health care team. At one point in time, I was even told ‘this is all in your head.’ But I knew something wasn’t right. I had put forth second appeals to be seen by other specialists but each time they were denied. It was made very clear that my health care provider just didn’t want to listen to me.

Then employee open enrollment began, and I finally decided to make the switch to UC Davis Health.

My care since has been exceptional. UC Davis Health doctors support me, listen to me, and care for me like I am family. They use science and evidence-based practices to help me, and that alone is very comforting.

I credit a lot of my providers for helping me through my health care journey, including: my primary care provider Dr. Shimatsu who has looked comprehensively at my diagnosis and ensured I’m getting the referrals to specialists that are appropriate for my condition; Dr. Christensen from the cancer center who has been pivotal in helping me understand my disease process; Dr. Albertson and his team for doing extensive work ups and pinpointing that my condition hasn’t affected my lungs (like my previous provider kept telling me); and my otolaryngologist Dr. Kuhn who has been amazing with helping me work through some of my upper airway and vocal cord dysfunction.

I am truly passionate about UC Davis Health as an employee and now a patient. It was here where I was finally relieved that I found my health care partners.

When you’re young you choose health care because it’s inexpensive, but as you get older or you or your family are hit with something that is so rare and unique, you realize you want to be at the best place possible.

You don’t know what you don’t know until you’re faced with something so critical, and then you realize that UC Davis Health is the only place in our region that can provide such specialized care.