THE EMMY SAENZ FOUNDATION WELCOMES YOU

1-ON-1 WITH EMMY SAENZ FOUNDATION FOUNDER, Rosemary Bazan

Hello and thank you for visiting our webpage.

  I am Rosemary Bazan, mother of Emmy Saenz as well as Brijida Saenz-Worley and twins, Sarah Jane and Sarina Josephine. I am married to Michael Bazan.   I am also a two decade career paramedic actively working fulltime on a 911 ambulance until 2022.  

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Michael & I decided to found Emmy Saenz Foundation a few months after Emmy passed away, to have a living memorial in her memory and as a advocate for others in similar situations such as what we had experienced. 

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We faced many obstacles from insurance issues to medical equipment issues as well as issues of even being approved for basic daily care items that were not readily available to us without having to jump through hoops.  Time after time, we found ourselves having to fight for every single thing Emmy needed to sustain a healthy, happy daily life as a quadriplegic.  Even with 3 commercial insurance policies in place at one point, we were still getting denials for supplies such as catheters and durable medical equipment.  The frustration was unreal.  I was beside myself with what it was costing our family out of pocket to cover expenses I felt insurance should be covering.  Not to mention the HUGE cost of having to make our home handicap accessible for Emmy.  Every aspect of the house needed some kind of change from removing carpet, to widening doorways, gutting restrooms to make away for a roll-in shower stall.  And who thinks about changing faucets to Sensor faucets?  I did!  Including Sensor soap dispensers.  Guess what, NONE of this is covered by insurance or even your homeowner's policy.  There is a state funded agency that we were on a waiting list for, but it was only going to cover a wheelchair ramp (which we didn't need).  I could no longer bear the thought of anyone else having to go through these struggles but as I reached out to other families in similar situations, I found that they too had been experiencing the same issues.  I prayed about this situation and just knew in my heart that we needed to be the voice for our community, for others with SCI and TBI's.  My dream is to build a network of strong advocates who have the same passion and drive to really make a substantial difference in people's lives.    

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Thank you for the opportunity to share my heart with you.

~ Rosemary Bazan