When Care is Miles Away - Patient Assistance Program
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
“The fight goes on,” Matt says.
For more than a decade, those words have guided him through a long and difficult journey with heart disease.
Matt Guiffre’s, long time St. Peter’s Health patient, health challenges began in 2013 when he suffered his first heart attack. What followed was open heart surgery, a mitral valve replacement, and years of ongoing cardiac care. Last July, his defibrillator shocked him again, a reminder that his heart condition remains something he manages every day.
Along the way, medical care has meant frequent appointments, procedures, and follow up visits.
For Matt, the challenge has never been only the medical care itself. Living outside of town means every appointment requires planning, transportation, and the cost of getting there. Some of his care now requires travel to Missoula, turning a medical visit into hours on the road.
At times, simply getting to the care he needed felt uncertain.
That is when the team at St. Peter’s Health stepped in.
Colette Murley, a community health worker, helped Matt navigate resources when he did not know where to turn. When appointments required travel, she helped arrange gas cards so he could make the trip. When specialized care meant traveling to Missoula, assistance was arranged to ensure he could get there and return home safely.
Without that support, Matt says his situation would have been very different.
“There’s no way I could have done what I did without you guys,” he says.
The logistics of managing his health can be overwhelming. Between appointments, treatments, and living with heart disease, transportation costs created real barriers to care. Support from the Patient Assistance Fund helped remove those barriers so Matt could stay connected to the care he needed.
“There would have been no way I would have had the health care provided to me without the Foundation helping me with the logistics,” Matt says. “Just trying to get to appointments and keep everything straight.”
Assistance also extended to medication costs. When prescriptions became difficult to afford, Colette worked with Aimee Thornton in the pharmacy to help find solutions so Matt could continue taking the medications that support his treatment.
For Matt, the support meant more than practical help.
“You guys helped me through some very, very difficult times,” he says. “Without you, I don’t even want to think about where I’d be.”
Matt has been connected to St. Peter’s Health for many years. Doctors, nurses, and staff have cared for him through some of the most difficult moments of his life. The support from the Patient Assistance Fund showed him something more. It showed him that people in this community care about making sure patients can access the care they need.
“Some of us are still here because people are helping,” Matt says. “With the St. Peter’s Health Foundation’s help, I was able to stick around to see my granddaughter for the first time. Thank you.”
Stories like Matt’s are made possible because of donors who believe in supporting patients when they need it most.
In 2025, the St. Peter’s Health Foundation responded to 1,929 requests for assistance, helping 1,183 patients access care through transportation, medication support and other essential needs. In total, $205,254 was provided to help patients continue their treatment and focus on healing.
