December 1997
Campus Resource Helps Employee
Deliver Story of a Lifetime
UMass Boston employee Katherine Huggins wasn't a stranger to public speaking, but she'd never delivered a speech of this magnitude.
Knowing she would share a podium with former governor Michael Dukakis and writer/comedian Al Franken, Huggins, a staff member in Computing Services who currently works in The Learning Center, had to do some major preparing.
At the second annual Health Law Advocates Benefit Breakfast held Nov. 7, Huggins described to more than 550 people how she was forced to institutionalize her quadrapalegic son after the state terminated his benefits. Working with Health Law Advocates, Huggins was able to successfully restore skilled nursing home care and bring Matthew back home.
Huggins hooked up with Janelle Winston a consultant who runs SpeechCoach and who offers workshops through The Learning Center.
"I actually wrote Matthew's story and had an opportunity to run it by Janelle," Huggins said. "She really gave me a lot of reinforcement. It made a big difference."
Although Huggins found helpful Winston's advice on techniques such as relaxation and positioning body weight, delivering the speech wasn't so hard.
"It was so personal to me, and it was something that we have lived through," Huggins said. "It was our story, and because of the intensity that we have lived it, when I actually got up to tell the story, it was very easy."
Huggins candor and preparation paid off in a big way. She received a standing ovation.
"Tony Martin [director of The Learning Center] was actually really terrific when I told him I was giving the talk," Huggins said.
Huggins found support from coworkers not only during the speech preparation, but also during the trying times she actually spoke about. "If I didn't have such a wonderful work atmosphere, I don't think I could have gotten through this," she said.
When benefits for Matthew, now an eighth grade honor roll student at Andover Middle School, were terminated by the state, Huggins placed him at a residential hospital school. Then she "went to work to advocate and bring awareness to this travesty."
"After seven years, DMA terminated his benefits and arbitrarily decided that Matthew didn't need health care," Huggins said.
"I knew that it was medically unsafe to leave him in the care of unlicensed unskilled caregiver," she said. "I really believe that I was being forced to choose between welfare and institutionalizing my son. The decisions before me and my family were rather horrifying."
Huggins spent the summer working with Health Law Advocates to get skilled home care restored. As the struggle continued, she garnered statewide support from families in similar situation, local media and others.
Her UMass Boston coworkers were also there along the way, many of whom shared information and forwarded news articles pertaining to her plight. "I thank everybody that I work with, both Computing Services and The Learning Center," she said.