Kingston Springs Mother Honored by TJC

Kingston Springs Mother Will Be Honored as Mother of the Year
for Her Fight to Obtain Healthcare Services for Her Twins

Kingston Springs, TN – Brittany Wilson of Kingston Springs will be honored as a Mother of the Year by the Tennessee Justice Center at a reception on Thursday, May 7, in Nashville. The event is in recognition of her persistence in battling to obtain medical services for her twin girls and for extraordinary commitment to the health care of all children and families. Mrs. Wilson is one of six mothers and grandmothers to be honored by the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) as a Mother of the Year.

Brittany Wilson is the mother of 18-month-old identical twins Addleigh and Kennedi. The girls both have medical conditions that cause seizures, muscle weakness, and developmental delays. Neither Brittany nor her husband have health insurance through their jobs, so TennCare has been essential in caring for the twins’ special medical needs. In August 2008, around the girls’ first birthday, the family was notified that the girls’ TennCare coverage would be discontinued. Brittany Wilson appealed the decision and called TJC for help.

TJC client advocates immediately recognized that the twins were still eligible for TennCare. After a phone call from TJC to the Department of Human Services to correct the mistake; the girls’ TennCare was reinstated. Mrs. Wilson was grateful that her girls were protected, but wanted to ensure that all Tennessee children are protected from similar mistakes and oversights. She worked with TJC to write a letter to TennCare, sharing the twins’ story as well as experiences of other families. In response, TennCare described the new comprehensive training it has implemented to improve the accuracy of eligibility screens.

In her fight for her twins’ care, Brittany Wilson also spoke for many other parents struggling to receive care for their children. Currently, more than 640,000 children rely on TennCare for their health care.

“Brittany Wilson’s devotion to her children and her persistence in fighting for their rights is an inspiring example of how Tennessee mothers bravely stand up for the rights of their children who are sick or have disabilities,” said Michele Johnson, managing attorney at the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC), a non-profit public interest law and advocacy firm based in Nashville. “These caregivers face many obstacles in obtaining the care that their children need and that taxpayers have already paid for them to receive. Yet their vision and hope for their children is unyielding. Our annual Mothers of the Year recognition is a way to acknowledge their struggles, sacrifices, and devotion to their children.”

Mrs. Wilson said, “The thought of losing health insurance for my girls was terrifying. TJC helped me solve a problem I had thought was insurmountable, and put my mind at ease.”

The May 7 Mothers of the Year Awards reception will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Nashville office of Stites and Harbison law firm, SunTrust Plaza, Suite 800, 401 Commerce Street. The reception is open to the public. Mrs. Wilson and five other Tennessee mothers and grandmothers will be honored that evening.

The Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) is a non-profit public interest law and advocacy firm serving Tennessee’s families. It gives priority to policy issues and civil cases in which the most basic necessities of life are at stake and where advocacy can benefit needy families statewide. TJC works to empower its clients by holding government accountable for its policies and actions. TJC was established in 1996 and is located at 301 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, TN. For additional information about the Tennessee Justice Center and its services, visit www.tnjustice.org or call 615-255-0331.