Keep Jamie Yarbrough and Her Kids Housed

My name is Alyssa Hjelvik, and I am a former Oregon Health & Science University medical student just like the person I am raising funds for, Jamie Yarbrough.

Jamie matriculated to the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine in 2017 having achieved the first step of what continues to be her lifelong dream of becoming a physician. While in school, Jamie, a mother and primary caregiver of her two children, struggled due to an extreme lack of support from the OHSU School of Medicine that is commonplace for many students that come from backgrounds that have been historically excluded from medicine.

As my dear friend, Maya Herzig, MD, a 2023 OHSU School of Medicine graduate has said, "Oregon Health & Science University has systematically failed to protect and support the diverse, underprivileged, and non-traditional medical students they proudly recruit and then allow to fall through the cracks."

When Jamie was dismissed by the Medical Student Progress Board in 2019 secondary to vague professionalism concerns, her health precipitously declined when in reality she was dismissed because she tried to alter administration to organizational discord: she was told via email in highlighted bold text that "all exams will be Friday," and then the School of Medicine held one of her exams on Thursday.

Prior to medical school, Jamie was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a group of disorders that affect connective tissues supporting the skin, bones, blood vessels, and many other organs and tissues. After being dismissed from medical school, she and her primary care physician believe she developed Takosubo cardiomyopathy due to the extreme stress of being dismissed. Prior to the dismissal, she was an extremely healthy runner, and post dismissal, she developed intolerance to aerobic exercise.

While takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM), also known as broken heart syndrome or stress cardiomyopathy, is usually a temporary heart condition that occurs when the left ventricle of the heart balloons and malfunctions, Jamie got a breakthrough case of COVID-19 that further compromised her heart function.

At that time, her ejection fraction, a percentage that measures how well the heart pumps blood by measuring the amount of blood pumped out of the heart's lower chambers, or ventricles, with each heartbeat, dropped to less than 20%, and she was given five months to live.

She will require cardiac care and daily medication for the rest of her life, and she is only 39 years old. Though her ejection fraction has improved, she has yet to be able to run even one mile without intolerable anaerobic pain, requiring multiple walking breaks.

Since her dismissal in 2018, Jamie has been scraping by with waitressing and bartending gigs in order to provide food, housing, etc. for herself and her two kids. She recently has come upon extreme financial hardship. She lost her job in the service industry, her vehicle broke down and needs to be replaced, and her father passed away within the last two weeks.

She needs to pay rent in the amount of $1,560 and owes $500 in back rent to Flex, the program that lets you pay two installments of rent, but last month, they took out $260 more than they were supposed to, which snowballed her finances. Her car was recently totaled as the engine is cracked; her mechanic advised her to buy another.

Jamie is one of the kindest, most-deserving humans I have ever met. I am seeking help for her as a last resort to keep her from losing her housing and to help her provide for her kids. Any help would be immensely appreciated.

You can donate to this online fundraiser, or her Venmo is @Jamie-Yarbrough-5. I can coordinate alternative ways to get her money if need be.