Dr. Jeanette Stromme faces a tough patch in her life. She is in need of vascular surgery to address a right iliac aneurysm on September 17th, 2021, and will be tested for Vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (VEDS) as the underlying cause of this. The aneurysm dissected 5 inches last June which placed her in the ICU at Sacred Heart's Med. Center in Spokane. Although she has passed the acute phase of the dissection, she is now confronted with significant out-of-pocket expenses to treat and cover treatment.

The Vision Source Foundation contributed toward covering her office expenses during her absence while in the ICU. However, Dr. Stromme has been advised by her surgeon not to work for 1 month following her surgery.

To our optometric colleagues: If you are willing and able to fill-in for her during this time, it would ease a significant load off of her shoulders. She will be able to practice henceforth if she takes it easy.  Her office manager has been out sick, so Dr. Sarah Storrs recommends contacting her directly if you are able to fill-in.  

With treatment, her life expectancy is 2 years. The surgery and associated medical costs will be in excess of $195,000, although this can be reduced by 30% if she pays at time of service to $137,000. Her surgeon (Sherene Shalhub, MD) is a UW-Medicine vascular surgeon specializing in VEDS and is unfortunately out of network for her insurance coverage.   To cover expenses, she and her  husband have listed their house for sale.  Her practice has also been put up for sale a few weeks ago ( https://www.thewilliamsway.com/practices/yakima_valley/.   

Please contribute what you can to Dr. Stromme's GoFundMe. In as much as her insurance might cover at least some of her expenses (in which case she will gladly return to contributors here, so please include your name with your contribution), she is not in the position to assume that they will.