BUILDING - Yale-New Haven Hospital

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MAE OLA RIDDICK
If you think you’re gonna live, you live
I had cancer 20 years ago. Me and Governor Ella Grasso, we both
had cancer at the same time. She had ovarian cancer; I had uterine
cancer. Being in politics, myself, I admired her. There she was, the
governor of Connecticut, she had money, she had good health
insurance, she had everything. I had no money and no insurance.
But Ella’s gone and here I am, 20 years later. I figure God
wasn’t ready for me yet. If you think you’re gonna die, you die.
If you think you’re gonna live, you live. I believe a sense of humor
helps keep you alive too.
At that time, I was a patient at the Women’s Center at Yale-
New Haven Hospital. Margo Taylor, my nurse, told me I needed
to get treatment. I had no money and I was ashamed to come for
care when I couldn’t pay. She said I shouldn’t worry about the bill,
that I could get care anyhow. There were times when she sent a
hospital security officer to come and get me for radiation, because
she knew I wouldn’t come.
I got good care at Yale-New Haven. People come to Yale-New
Haven anyway, but this cancer hospital will be a big plus. Because
there’s a lot of people who have cancer and don’t know about it –
and there’s a lot of people who can’t afford the treatment. I lobby
for Yale-New Haven Hospital. I fought for that cancer hospital.
I stayed right in there. I didn’t give up. And I’m still wearing my Yale-
New Haven cancer center bracelet.
Mae Ola Riddick is a truancy and drop-out prevention officer for the New
Haven Board of Education. She moved to New Haven from North Carolina in
1953 and has been involved in local politics ever since, including a 12-year
term on the New Haven Board of Aldermen.