A tiny miracle made a little sweeter with help from Providence Alaska Children’s Hospital 

For more than 120 years, Providence Alaska's commitment to provide for the poor and vulnerable in our state has been unwavering. In 2022, we invested $95 million in total benefit to the communities we serve, including $18.5 million in free and discounted care.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Poppy Williams’ first word was “da-da,” her second “ma-ma” and her third “kitty.” That sums up the 16-month-old toddler’s family unit in Anchorage, where she is thriving after spending the first 28 days of her life in the newborn intensive care unit of Providence Alaska Children’s Hospital. This year, the Children’s Hospital celebrates 25 years of service to the community, where many of today’s patients are children of Alaskans born here many years ago.  

Poppy’s story – and Providence’s ability to help it have a happy ending not once, but twice – is what underscores the way in which the Providence promise, “Know me, care for me, ease my way” is carried out every day. 

Melissa Webber and her husband, Tyrel Williams, were like any other new, expectant parents in the autumn of 2021: excited, a little nervous and behind on the chores of setting up the baby’s room. At 32 weeks pregnant, though, that changed.   

Everything had been going well for Webber, who said Poppy had consistently been measuring in the 95th percentile at her prenatal checkups.   

“We went for the ultrasound, and I could just tell something was different,” Webber said from her Anchorage home, while Poppy toddled from toy to book to dad and back. Poppy’s percentile had dipped, and Webber’s blood pressure was high. The technician took the pressure again. Still high. Suddenly, the routine exam was anything but.   

“It turned out I had pre-eclampsia, and her growth had been restricted,” Webber said. “All of a sudden at 32 weeks, I’ve become a high-risk pregnancy.” 

The next days were a blur while Webber was admitted to the hospital and the Providence team set about stabilizing both mother and daughter.   

“They gave me a shot to help develop Poppy’s lungs,” Webber said. Poppy’s dad Ty had a flu shot and Tdap vaccine – to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis – to be on the safe side once Poppy was born. Webber went on IV blood pressure medication. Their whole focus became helping Poppy be born as healthy as possible.   

“You don’t think about anything in the moment except ‘Do what it takes to have her healthy,’” Webber said. “She was moving, but she wasn’t thriving, and that’s scary. But the Providence team was amazing.”   

With round-the-clock care, and Ty coming and going to tend to their cats Kale and Abbott, Webber said she simply trusted the doctors and nurses. It was all she could do. Williams, too, said he had to have faith in them.   

“I just hoped nothing terrible would happen,” he said. “I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.”   

So, when two days later, a tiny, 3-pound, 5-ounce Poppy was born seven weeks early but with little lungs that worked without assistance, the couple could relax. Or so they thought.   

“Her biggest thing was that she needed to grow and learn to eat,” Webber said. “It took a couple of weeks. We ended up being there 28 days.”   

Williams and Webber brought Poppy home on Nov. 7, 2021. The long stay at the hospital would be expensive, they knew, but it had been an emergency, and surely their insurance would cover most of the expenses. That didn’t happen.  

“But then you get a thing in the mail, and the cost was beyond believable,” Webber said. “We thought, ‘Are we going to have to sell our house, file for bankruptcy?’ It was a scary time.”   

“She told me about the bill while I was in the shower, and I remember standing in there for 20 more minutes, not knowing what to do,” Williams said.   

But then Webber looked closer at the bill which had contact information for financial assistance. Because she and Williams had good insurance, she wasn’t sure they would qualify. But the amount of the bill was insurmountable – worth more than their house – and impossible to pay off.  

Providence’s Charity Care program stepped in. After filling out the required paperwork and application, Providence recognized that this family had been through enough. It helped meet the needs of the Williams-Webber family by assisting them with the cost of care not just for Poppy’s hospital stay, but also Melissa’s.  

“I never questioned that the care wasn’t worth the cost,” Webber said. “The team at Providence was amazing, and everything they did worked. You’d do anything for your child, and we can’t thank them enough.”    

Serving those in need is the heart of the Providence mission. In 2022, Providence Alaska provided $18.5 million in free and discounted care for the uninsured and underinsured.   

“We love seeing our mission as a children’s hospital lived out in actionable ways, like the Williams-Webber family experienced,” said Esther Pitts, executive director of Providence Children’s Hospital & Women Services. “As we celebrate the children’s hospital 25th-anniversary this year, our focus continues to be on providing quality care, close to home.   

“We are grateful for the teamwork and partnerships, which allow us to meet the needs of our neighbors and friends throughout the state.” 

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