Growing up in Roxbury, Andrea’s life was filled with instability. When Andrea was eight months old, she lost her mother to a car accident while going to visit her father in prison. She and her brothers bounced around – living with relatives and sometimes in foster care – until her father got out of prison when she was eight years old, and she met him for the first time.
Andrea and her family relied on public housing and food assistance while her grandmother struggled with alcoholism. Her two brothers sadly cycled in and out of the prison system. She lost her twin brother Andre, when he passed away while in the custody of the Department of Corrections as a pre-trial detainee.
Every family, worker, and resident should have access to affordable health care – no matter who you are or where you live. It’s staggering to think that Massachusetts has some of the best hospitals in the country, while also some of the greatest disparities in health care. Andrea will tackle health inequities head on, ensuring everyone, especially our communities of color and poor, rural communities, have access to high quality, affordable, culturally competent, gender affirming care including mental health care.