Marianela and Refnely Jaime -- Providence, RI

Written by: Adam Sege

Three year old Refnely kept getting sick.  In one winter alone, she was taken to the emergency room three times for pneumonia, and she was losing weight and developing rashes.

Marianela, Refnely’s mother, thought the mice in her apartment were making her daughter sick.  She asked her building manager repeatedly to exterminate the mice, but the answer was always the same: there was no money for it.  Besides, the building manger said, a company was already coming every three months to set traps.

Marianela knew her daughter deserved better.   One doctor at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, who had been trained to spot environmental factors behind health issues, knew that a legal advocate could help get the mice exterminated.  She referred Marianela to Rhode Island’s Medical-Legal Partnership for Children, where Marianela soon met with attorney Rebecca Kislak, director of the partnership.

Marianela described the trash that was piling up on the building patios, and she brought pictures of the mice under her daughter’s crib.  Rebecca was appalled, and during her first meeting with Marianela they called the building manager together.  The building manager said she understood their concern, but again she said she didn’t have the funds to pay for another exterminator.

Rebecca didn’t let her off that easily, though.  She explained that legally, the building manager needed to exterminate the mice, whether or not it fit in with the planned budget. And while the manager wasn’t thrilled, she realized she had no choice.

“They took a little bit of pushing,” says Rebecca of the building management, “but they were pretty good.”

After receiving a letter and another phone call from Rebecca, the building manger hired a new exterminator that now comes once a week to treat the entire building.  Trash on the patios also gets picked up now before it can attract rodents.

And most importantly for Marianela, her daughter is healthy.  Ask her to describe Rebecca, and Marianela’s answer is immediate.

“An angel,” she says.