So many sick and dying patients in the waiting room of Kristen Ries’ busy practice at Holy Cross Hospital. So many sick people to attend to that there just wasn’t enough time to attend funerals.
On weekends, during the height of Utah’s AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s, Ries and physician assistant Maggie Snyder made house calls to examine patients who were too ill to travel. In their spare time, they visited schools and businesses, feeling driven by an obligation to educate the community about the virus.
So many patients too ill to work, most without insurance.