
Nov. 9, 2020
La Jolla restaurant employee Edgar Uribe has multiple sclerosis that went untreated for a decade, until a local nonprofit stepped in to connect him with the care he needed.
Uribe, a busser at Piatti in The Shores for eight of his 10 years at the restaurant, has been receiving medical care facilitated and paid for by Big Table, a faith-based nonprofit that works to connect workers in the food service and hotel industries with whatever assistance they need.
Uribe said his MS “didn’t get really bad until last year.” He tried to find treatment, which proved difficult due to his citizenship status, he said. “I didn’t get any help.”
Uribe was referred to Big Table through Piatti guest Martha Ehringer, who complimented Uribe’s hard work to the restaurant’s manager, Tom Spano. Uribe was “charming, sweet and helpful,” she said.
When she learned of Uribe’s MS, Ehringer spoke to Spano about referring him to Big Table, which she had just learned about as outreach chairwoman for St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.
Jesse Vigil, city director for the San Diego chapter of Big Table, said Spano submitted the referral for Uribe. Big Table, which has an office in Pacific Beach, does not accept self-referrals.
Uribe “is a great guy,” Spano said. “He works as hard as he can; he’s a good person in and out. We hope his MS can be halted, if not reversed.”
Big Table “got me a doctor, who prescribed steroids,” Uribe said, which “calm down my nervous system.”
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