Nora Hilliard works intently at the volunteer desk in the Dispensary of Hope's office on South Church Street.
Logging in the amounts of donated drugs isn't exciting work, but she knows it is something that has to be done.
Hilliard said she isn't exaggerating when she says she wouldn't be alive now if it wasn't for the dispensary that provides no-cost medications to the uninsured. The Social Security recipient lost her TennCare coverage about two years ago, and with it her ability to have her prescribed bipolar, blood pressure and other medications filled.
"For the people who can't afford their medication, it is a marvelous program," Hilliard said. She was so impressed by what the staff members and volunteers at the Middle Tennessee Medical Center-affiliated operation do that she decided to donate her time.
Murfreesboro allergist Bruce Wolf started the dispensary out of his medical practice in 2003, dispensing unused sample medications donated by area doctors. He saw the excess in his office; in 2004 his practice alone received more than $4,000 worth of sample medications. Wolf felt these samples he and other physicians were receiving could be put to better use by helping the poor and uninsured receive the medications they can't afford but are vital to their continued health.
It's estimated that Rutherford County has 30,000 uninsured residents.
Murfreesboro's Dispensary of Hope now fills more than 20,000 medications a year and sees between 600 and 700 patients a month.
The dispensary, which moved to its current location at 814 S. Church St. in 2004, is designed to meet the short-terms needs of indigent residents; assist these clients in applying for patient assistance programs administered by pharmaceutical companies that offer free or reduced price drugs; provide generic medications; and distribute excess medications through a network of similar pharmacies and indigent clinics.
By summer 2008, the Murfreesboro dispensary is expected to be in its new offices with the Primary Care & Hope Clinic and Community Cares located off West College Street.
The dispensary receives most of its referrals for those nonprofit organizations. The dispensary expects to help more patients this year as poverty guidelines were raised to levels of 200 percent above the federal poverty guidelines. This means that an uninsured family of four making $40,000 a year now qualifies for assistance.
Surplus drugs also are now being sent to the Second Harvest Food Bank and distributed to other clinics in the state and across the country.
"We want to rise to meet the need," Wolf said. "The situation of the indigent in one hand is unsolvable.
There is never going to be enough drugs to give everyone in Tennessee the medications they need."
But the dispensary is prepared to rise to the challenge. Wolf said the dispensary needs pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and others to volunteer their time in order to do more.
The Murfreesboro dispensary receives most of its funding through MTMC since becoming a subsidiary of the hospital in 2004. The Dispensary of Hope also receives several grants including those from the Charity Circle, the Cal Turner Family Foundation and the state of Tennessee.
Similar dispensaries have opened at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville and in the Knox County Health Department.
Wolf said the response to the dispensary from area physicians and charities has been "miraculous."
Its accomplishments to date include:
* Collecting more than $7.3 million in medication samples from more than 300 physicians and clinics.
* Giving more than $2.9 million in medication locally, representing more than 40,000 prescriptions.
* Giving more than $2.6 million in medication to other indigent clinics in Tennessee.
* Helping 804 patients obtain more than $1.6 million in medications directly from pharmaceutical companies.
* Giving more than $750,000 in medications to mission trips including Tsunami and Katrina relief.
* Storage of $1.5 million of medicine for future use with expiration dating to 2011.
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
FYI...
The Dispensary of Hope
814 S. Church St.
(615) 907-4076
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Thursday
9 a.m.-6 p.m.
(closed noon-1 p.m.)
Friday 9 a.m.-noon
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news_04_01_07.pdf
Author:
ERIN EDGEMON
Business Editor
Original Source:
The Murfreesboro Post
Media Contact:
Lauren Fulton
(615) 254-0575
lfulton@jarrardinc.com
