There are people with chronic ailments who require maintenance medications. Often they are faced with making a choice: will they buy their medications or will they buy food? What many Americans don’t know is that the pharmaceutical companies have programs to provide these medications at no charge.

Volunteers of RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) serving the Columbiana County, Ohio area, last year discovered a program that could help the needy (not only the elderly) in their own backyards. The numbers of those assisted rise and fall from month to month, but people are being helped so they don’t have to make that choice between eating and feeling better. They can do both.

There are several sites around the county, each is open one day a month to assist patients or their representatives in filling out the applications to enable them to obtain those valuable medications. They take their prescription bottles to one of the sites and work with a volunteer to determine their eligibility and complete the rather involved paperwork. The applications must be signed by the patient’s doctor and forwarded to the pharmaceutical company that provides the medications. The doctor agrees to accept the shipment and dispense it to his patients. Cost: $0 for those who meet the criteria.

For the period January to June 2001, 1,100 clients visited the Columbiana County sites. The project obtained $304,608 worth of maintenance prescription medications for those chronically ill who met the criteria for need, according to local RSVP coordinator, Kathy Birch. The usual number of clients seen ranges from a low of 29 to a high of 92 individuals on any given day, she said. The agency is busy in its limited service area.

PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) advises, "The research-based pharmaceutical industry has had a long-standing tradition of providing prescription medicines free of charge to physicians whose patients might not otherwise have access to necessary medicines." PhMRA (http://www.phrma.org/patients) provides a directory of prescription drug patient assistance programs which can be downloaded in PDF and lists the pharmaceutical companies, their programs and which medications they provide, as well as eligibility requirements and how to apply.

The Medicine Program (http://www.themedicineprogram.com) provides a great deal of information and national press coverage about the assistance available. You can obtain your medications for free. "The Medicine Program will wade through the paperwork and coordinate free drug distribution to eligible applicants." However, The Medicine Program does charge $5 for each prescription medicine request, but you are responsible for completing the forms and getting them through process.

When you are researching assistance programs, be sure to read all available information and understand what the process involves. Some programs charge a minimal fee per prescription drug request (like The Medicine Program). Understand what any fees cover. All such programs will require your physician’s signature and involvement in the process.

To receive the free prescription medicine benefits, patients cannot be covered by private insurance, they cannot qualify for government or third party programs which provide for prescription medications and they must show financial hardship.

Such programs as Columbiana County’s RSVP project are available in other places, most are funded by local government, Birch said. Columbiana County’s RSVP is one of the few to rely on volunteers.

RSVP is a program that lets individuals age 55 and older share their skills, interests and abilities in meaningful volunteer positions in school districts, museums, hospitals, non-profit offices, etc. In Columbiana County there are over 200 RSVP volunteers choose the area in which they want to volunteer and when they are available.