Faith Community Pharmacy steps up to meet a growing need during the pandemic

Due to COVID-19 and the fear that she wouldn’t be able to leave her home and go to the grocery, the woman had stocked up on food, only to discover that she had overspent and didn’t have enough money to cover her co-pays for her medications.

It’s not hard to wrap your head around a true account like this. Many of us have had an uncomfortable experience paying for medical prescriptions. Too many of our Northern Kentucky neighbors, like the Faith Community Pharmacy client above, have been unable to walk out the pharmacy door with what they need.

Thankfully, she called her doctor and they pointed her to Faith Community Pharmacy, which was able to give her enough medications for two months within 24 hours of receiving the referral.

For Executive Director Aaron Broomall, it was another eye opener of just how many people in Northern Kentucky live right on the threshold of needing help and when one small thing changes, they can’t make ends meet.

Faith Community Pharmacy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable pharmacy located in Florence. The nonprofit provides free prescription medications to those who cannot otherwise afford them in the top 14 counties of Kentucky. For new clients during the pandemic, they are providing an initial two-month fill with a promise that they will continue to provide medications until this pandemic has ended or they no longer need assistance.

The nonprofit provides medications for chronic disease states, including diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses, COPD, asthma, mental health, GI/GU and rheumatology.

Through the end of April, Faith Community Pharmacy incurred more than $25,000 in COVID-related expenses. Through a recent $35,000 grant from the Horizon Community Funds NKY Coronavirus Relief Fund, the nonprofit was able to cover this and provide more than $170,000 in prescriptions to 107 people, all new clients, across Northern Kentucky.

The leadership at Faith Community Pharmacy also noted that the average age of their clients was six years younger than its normal base, reflecting a need that was spreading to a new base of people.

Since March 1, the nonprofit has provided prescriptions with a total value of more than $1 million across Northern Kentucky. Faith Community Pharmacy begins each client partnership by filling a two-month supply of whatever medications they are able to supply, and if clients would like to enroll in the program going forward, they are required to prove their household income is 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

One client reached out to Aaron and his team to relay her experience:
"I just wanted to let you know how much of a relief you guys are to my mother and me. We ran into some financial problems with the current situations with the coronavirus. The stress and worry from not knowing how I was going to get my mother's insulin was making me physically ill. I stumbled on your program on the internet and I thought it was too good to be true. Today we picked up my mother's insulin in Florence and I was in tears as I opened the bag and saw not just one insulin pen, but five. Also included were the pen needles I usually have to buy. I'm still in shock that we really have enough insulin to not worry for a while. Thank you so much. Today is a great day."

To donate to the Horizon NKY Coronavirus Relief Fund:

• Text “NKYRELIEF” to 44-321
• Visit www.horizonfunds.org
• Mail a check made payable to Horizon Community Funds (memo: NKY Coronavirus Relief Fund) to 50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 430, Covington, KY 41011

Tess Brown is director of marketing and communications for Horizon Community Funds of Northern Kentucky.