THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508280035
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Several Social Services employees, frustrated by a lack of government funds, are raising money through bake sales, craft shows and other means to pay for prescription drugs that their clients cannot otherwise afford.
Each month for two years, these government workers have stayed up late baking goodies to sell to co-workers, worked weekends operating flea markets and pig roasts, and raffled off items donated by local businesses - all to help the people they are paid to serve.
The staff of the Virginia Beach Social Services Department's Resource Development Unit averages about $500 in net proceeds each month through fund-raisers.
And when the vending machine company agreed to give a portion of its monthly profits to the entire department, all employees agreed to put the money into the prescription program. Social work supervisor Eunice Whitehurst said her staff could have used that money - about $250 a month - for a Christmas party or new kitchen appliances.
``We don't have a lot of outlets for the staff for fellowship,'' said Whitehurst. ``That's the real beauty of this program to me - that whole spirit of giving just caught on. It reinforces the idea that if you see a need, you move toward trying to correct that.''
Although born of frustration over too little money and too many sick clients, the efforts are considered charitable by the workers, not a form of protest.
The staff has been helped by local churches as well. This summer a group of Vacation Bible School children from Atlantic Shores Baptist Church collected $1,280.50 in pennies for the program. Parishioners from other churches bake pies and cakes for the sales and have paid for some of the prescriptions.
About 30 clients are helped by this program each month, but Whitehurst said that at least 20 more need medications they cannot afford. The clients may be indigent, homeless, unemployed or the working poor. What they all have in common is the lack of health insurance, specifically prescription coverage.
It is easy to see how someone would choose, say, paying the month's rent over buying an expensive prescription. The ulcer drug Tagament costs about $135 for 100 tablets. Thirty tablets of the antibiotic Augmentin will set you back $62. Zocor helps to lower cholesterol - if you have $185 to shell out for 60 tablets. And if you need an inhaler for asthma, a newer one costs $48 and lasts maybe a month.
Social Services tries to get the generic equivalent for everyone, said resource coordinator Loretta Hicks, but some require brand-name drugs. These are the people who fall through the cracks, she added.
``We tell the clients that we can help them out in times of crisis, but that it's not an ongoing thing,'' she said. ``We try not to have repeat customers. But we're just skimming the surface. A lot of prescriptions don't get filled. We would like to have at least $1,000 a month to buy these prescriptions, but realistically we get maybe $500.''
The prescription program actually got started after a wealthy anonymous donor set up an account for the department at a drugstore in the early 1980s. She paid for all needed prescriptions for more than 10 years, and then moved out of the area. The void had to be filled, the staff realized. Clients depended on that program, and workers had grown accustomed to having those prescriptions filled for nothing.
``We did debate at one point whether to stop the program; like did we take on too much?'' said Hicks. ``But if we stopped they wouldn't get prescriptions. Most of the other cities get grants for this.''
Norfolk Social Services has a relief program that uses city and state funds to pay for prescriptions, said program administrator Noel Finney. And Portsmouth Social Services receives a $30,000 grant from the Portsmouth Foundation to pay for their clients' prescriptions, said assistant director Lula B. Holland. The client is required to pay a $1 to $5 copay, based on income.
``Thank heaven we don't need to do that,'' said Holland, when informed about the Virginia Beach program. ``One of the greatest needs in the world is prescriptions, and the average person can't afford them.''
So why are the Virginia Beach social workers giving up some of their evenings and weekends to do something they won't get paid for?
Volunteer coordinator Misty Lee said it gives the staff a chance to be creative while still getting the main work done.
``It gives us a chance to get out of here,'' said Lee, gesturing at the windowless office. ``You sit at a desk all day with no chance to socialize. This is the chance for the staff to get together and do nice things.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Loretta Hicks, left, and Misty Lee are leaders in the effort to pay
for prescription drugs that their clients cannot otherwise afford.
``We try not to have repeat customers,'' Hicks said.
Graphic
HOW TO HELP
If you would like to donate to the prescription program, make a
check payable to VBDSS/CRA and mail it to Virginia Beach Department
of Social Services, 3432 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach 23452.
Or call Loretta Hicks at 437-3216 or Eunice Whitehurst at 437-3220.
They are also looking for new fund-raising ideas.
KEYWORDS: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS VIRGINIA BEACH DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
by CNB