top of page

Direct Relief International and National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics Support HFC's Response to COVID-19 Outbreak

daydigginsnichole

Direct Relief International, a humanitarian aid organization, has extended support of HealthFinders Collaborative (HFC) with a donation of personal protective equipment (PPE) and a National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) – Direct Relief COVID-19 Relief Fund Grant for medication assistance. Direct Relief International, which is active in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, has partnered with HealthFinders and provided needed medical supplies since 2012. The organization’s mission is to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies – without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. The mission of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) is to ensure that the medically underserved have access to affordable quality healthcare, supporting hundreds of clinics across the country. These two organizations are partnering to distribute a $1 million grant program to support free and charitable clinics like HealthFinders during the COVID-19 pandemic. They recognize clinics like HealthFinders must adjust their service models to deal with limiting disease exposure and stay at home orders, while making sure patients have access to the care they need. These adjustments include utilizing tele-health to limit in-person visits while maintaining connection with patients and increasing medication assistance programs. They also realize while we are working hard to continue our services, we are also dealing with canceled fundraisers (our annual gala), seeing lower donations, and witnessing potential influx of patients as people across the nation continue to lose their employment.

PPE Donation: Strengthening Safe Patient Care For many patients, HealthFinders is their healthcare home and only option due to lack of insurance or language or cultural barriers. A large percentage of HealthFinders’ patients live with chronic diseases which, of course, do not disappear during a crisis. The support of Direct Relief International allows HealthFinders to live out its dedication to patients, no matter the circumstance. The donated PPE supplies will protect HFC providers and support staff, enabling them to continue to carry out patient care safely during the COVID-19 outbreak and allowing the organization to engage in the community’s collective response to the pandemic to perform testing and provide back up to the local health system. “It is extremely difficult to source PPE right now,” explains HealthFinders Director of Clinical Care and Certified Nurse Practitioner Emily Carroll. “Items are backordered, and the limited selections often result in increased cost. This gift is a huge relief – both financially and from a personnel safety standpoint.”

Grant to Support Medication Access The medication assistance grant allows HealthFinders to waive patient medication co-pays during the COVID-19 crisis. HealthFinders’ Medication Assistance Program provides vouchers for low- or no-cost covered medications filled at Sterling Pharmacy to people in Rice County who cannot afford their prescriptions. Vouchers are issued by HealthFinders’ clinics and are also available through partner health system clinics and hospital emergency departments. Patients usually pay a small co-pay, unless they are unable to do so. Annually, the program provides over 4,000 needed prescriptions to patients thanks to donor and funder support.

“In addition to responding to emergent COVID-19-related needs of our community, we wanted to be sure our patients’ underlying needs were not forgotten,” says HealthFinders Executive Director Charlie Mandile. “As the world was turned upside down, underlying barriers were only accentuated for our community. We wanted to ensure no patient went without their medications. Waiving our co-pays during this time was a way we could both support the changing economic circumstances while ensuring patients could get refills or new prescriptions as needed. NAFC and Direct Relief International are longstanding partners of HFC, and their support is invaluable to our patients. Furthermore, this support keeps us firmly on the front lines of our local COVID-19 response at an extremely critical time.”
2 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page