Volume 1 Issue 15 Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy January 2015 The Ozanam Prescription Filling prescriptions for those who cannot afford their medicine Our Wonderful Volunteers Johnnie Bennett Rose Marie Davis FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Waudine Easley Amber Gaillard Marlena Kelley Marion Loftin Hellen “Cookie” Mellon Lillian Phann Summer Ranaldson Clifton Shaw Anne Singleton Nelson Summerlin Aundraneka Vaughn David Wancowicz Cathy Whelton Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy Interns Last fiscal year our volunteers donated 6608 hours in order to fill the prescriptions of those who can't afford their medication. Inside Stories Holiday Luncheon 2 O’Daly’s 3 Sister Marilyn 3 Agency Training 3 Exalte’ Magazine 4 Annual Report Enclosed Dear Friends, First and foremost, I would like to thank all of our wonderful donors for helping us to keep our doors open to serve the most vulnerable citizens of Alabama. Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy is always a busy place and last year was no exception. Between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014 Ozanam helped 1668 patients with 34,065 generic prescriptions. Without the help of Ozanam, our patients would have had to pay $894,405, at a retail pharmacy, to supply themselves with their medication. These patients do not have enough money to feed themselves and afford their medications, which forces them to choose between food feeding and medicine: a choice that would most likely end in death. Ozanam’s Access Your Rx Program was able to connect our patients with $648,261 in brand name medications and insulins. Without the help of Ozanam, our patients would have had to spend over $1.5 million to keep themselves healthy and able to support their families. None of our patients would have been able to afford their medications at the retail price because they are uninsured and often working multiple part time jobs just to keep food on the table. While the number of prescriptions dispensed is impressive, none of this would have been possible without the help of our wonderful volunteers and staff members. Without the help of our 16 volunteers that donate time out of their busy schedules to help with the day to day operations of the pharmacy, we would be unable to help all of our clients. In addition to those volunteers, we have countless others that help by serving on fundraising committees and developing the resources to make the work of the pharmacy possible. With a new year comes the officer elections of the Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy Board of Directors. Wiley Christian was re-elected to third term as the President. Serving alongside Mr. Christian for her third term is Mrs. Cathy Whelton, who helps by volunteering in the pharmacy two days a week. Mrs. Marcia Allan has passed the pen to Mrs. Linda Grayson as the new board secretary and Susan Herring, remains as Treasurer. In the past year Mr. Michael G. Molyneux, President of Symbol Health Solutions has joined the board of directors at Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy. Mr. Molyneux brings a wealth of knowledge and experience working in the health field for many years. All of the board members have contributed in different ways, and each contribution helps the pharmacy greatly. Last year, Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy received a $65,000 grant from the Community Foundation of South Alabama for a Pharmacy Residency Program. Ozanam welcomed Dr. Derrick Bradley, a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana. Besides an impressive academic background, Dr. Bradley aided in addressing health literacy issues at the Daughters of Charity in New Orleans. After a year of working with the patients at Ozanam, Dr. Bradley has moved onto a bright future in the world of pharmacy. While, Ozanam was unable to secure the funding to continue the residency program, Dr. Bradley continues to help the pharmacy with outreach to the community. Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy has also welcomed in the AmeriCorps VISTA program in order to help build the financial stability of the pharmacy. AmeriCorps is very similar to the Peace Corps, but it is on home soil. Unlike the rest of the Corporation for National Service, VISTAs (Volunteers In Service To America) are tasked to create programs and events to fundraise, rather than directly serve the clients of their respective host agencies. The VISTAs arrived in late July and have hit the ground running in their respective fields of expertise. The VISTA’s have begun to fundraise, raise awareness for the pharmacy through various media outlets, and recruiting new volunteers to help out the pharmacy. We are excited to see all of the work that the VISTAs are going to accomplish in their year of service. -Shearie Archer, Executive Director of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy The Ozanam Prescription 2 HOLIDAY LUNCHEON AND GARDBERG AWARD On March 5, 2015 Ozanam is hosting the 1st Annual Gala at the Mobile Carnival Museum. This event will feature, Mardi Gras cuisine from local businesses and a silent auction of items that you will not want to miss. This is a great way to get some more use out of that outfit you bought for the Mardi Gras balls. Tickets are $50 per person and all of the proceeds support the life-saving work of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy. Stay tuned for more details. The students have discovered redundancies and even potentially lethal combinations in the patients treatments. year's recipients of the Christmas is a special time of together. Jonathan Gardberg Every year at the luncheon, year at Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy. While the spirit of Ozanam’s Board of Directors Community Leadership Award are the St. Francis presents the Jonathan helping others rings true Episcopal Church Women Gardberg Community every day of the year inside and the Pleasant Valley Leadership Award to an the walls of the pharmacy, Opportunity Club. individual or organization Christmas brings an extra that has helped the pharmacy This award is named after Mr. special feeling of joy for the Jonathan Gardberg because out in the past year. This staff and volunteers. An Gardberg exemplifies Ozanam the spirit of the tradition is pharmacy’s namesake, the annual Frederic Ozanam. Like Christmas Ozanam, the founder of luncheon and the Society of St. this year’s Vincent De Paul, was the best Gardberg is an attorney we have had who helps the sick and yet. The disabled with his social staff, security and veterans volunteers disability practice. and board Besides helping with members fundraising for the gathered at pharmacy, Gardberg the Red helped to establish the Cross on agency's first newsletter Sage Ave. to (From Left) Joy Gardberg, Christine Cumbie, Ozanam Board and directs those who share a meal Member, Shearie Archer, Ozanam Executive Director, and are in need of and holiday Johnathan Gardberg medication to the cheer pharmacy. An informational video, that was created by one of our own AmeriCorps VISTA’s, about the work of the pharmacy premiered for everyone to see. The video features the staff of Ozanam explaining the work of the pharmacy in very simple and easy to understand language. You can see the video on YouTube at https:// www.youtube.com/watch? v=K-VwzORbc1s. (From Left) Diane Hall receives the Gardberg Community Leadership Award for the St. Francis Episcopal Church Women. Also pictured (from left) Johnathan Gardberg, and A special thank you to Chef Rob who catered the event with his delicious spread of Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Beef Tips, Rice and Collard Greens. Volume 1 Issue 15 3 OZANAM SAYS GOODBYE TO LONGTIME PARTNER Our dedicated partner, Providence Hospital has set up a fund to establish and support the Sister Marilyn Moore CARE Center. The center will be located on the campus of St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Bayou La Batre. The CARE center will house a client navigator, social worker and RN. These workers will provide food, medicine and refer clients to other agencies in order to provide services to them. Sister Marilyn Moore has been one of the biggest advocates for those people living in poverty, helping many organizations like Ozanam that help those who are less fortunate. Sister Marilyn has worked as an administrator of Allen Memorial Home and another 10 years serving Providence Hospital working with the poor and vulnerable. Sister Marilyn left big shoes to fill at Ozanam, by bringing the medications to the patients near Bayou La Batre so they wouldn’t have to find a ride to our downtown location. If you would like to support the Sister Marilyn Moore CARE Center you can send a check to P.O. Box 850429, Mobile, AL 36685 with Sister Marilyn Moore in the memo line. Ozanam would like to thank Sister Marilyn for her years of support and we wish her the best in her future work in Arkansas. OZANAM HOSTS ANNUAL AGENCY CONFRENCE On September 19, Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy hosted its annual Agency Relations Conference at the Red Cross building on Sage Ave. Every year the certifying agencies, whose clients use the pharmacy, are retrained in the process a patient must follow to receive help from Ozanam. These caseworkers travelled from the outskirts of Ozanam’s three county service area to be trained so that they could, in turn, help the patients that are unable to travel to Catholic Social Services, next door to Ozanam. Over 40 case workers traveled from as far away as Gulf Shores and Brewton to have the staff of Ozanam walk them through the certification process for a patient to use the pharmacy. When a patient is not properly certified, it causes a back-up at the counter and a volunteer must walk the patient through the paperwork. To properly certify a patient, it takes about 30 minutes and multiple documents to prove that the patient qualifies for the services Ozanam provides. By having the patients certified at other agencies, it frees Ozanam’s staff and volunteers to serve those who desperately need their medicines. The case workers, who had not worked with Ozanam before, received a full explanation of what the pharmacy does on a daily basis including the Medication Therapy Management program. Through a partnership with the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy, 4th year pharmacy students sit down with the patients to discuss their disease state and treatment. The students have discovered redundancies and even potentially lethal combinations in the patients treatments. BEAR HUNTING WITH OZANAM AT O’DALY’S A huge thank you is in order for our neighbors across the street, O’Daly’s Irish Pub who hosted our December fundraiser, “Bear Hunting With Ozanam.” Together we cheered the Saints to victory and raised $1005 to help fund the life-saving work of the pharmacy. We all had a great time meeting the Mobile Generals and there was even a raffle of Saints tickets for the following week’s game. Thank you to everyone who made this event an enormous success including our sponsors, the Pleasant Valley Opportunity Club and the Plateau Elks Lodge. Matt and that staff of O’Daly’s have shown us the true meaning of being neighborly, you really are great neighbors! (From Left) AmeriCorps VISTA’s Chris Chambers, Victoria Davis and Clarissa Phalo at the O’Dalys Event. Johnnie Bennett (left) Volunteer Profile Johnnie Bennett is one of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy’s wonderful volunteers. Johnnie comes to Ozanam through the Goodwill Easter Seals Mature Worker Program. Johnnie has been working with Ozanam since March 2014, and every morning the staff and other volunteers get a warm welcome from Johnnie. Johnnie has a background working as a clerk for the City of Mobile and her skills seamlessly transferred to helping out at the front desk of the pharmacy. In July, she got her pharmacy technician certification and now she is able to assist back in the pharmacy when she is needed. “It’s a blessing, truly a blessing to me to be able to help our clients. It really inspires me to see that we are able to help so many people everyday, Without the help of Johnnie and Ozanam’s partnership with Goodwill Easter Seals, we would not be able to serve the community through prescription assistance. 4 Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy was recently featured in Exalte’ Magazine: the Gulf Coast’s only philanthropy through fashion magazine. The spread, entitled “Angels on Dauphin Street,” features the women of Ozanam in all their glamor. The shoot ran in their December issue and can be seen on exaltemagazine.com Phone: (251) 432-4111 Fax: (251) 432-4119 Email: [email protected] Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy is supported, in part, with donations and grants from Alabama Public Health, Baldwin County Commission, Catholic Charities, the City of Mobile, Mobile County, South Alabama Regional Planning Commission, United Way of Southwest Alabama, the U.S. Department of Housing and Development, corporations, foundations and individuals. Remember that you can always donate to Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy in remembrance of a friend or loved one. All you have to do is fill out the appropriate information on the enclosed donation envelope and place it in the mail. We will then place your name and the name of who you would like to remember on our website. Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy is a proud Catholic Charities organization. Please support Catholic Charities. 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