Help is Here Express

Ruth Stevens of Beatrice didn’t know if she qualified for any of the pharmaceutical patient assistance programs available.

But, she got some good news from the “Help is Here Express” bus for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance while it was in Beatrice on Friday.

Stevens was among the few people that took advantage of the PPA bus tour, sponsored by America’s pharmaceutical research companies, when it stopped Friday afternoon at the Beatrice Public Library to help uninsured or financially struggling Nebraskans access information on programs that provide prescription medicines for free or nearly free.

Stevens does carry insurance, but it does not pick up the cost of a prescription drug that she must take. The cost of the drug, plus the cost of living, hurts her financially, she said.

“I kind of hated to come because I know there are people worse off then I am,” Stevens said. “But everything just keeps going up and up.”

Specialists with PPA were able to help direct Stevens to a program that may entitle her to a prescription discount card.

Assistance given to people like Stevens makes the PPA bus tour important, Kaelan Hollon, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America communications and public affairs director, said.

“It’s seeing people’s faces when they find out they will be able to take their medicines and that help is available,” she said. “Everywhere we go we see those who need help.”

The PPA bus tour has two buses criss-crossing the country for a majority of the year educating people about patient-assistance programs. The “Help is Here Express” bus is staffed by trained specialists able to quickly help uninsured patients access information on more than 475 patient-assistance programs.

This includes nearly 200 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies, Hollon said.

More than 2,500 brand-name and generic prescription medicines are available through participating patient-assistance programs.

Since the launch of the bus tour in April 2005, PPA has assisted nearly 5 million people, including 30,000 in Nebraska. They have visited more than 1,500 cities nationwide. On this trip through Nebraska, the bus stopped in Scottsbluff, Alliance, Sidney, Ogallala, North Platte, McCook, Lexington, Hastings, Crete and Beatrice. This was the first time the bus tour has stopped in Beatrice.

The bus will now head to Iowa.

In addition, the PPA provides information on nearly 10,000 free health care clinics and has connected more than 135,000 patients with clinics and health care providers in their communities.

“The PPA is helping thousands of patients every day,” Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said. “No one’s helped by a medicine that sits on the shelf and is out of reach financially.

“We will keep coming back to Nebraska as long as there are people who need our help.”

This year’s bus tour is focused on reaching out to those with chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mental disorders and hypertension; as it affects more than 133 million people nationwide, Hollon said. In Nebraska there are more than 950,000 cases of common chronic diseases.

Chronic diseases are responsible for seven out of every 10 deaths in the United States, in addition to causing a myriad of other health problems. It also has the potential to shorten lives, reduce quality of life and create considerable burdens on caregivers, making it imperative that those who suffer have access to the medicines they need.

“If they don’t stay on top of their medication, it could result in hospitalization or much worse,” she said.

More than 1,300 national, state and local partners, including the American Lung Association of Nebraska, Nebraska Medical Society and the Arthritis Foundation-Nebraska Chapter; are working with America’s pharmaceutical research companies to spread the word about the program.

For those unable to come to the bus, PPA people can find out about assistance programs by telephone at 1-888-4PPA-NOW or at www.pparx.org.

In her time working with the PPA, Hollon has heard many people talk about the benefit the program was to them.

“We have a lot of people writing in that PPA saved my life,” she said.