To one and all:
Where ever you are in the US there should be and Area # Agency on Aging near
you. The number will vary depending upon where in the country you live. Here
in Northern California it is Area 1 Agency on Aging. They usually run and
Information & Referral office and often work hand in hand with local senior
centers. Although their focus is elderly, which many of you qualify as, they
also usually keep track of agenices helping the disabled. There may also be an
Access Project or Independent Living Center in your area. These agencies are
all across the US to help challenged people live independently. They can find
resources for you such as in home support, respite care, transportation help,
and an Information Paper Prepared by the Staff of the Special Committee on
Aging, United States Senate. If they do not have this information paper call or
write to your local senator or representative for a current copy. This paper
will tell you about pharmaceutical companies which offer indigent patient
programs, sometimes called patient access to care. Companies such as Du Pont
Merck Pharmaceutical Co. (Sinemet, Sinemet CR, etc,), Sandoz (Eldepryl,
Parlodel), Merck (Indocin), to name a few are on this list with phone numbers
where they can be reached. I believe that in all cases your doctor will have to
fill out a form for the company. All of these programs are income dependent,
but the scales vary, and some of them are share-of-cost programs, which still
cut the costs of meds considerably. While the doctors were deciding what was
wrong with me, I was in clinical depression (which I am told often goes with
early onset Parkinsons) and they perscribed Paxil. I could not afford it. The
company which makes it is on the list. My doctor filed for me and I received
the medicine in 3 month increments, until it was decided I have PD. Then there
were to be other meds, SinemetCR and Eldepryl, and now Clonazepam. I figure my
monthly meds cost between $450 and $500. Since I am guardian for my
granddaughter and she is on AFDC, it was determined that I was would be eligible
for medical with share of cost. This has helped enormously. I usually pay $70
to $100 per month for the doctor visits or meds and the rest is taken care of
for me including my counseling sessions.
As you can tell I am the Director of an Information & Referral Office and will
help all I can. If you cannot find help locally, call or e-mail me and I will
do what I can. I am not advertising, just offering to help. My company is a
private non-profit and survives on grants (few and far between) and donations
(in an economically depressed rural area ha ha), so we welcome any help we can
get. However, no matter what is given or not, we will do our best to help any
and all people who ask for it.
Marling McReynolds
Director SHCRC the People Center
mail: Box 2017 Redway, CA 95560
77 Ave of the Giants
phone: 707-923-5229 fax: 707-923-5221 e-mail: [log in to unmask]
thanks folks.
