EpiPens - A Story of Generosity Amongst Greed
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the wake of the massive price hike on EpiPens by pharmaceutical company, Mylan, a story of generosity and determination emerges from The Clinic:
Culmore Clinic has a patient that had an anaphylactic response to soy. Our new Clinical Director, Kirsten Krowicki, BA, RN was tasked with finding this patient an EpiPen. After calling multiple pharmacies it became clear that the going price was no less than $600 only after a $200 coupon (which was no where to be found).
After learning this, Kirsten started calling around area pharmacists, asking what they do for people without insurance. She was directed to the Mylan company but no one picked up the phone. She downloaded forms off the website to apply for patient assistance but a social security number is needed for this.
Kirsten finally got a break from Linda Wilkinson, CEO Virginia Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, Inc. who forwarded multiple websites to check for discounts. Finally Kirsten was able to find a prescription outreach offer for two pens for $200.
Kirsten called the patient back into Culmore Clinic, and helped fill out the paperwork for her. The patient informed Kirsten that she had gone out looking for a pen herself because she was scared of having another allergic reaction. She had been quoted $890 from her pharmacy. She felt hopeless and had, until we called her, resolved to live with the fear of possibly having another allergic reaction.
When she learned of the $200 price, she offered to work for a month or two to save up to pay for it herself. Culmore Clinic instead split the cost with the patient. We were able to do this because of the generous donations we receive from our supporters, and her EpiPens are on their way!
A big thank you to Culmore Clinic team members Kirsten Krowicki and Rebecca Reynolds for their tireless work to try and help our patient.