A NeedyMeds program through the Carson City Health and Human Services Department is designed to help provide people who wasn’t afford drugs get their medications or othwer health care help, according to the city-based program coordinator.
Pam Salassi, coordinator for the NeedyMeds-related Community Access to Medications Program at the health department, said she was hired on a grant from NeedyMeds, Inc., which is based in Massachusetts.
The grant included $20,000 for her part-time work and $10,000 for other expenses.
“We just got the grant last November,” said Salassi, a part-time health educator. The program aids those with affordability problems, insured or uninsured, via a free drug discount card and information regarding pharmaceutical patient assistance programs or other help.
The website, Salassi said, is www.NeedyMeds.org. Another website at wwww.gethealthycarsoncity.org, she said, allows people to print and obtain the discount card or it can be picked up in the city health department lobby at 900 E. Long St.
The card, according to Salassi, is accepted at more than 70,000 pharmacies nationwide and can be used to save up to 80 percent on prescription medications.
For additional information about the NeedyMeds program and the services provided people may go online or contact Salassi at the health department, she said.
She also reported the city’s partner firm in Massachusetts, which calls itself an information clearing house, not only helps via pharmaceutical patient assistance programs, but also programs offering financial assistance based on diagnosis, free/low cost sliding scale clinics, government applications and more.