SAGINAW, MI (WNEM) –
A local clinic providing free medication to people who can’t afford it is closing next month.
The people who run the program say it’s not the price of medicine that’s hurting them. It’s simply the cost of operations.
“People know that somebody cares about them, and they’re just not a number,” said Sister Sylvia Wozniak, who has volunteered a lot of time to help those less fortunate get the medicine they need.
For the last 11 years, that’s been a part of the mission at Saginaw’s Community Prescription Support Program. Grants and donations have helped fill prescriptions for thousands of people who can’t afford the healthcare costs.
“Right now, we probably have about, between 900 and 1,000 active files,” said Wozniak.
But Wozniak, who sits on the program’s board, said the money that helped the day-to-day operations has run out, and the decision to shut the doors next month is final.
“I mean, we’ve just been scraping by with cutting down costs as much as we can to a bare minimum, but we can’t continue with that, and we don’t even have that at the present time to continue with,” said Wozniak.
Sherry Williams said with its closing, the community is losing a saving grace for many people, like herself. She didn’t have insurance until recently and with a long-list of health problems, including COPD and epilepsy, she said she couldn’t have afforded the medicine she needed without the help here.
“Too many people in Saginaw don’t have insurance, or if they do, can’t pay for a premium. Medications are a lot of money,” said Williams.
When asked if there was a chance they could stay open, board members said only if somebody is able to step up and give financial backing for more than just a couple of months.
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