Pure Life Pharmacy helping community, one patient at a time

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 3/16/21

FOLEY - Cassie Davidson found herself facing a major problem.

She was trying desperately to escape homelessness and addiction. Some of her medicines cost between $500 to $600 per prescription, a …

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Pure Life Pharmacy helping community, one patient at a time

Posted

FOLEY - Cassie Davidson found herself facing a major problem.

She was trying desperately to escape homelessness and addiction. Some of her medicines cost between $500 to $600 per prescription, a price she couldn’t afford. It was a never ending circle.

“When I first came off the streets and got off of addictions, I had a lot of medical problems. I wasn’t really focused on the right things because I was too focused on trying to get my medications to get better,” she said.

Then, Davidson found help in Big Fish Ministries. Through them, she was connected with Pure Life Pharmacy in Foley.

Thanks to Pure Life’s RxAngels Program, Davidson not only received her first month of prescriptions free, she now only pays $12 per prescription.

“It helps a lot because with having fines and having to get out on our own once we’re done with the program [at Big Fish Ministries], we can save our money up and know we don’t have to go back to the streets when we’re done with our rehabilitation,” she said. “We can actually build a foundation.”

Pure Life Pharmacy currently has three community-based programs in operation. The RxAngels “Pay It Forward” Program was created to assist those who cannot afford essential monthly medication. It can be used once per year, per patient. Anyone can become an RxAngel by purchasing a RxAngel voucher for $5 or $10, which will then be used to help purchase discounted medication for someone in need.

“This program helps our ladies so much,” said Tasha Gomez, director of the Women’s Recovery Program at Big Fish Ministries, which provides a home, crisis solutions, and hope for those coming out of addiction, poverty and homelessness. “Some medications are $500 to $1,000. Some people are already working towards healing through trauma, and not having to worry about money for needed medicines takes such a burden off of them. They receive free meds for the first round, and then $5 afterwards is feasible for us to help them in their moment of need.”

Gomez says more than just the program, Pure Life does research to find as many community resources as possible for patients. Anyone who uses the RxAngels program is given a packet filled with information on where they can find food, shelter, and other available resources in the area.

“There is so much of a need in the community, and when we can all join together hand in hand it’s so much better because we have our own resources, and Pure Life has their resources, and we can combine those resources to come together to help the community,” said Gomez.

Other community programs at Pure Life include a Free Antibiotics Program, covering five of the leading oral generic antibiotics for both adults and children, and the newest Free Children’s Vitamins Program.

This program provides a free bottle of Lil’ Critters vitamins to families, offering one bottle per child per month. No sign up or membership is required to receive the free bottle of vitamins. Families are welcome to stop by the pharmacy to pick up the vitamins, which are for children two and older. These programs are only the beginning, as the staff hopes to expand existing programs and roll out new ones in the future.

But how is Pure Life Pharmacy able to offer such discounted medications? The pharmacy operates with two major components: their traditional pharmacy that offers low cost generic medications and their compound pharmacy offering high-quality compounds. Owner Jeff Hoover says both sides are of equal importance, with the compounding pharmacy’s profits allowing for the low-cost of generics and other community programs.

“Some people like to take hormones in order to stay healthy,” he said. “They might not necessarily need them, but they would like to take them for the health benefits. If they purchase those hormones from our compound pharmacy, then that profit will go towards keeping the business running. We don’t need the generics side to keep the pharmacy open, that profit goes to the community.”

All insurance contracts have been eliminated at Pure Life, allowing the pharmacy to sell medications at cash prices. Customers will not need to pay fees, receive prior authorizations or submit to a qualifying process to receive the discounted prices. They must simply come with the prescription from their doctor to get the order filled. The generic medications offered at Pure Life are ordered from the same wholesalers as larger retail chains. Most of their generics are buy two months and get the third month free, and over 1,000 medications are listed for $10 or less per month.

“When it comes to medicines, there’s a morality to it, and that’s that you’re dealing with someone’s health,” Hoover said. “If the medicines are only a dollar, sometimes you might be charged $30, because sellers know you need these medicines. It’s a different supply and demand when you’re dealing with an illness, it’s a higher demand. But you can’t maximize profitability based on someone’s disease.”

For more information on all Pure Life programs and offers, visit https://pureliferx.com and follow them on Facebook. Pure Life is located at 1518 North McKenzie Street, Suite 412, Foley. For any questions, give them a call at 251-424-1544.