Area Eagles donate funds for senior prescription drug help

So far, $107,100 collected by the Missouri Fraternal Order of Eagles Aeries and Auxiliaries for prescription drug assistance has helped 33 seniors in Southeast Missouri and 200 statewide.

Pam Boyd, then president of the Missouri Eagles auxiliary, worked together with Dennis DeLapp, president of the Missouri Eagles, to raise the funds between June 30, 2009, to July 1. Boyd said the money is being distributed to 10 Area Agencies on Aging in the state based on population and project need.

"We wanted to make sure the whole state got to benefit," Boyd said.

She said the money will be used to help people who fall through the cracks because they no longer have an income because of illness or injury.

"This is very personal to me," Boyd said. "I have seen my parents struggle with this. I know others out there have the same issues."

"I was absolutely blown away," said Ruth Dockins, public information director for the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging. "This money was raised dollar by dollar. The donations came from raffles and drives. It didn't come from big corporations -- it came from individuals."

She said her organization's mission is to help seniors with expensive co-pays and deductibles, and to help fill in the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole." After a set amount of money has been spent on prescriptions, Dockins said, Medicare will stop paying.

"After the senior pays $4,500 out of pocket they enter catastrophic insurance coverage, which covers 95 percent of the costs until the end of the year," she said. "Then the cycle starts again. The time between losing coverage and getting catastrophic insurance is called the gap or the doughnut hole."

She said when seniors call after they have reached the gap, the agency will assist by paying up to $500. She said the agency is mindful that the Eagles' funds are finite.

"When the money is gone, it's gone, but we are trying to stretch it out," she said.

According to Dockins, the Eagles have given her agency two disbursements, one in December for $5,000 and one in March for $7,000. Boyd said the final round is scheduled to be given the second or third week in July, but did not disclose the amount to be paid.

Ima Scowden, 73, from Lowndes, Mo., worked blue collar jobs -- factory work and home health care -- until her arthritis became too painful.

"My arthritis got so bad I couldn't stretch a sheet to make a bed," Scowden said. "I had to apply for disability."

She now uses Celebrex, a medication used to treat the pain, swelling and stiffness caused by her condition. Before she took Celebrex, she said, at one point the pain was so intense her husband had to take her to the hospital to manage it.

"It hurt so bad I was almost to the point of just screaming," she said.

Scowden said her $80 co-pay for the medication is what brought her to the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging.

"What [Dockins] and her organization does is just so much help, and such a blessing to me, and people like me," she said. "There are so many people out there that can't afford to buy the medicine they need because of the co-pays, and the price of the medicine." Bill Benefield, 75, of Cape Girardeau was raised on a farm, worked labor jobs and served four years in the Navy. He and Goldie, his wife, went to the agency because monthly prescription costs kept rising.

"Ruth helped us pay the medicine bill," Benefield said. "They have helped us and bent over backward."

He said this year he's hoping to miss the doughnut hole after Ruth advised him to switch generic medication and to enroll his wife in Mo Rx.

Mo Rx is a state-run program that, according to its website, pays 50 percent of out-of-pocket costs on medications covered by the Medicare Part D plan. The program does not pay for the Medicare Part D plan's monthly premium. To qualify for the program, the applicant must be enrolled in Medicare Part D and be single with an annual gross household income of $21,660 or less, or be married with an annual gross household income of $29,140 or less.

Benefield's wife suffered two light strokes and had triple bypass surgery five years ago. She enrolled in Medicare Part D to alleviate the rising medication prices, Benefield said, but they have struggled to make ends meet.

"We aren't begging for a handout," Benefield said. "All we owe is our medicine bills, [Part] D and groceries."