LAKE COUNTY, Ohio — The Lake County Prescription Assistance Program is preparing to cease operations at the end of April.
News 5 first reported about the program in August of last year, when it lost its funding. After that story aired, a few churches in the area raised half of the money needed to keep it going, but the founder of the program said those funds have dried up, too.
RELATED: Lake Co. pharmacy loses funding, set to close
You can watch more about the nonprofit losing its funding in the player below:
Joel Lucia’s passion for helping others is unwavering, even at the age of 85 years old.
“We provide free medication to anyone who can’t afford it,” he said.
As the director and founder of Lake County’s Prescription Assistance Program, that passion has grown over the last 14 years because he has seen the need firsthand.
“It’s medication that people can use, that people need to keep them alive,” said Lucia.
The nonprofit program receives excess medication from other agencies and distributes it at little to no cost.
“Some of this medicine is expensive. We have one medicine here that is $11,000 a month. If you have the best insurance in the world you might be able to get it for $500 a month,” he said.
The nonprofit serves 500-800 people throughout Lake County and surrounding counties a month.
Sharan Strahan not only receives medication from the pharmacy, but she also volunteers for the program.
“I currently get four prescriptions from the prescription assistance program, one of which is quite expensive,” she said. “We are able to get the medication for just a minimal mailing cost.”
It is Lucia’s commitment to his clients that makes closing his doors a hard pill to swallow.
“Our funding depends on outside sources,” he said. “This program is widely used, everyone thinks it’s a wonderful program, but nobody wants to fund it.”
The program only costs about $65,000 a year.
In August of last year, the nonprofit's longtime funding source backed out; since then, Lucia has exhausted all of his options. He said he has reached out to the Lake County General Health District, the county commissioners, hospitals and more but said no one would fund the $65,000 needed to keep them operating.
Ron Graham, the county’s health commissioner, said he was involved in getting the program started under the health district. He added that he and Lucia decided it was more effective to run as a nonprofit.
He said when it comes to funding, the program has struggled for years to get the infrastructure in place, adding that he has asked for more data regarding the clients they serve, the drugs they receive and the need but has not received enough clear information about it for the health department to absorb it.
Lake County commissioners did not respond to News 5’s requests for comment.
Lucia said he is going to start notifying clients that April will be their last month of operation and will begin to destroy the medication on their stocked shelves.
“It’s going to be all thrown away, perfectly good medication,” he said. “Once we go out of business, to restart a Lake County drug repository is nearly impossible. We have the license, we have the pharmacist, we have the volunteers, and that’s not going to happen again.”
But he is still holding out hope for a saving grace so that he can keep providing life-saving help for so many people throughout Lake County.
Graham said there are other options for people who need prescription help like theLake County Council on Agingand Lifeline Lake County,
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