Fisher's Mom
Executive Chef
This happened to me last Friday and I wanted to share. I took my mom from Ike-stricken Houston to my house near Corpus Christi. She has no electricity still to power her oxygen equipment. Unfortunately, she didn't manage to gather enough of all of her medicines when we left.
We discovered this Friday morning. Because her medicines are shipped to her every 3 months automatically, she didn't have a prescription with her. I called the local WalMart and explained the situation. The pharmacist took down the information and said she'd see what she could do. Well, after lots of calling, it turned out that her prescription for one of the inhalation meds had run out months ago.
I thought I'd need to just take her to a doc in town and get new prescriptions but the pharmacist got mom's doctor's name in Houston and said she'd call. That doc still had no power and had an answering service who directed patients to go to an emergency room if they had an issue that couldn't wait. The pharmacist called me again asking if she had other doctors, which she does.
To make this long story shorter, that pharmacist spent at least a couple of hours on the phone and finally reached mom's pulmonologist and got the prescriptions faxed to them. And to top it off, she made calls and verified mom's insurance (which she didn't have cards with her for) so when I picked up the meds, expecting to pay ~$300, the charge was $12! And, the pharmacy was very, very busy that day!
Of course, I went right to the store manager and told him about all the extra effort she made for my mom. Then I emailed WalMart's corporate headquarters and told them about it, too.
Now, I'm looking for ways to Pay It Forward myself.
We discovered this Friday morning. Because her medicines are shipped to her every 3 months automatically, she didn't have a prescription with her. I called the local WalMart and explained the situation. The pharmacist took down the information and said she'd see what she could do. Well, after lots of calling, it turned out that her prescription for one of the inhalation meds had run out months ago.
I thought I'd need to just take her to a doc in town and get new prescriptions but the pharmacist got mom's doctor's name in Houston and said she'd call. That doc still had no power and had an answering service who directed patients to go to an emergency room if they had an issue that couldn't wait. The pharmacist called me again asking if she had other doctors, which she does.
To make this long story shorter, that pharmacist spent at least a couple of hours on the phone and finally reached mom's pulmonologist and got the prescriptions faxed to them. And to top it off, she made calls and verified mom's insurance (which she didn't have cards with her for) so when I picked up the meds, expecting to pay ~$300, the charge was $12! And, the pharmacy was very, very busy that day!
Of course, I went right to the store manager and told him about all the extra effort she made for my mom. Then I emailed WalMart's corporate headquarters and told them about it, too.
Now, I'm looking for ways to Pay It Forward myself.
