Senator Reed Hosts Prescription Education Discussion

Senator Jack Reed was joined by dozens of residents at the on Thursday morning where he hosted a free medication health event for Rhode Islanders.

One of Senator Reed's guests, Representative Lisa Tomasso began the event by discussing the Script Your Future campaign presented by the National Consumers League that is dedicated to promoting medication adherence education and awareness in Rhode Island and across the nation. The program focuses on educating patients about their medication needs while making them aware of the consequences that come from not taking prescription medicine as directed. 

"Script Your Future has very strong leadership from the health care community, the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, the Rhode Island Pharmacist Association, as well as national chain drug stores, including our very own CVS Caremark," said Representative Tomasso. 

According to Senator Reed's office, three out of four Americans do not take their medication as prescribed; more than one-third of medicine-related hospitalizations and approximately 125,000 deaths in the United States each year are due to people not following their prescription directions. 

"This is a very important program, providing access to information and resources ensuring that we can keep folks on their medication regimens - a task that can be very complicated sometimes," Representative Tomasso continued before she introduced Senator Reed to the crowd. 

He further explained the Script Your Future program, stating that it provides assistance to seniors so that the can navigate through the various prescriptions they may have to ensure that there are no adverse reactions to multiple drugs. 

"It's a source of information counseling," said Senator Reed. "It's about health and wellness and making sure that you have access to the right prescriptions and that you're using them properly."

He went on to discuss recent progress that has been made in Washington with the Affordable Care Act, including a plan to reduce the "donut hole" in patient prescription coverage by 2020, removing many co-pays for preventative tests for seniors, allowing children to stay on their parents' insurance policies until age 26 and assuring that a minimum of 80 percent of patient insurance premiums goes to funding actual health care and not salaries or other costs that do not benefit the consumer.

URI Pharmacy Outreach Program Coordinator Noemi Ramos-DeSimone then took the floor to discuss the various medicine education services that the program offers - several of which are hosted at the Coventry Senior Center such as the Brown Bag Program that allows seniors to bring their current prescriptions in and have a member of the pharmacy program review them. 

To learn more about the RI Script Your Future program, visit http://scriptyourfuture.org/