I recently got a dose of what it may be like to be a type 1 diabetic in America without insurance. I went to Walgreens to get a monitor and some test strips to send to Milonia. I was unprepared. They give you a monitor for pretty much free, which is nice because the least expensive test strips that work with that monitor are $70 for 100 strips. That may not seem like a bad deal, but Milonia is currently using 5 strips per day to monitor her sugar levels. So, that will cost $70 for 20 days of use. I don't know about you, but that would alter our budget significantly.
And that's in America...$70 and 10 minutes of my day.
If you've ever been to Haiti and tried to accomplish, well...anything, you know it's not like America. You can't just run down to your local Walgreens and get what you need. Most likely it will be a project consuming half if not all of your day. Imagine heading down to your local Walgreens to get any given prescription. They tell you they don't have your medication and won't for an indefinite amount of time. Or they tell you that it will cost you more today than usual because...well, they don't have to give you a reason. Or they just give you the wrong medication, but it's close to what you need (this summer, Milonia had plenty of pills for type 2 diabetes...useless to her.) In short...EVERYTHING IS MORE DIFFICULT IN HAITI!!!
So...I called my sis-in-law who is a pharmacist. She has told me before that the pharmacy where she works is very charitable and the owner has a heart to help the poor. Well, by American standards, you can't get more poor than Milonia. He graciously agreed to give us 3 monitors and sell us the test strips for his cost...half of what they normally cost.
So, here's a shout out and a thank you to Mckinney Pharmacy in Springdale, AR. If you live in Northwest Arkansas, head down to Mckinney Pharmacy in Sprindale, AR the next time you need a prescription filled.
Mckinney Drug Store
601 W Maple Ave
Springdale, AR 72764
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