On October 22nd, 2019, several leaders from the Dispensary of Hope supported network member site San Jose Clinic in their 2019 Fall Speaker Series titled Resiliency and Expansion. The visit included a tour of the San Jose Clinic, representation on a panel discussion, and opportunities to connect with Houston-area healthcare transformation leaders. 

"The tour of the San Jose Clinic was an outstanding experience", remarked Christopher Palombo, Dispensary of Hope's CEO. "We found the staff to be passionate about the health status of Houstonians, and strategic in their positioning of the San Jose Clinic as an effective intervention in the health of the community. And the clinic facility is stunningly advanced". The facility, located at 2615 Fannin Street, houses primary care, dental care, and many specialty services. In the past year, the San Jose Clinic has dispensed a great deal of manufacturer donated medication to Houston's low income, uninsured population. Palombo added, "The Dispensary of Hope team loved seeing the pharmacy, with its busy staff and its shelves filled with product - the generosity of our medication manufacturer partners".

Later in the day, Christopher Palombo was able to join panel member Thomas Tighe, CEO of Direct Relief, and panel facilitator Nicole Lamoureux, President and CEO of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics for a discussion about humanitarian response services in the Houston area. When asked about its relationship with the San Jose Clinic before and after Houston flooding events in the past several years, Palombo recounted how the Dispensary of Hope was pleased to be of help during community response events. While emergency response assistance is something that Dispensary of Hope supports, its core work is far more connected to, "the constant emergency of lack of access to medication therapies among our low income, uninsured US population. Those who lack insurance and are chronically ill face a catastrophe every day. We bridge the kindness of medication manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies to solve that disaster situation", Palombo said. 

Pictured L to R: Thomas Tighe, Nichole Lamoureux, Maureen Sanders, Chris Palombo

The learn more about the San Jose Clinic, click here!

To read more and for references, click here. 

* Don't forget the Dispensary of Hope will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday on November 28th and 29th. Place your orders by  midnight on Tuesday November 26th to ensure delivery after the holiday. 

* Save the Date for our 2020 Southeast Symposium! This annual event will be held in Nashville, TN on April 30th and May 1st. To register, click HERE !

*With Winter Weather Season upon us, don't forget to check your FedEx tracking email, as weather conditions may alter your regularly scheduled deliveries. 

Site Visits in Texas

As the state with the most locations partnered with the Dispensary of Hope (total of 27 sites!), our team loves to visit Texas! This time around, Josh Kravitz, COO, and Josh Hagar, Account Manager visited several locations, stopping first in Tomball, Texas. TOMAGWA Pharmacy is a busy location which provides care to large diabetes and mental health population. During the tour of TOMAGWA Pharmacy, we saw how the location supports a dental program as well. CEO Timika Simmons, shared some ongoing research taking place at the clinic - a fatty liver study, which shows the percentage of fat in the liver. This study will help the individual patients with treatment and inform care for patients throughout the U.S. This was truly a unique experience and the team is excited to see more from this missional network site. 

L to R: Benjamina Covarrubias, Ira Gupta, Stephanie Creado, Josh Hagar, Josh Kravitz, Ginni Whitten - taken at TOMAGWA Pharmacy

Next up was The Harris Center, located in Houston. The Harris Center is an organization of four behavioral health clinics and one crisis intervention center. Visiting two of the four locations, the Southwest and Southeast clinic locations, they were able to view the pharmacist Chris Feller, PharmD, receive their weekly Dispensary of Hope order. This was an important experience to see the process from the beginning to end.

	Pharmacist Chris Feller, PharmD. processes his order.

Each clinic location has robotic assistance in dispensing medications accurately and efficiently. As you can see in the photo below, they do include the Dispensary of Hope medication in the robots and use our stickers to identify the donated product. 

Angie Babin, RPh, MBA, the Director of Pharmacy, discussed their entire network of clinics and how their unique organizational set up interrelates with the local government agencies. Through this collaboration and outreach in the community, they have a  huge impact on the uninsured patients. 

Medication Robots with DoH Stickers

Don't forget about the Dispensary of Hope Resources page ! We have compiled a wealth of resources to help you with your Dispensary of Hope and Charitable Programs. Click HERE to visit the Resource Library!