Alliance for Health

A Brief History of the Organization

The Alliance for Health is a nonprofit organization established to provide crisis medication assistance to indigent patients in Hancock County, Mississippi. This charity is a community-wide effort of all faiths, races, and backgrounds. Our work is made possible through generous support and efforts of the community, including foundations, religious organizations/churches, civic and social organizations, corporations, individual donations, and fundraisers. Our mission is to sustain the quality of life by providing life-sustaining medications. 

We have been in existence, although under a different name(s) and statuses, since December 1984. Initially, we had a minimal fund (Indigent Prescription Program), managed by Hancock General Hospital. The hospital social worker could use it to provide a voucher to a patient discharging from the hospital with prescriptions they could not afford. At any given time the fund had no more than several hundred dollars.

Captain Harold Madison Fund

In 2004, Captain Harold Madison, a former Hancock County resident, bequeathed money through a trust fund to enhance the health of our County’s residents.  Susan Stevens, then Director of Social Services at Hancock Medical Center, administered that money by providing vouchers for needed medicines for needy patients upon discharge from the hospital.  She was very aware of the growing need for prescription assistance as medicine costs continued to outpace the cost of living and showed the most dramatic impact on the elderly, families, and the financially impoverished.  The Executor of the “Captain Harold Madison Fund” requested that a more formal arrangement for long-term planning be established to administer those donated monies.  In 2005, Ms. Stevens gathered interested and committed individuals together to discuss expanding the use of the “Captain Harold Madison Funds” to better meet Hancock County’s needs.

The Hancock County Alliance for Health was formed.  That group decided that the best use of the funds would be to provide emergency and one-time help to individuals in Hancock County or treated at Hancock Medical Center.  The St. Vincent de Paul Community Pharmacy had established a charitable pharmacy to provide prescription assistance to serve Hancock County. However, it required a financial screening for eligibility before enrollment, often resulting in a delay of service and targeted people with chronic needs (i.e., heart patients that need medicine each day). It also required that the applicant travel to Biloxi for assistance.  An interim service was needed to meet emergency needs and to help those needing a bridge to a longer-term program.  The “Captain Harold Madison Fund” was willing not only to provide a limited amount of money but to match the group’s fundraising efforts up to $20,000.

The Alliance for Health proceeded to develop its bylaws and file for incorporation.  Then Hurricane Katrina struck August 29, 2005, decimating Hancock and surrounding counties.  The group reformed as quickly as possible in response to a dramatic increase in need in the community.  Vouchers continued to be distributed on a minimal basis through Hancock Medical Center and the Human Resource Center.  The Alliance for Health received its tax-exempt status and state registration in 2005.  The program expanded to seven distribution centers (adding the St. Vincent de Paul Community Pharmacy Satellite Office for Hancock County, Gulf Coast Mental Health, Hancock County Health Department; Hancock County Red Cross; and the St. Gerard Community Outreach program) and provided assistance administered by the nursing staffs of the ten public schools in Hancock County and two Rural Health Clinics.  In this way, it is believed that access to prescription medicine will be available to all Hancock County residents needing emergency or one-time help.  The Alliance for Health does not discriminate by race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, physical or mental abilities. However, it is geographic-specific (Hancock County residents or patients served at Hancock Medical Center) and income-specific (the applicant must demonstrate financial need).

Dissolution of the Corporation

Most recently (July 2011), the Hancock County Alliance for Health, Inc. was dissolved, and the program was turned over in full to Christ Episcopal Church. The Vestry has adopted a customary for the function of a committee to implement and sustain the program as it was initially intended, with an eye on potential growth to a more extensive ministry to serve our community at large.

Screening for Eligibility

Each applicant for assistance through the Alliance for Health is screened for financial eligibility using the Alliance’s Eligibility Determination Form.  It gathers information about the number in the household, income, monthly expenses, and availability of other resources.  After verifying eligibility, they are given a voucher to be taken to a cooperating local pharmacy and can be used for up to $100 that one time.  Service is tracked and compiled monthly. The Alliance can provide statistical reports every quarter.

There are no paid staff or board member positions. All participants volunteer their time and talent. Christ Church underwrites all administrative expenses of the Alliance for Health, allowing all contributions to go directly to the clients in need.