KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.
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A pharmacy that helps people get important prescriptions at affordable prices is expanding to Johnson County after seeing success in Wyandotte County.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about one in four adults who take prescription drugs struggle to afford it.
The cost of medications can be a huge barrier for people in the Kansas City metro, and it's a need that's growing in Johnson County. Pharmacy of Grace plans to open a fully serviced pharmacy with care technicians near the I-35 east corridor Shawnee neighborhood.
The nonprofit pharmacy currently delivers dozens of medications a day to an office where the pharmacy will be in Shawnee on West 75th Street.
"This is truly just a closet," pharmacist Brandon Powers said. "It's not a pharmacy, we don't fill prescriptions don't here, we just basically dispense them."
Pharmacy of Grace helps patients find cheaper medications and helps cover the costs from lack of insurance or not enough insurance. It's funded partially through community partnerships and community donations.
"We can give medications that maybe cost, even with co-pays, thousands of dollars, for next to nothing," Powers said.
Powers will fill up prescriptions at the pharmacy's main location in Wyandotte County and then drives down to Johnson County. Powers explained hundreds of people rely on the deliveries in Shawnee.
"We've noticed there's definitely a need in this area," Powers said. "We found on different studies [in this area of Johnson County], basically one in four patients are uninsured."
The need is growing, pushing Pharmacy of Grace to open a full pharmacy with counseling rooms and bilingual technicians to serve Shawnee and Johnson County.
"It can be life changing," Powers said.
It's meant to help patients like Michelle Jacke who often travels up to KCK for medicine and relies on cheaper prescriptions.
"It causes a lot of stress when you don't have the finances and things like that to cover those things," Jacke said.
Jacke worked as a nurse for years and saw firsthand how patients struggled with the cost of prescriptions.
"My very first patient actually, I ended up buying their medication for them," Jacke said. "It was ironic that I fell into that situation on my own."
She was able to find Pharmacy of Grace, and they helped her get cheaper medication to treat her heart problems.
"There's always been the thought that living in Johnson County that these people don't have the same needs as other people in different areas," Jacke said. "I think we do have a lot of people here that fall into the cracks. Having [the pharmacy] located here, I think they're going to find that they have a big need here."
The Shawnee pharmacy is expected to open by June. You can find more information about the donation campaign for the pharmacy expansion here.
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