By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

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Independent/Scott Kingsley Jane Long (left) looks at her results with Program Specialist Sam Jernigan of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA). The program helps to give individuals assistance with finding discount drug programs for their prescriptions. Independent/Scott Kingsley With the bus full, Russell Parks of Hastings waits for his consultation with facilitators from Partnership for Prescription Assistance. The program helps to find discounts for individuals' prescriptions. Click Thumbnails to View

But the step onto the bus was intended to be the first on the road to more reasonable prescription drug costs.

That's what Rosa Wallin of Hastings was hoping as she waited to board the bus in search of programs to help pay for two drugs that are costing her $150 to $175 per month.

She'd tried looking online for ways to ease the financial strain but couldn't get far.

"They tell you to go to Mexico and Canada," Wallin said. "Well, I can't do that."

That's where the Partnership for Prescription Assistance comes in. The program, begun in 2005 by a group of pharmaceutical research companies, aims to help uninsured or cash-strapped citizens find programs to help pay for all or part of their prescription drugs.

The program brings together a database of about 475 programs, which patients can cross-check by such factors as age, drug type, income or household size to determine which ones they're eligible for.

Thursday's stop by the program's Help Is Here Express was part of an effort to offer one-on-one assistance while also promoting the service's Web site and toll-free help line.

"We may help 40 or 50 people today here," said Kaelan Hollon, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which runs the program. "But people can still get help even if they're not on the bus."

About half of the assistance programs included in the partnership are sponsored by pharmaceuticals, Hollon said, while the others come through government agencies.

Many of the programs have been around for decades, but many patients didn't know they existed or where to find them if they did.

The partnership is designed to put those programs together in one place to streamline the search for aid, Hollon said.

Mary Lanning has offered a similar service, the Medication Assistance Program, for several years, said Lisa Brandt, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

She hadn't heard of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance before the bus tour scheduled a visit, but she said others at the hospital were familiar with the program.

She said she was encouraged to see another program helping patients find cheaper drug options.

"It's beneficial for patients," Brandt said. "This is on the national level, but it helps people locally."

Just a half hour into the bus' stop, Jane Long of Fairfield could count herself as one of those people. She had come to see if she could find some discounts for her Plavix prescription, which costs her $138 a month.

She hopes to have health insurance soon, but until then, anything to help pay the bill and make ends meet would be a great help.

She left with a partially completed assistance program application that she could finish at home and send in online.

"I was hopeful (coming onto the bus)," Long said. "And it sounds like that was justified."