Fall Festival
Family Center agencies host an annual Fall Festival for local families with children. One of the goals of the event is to open the doors to the community, giving those who haven’t been exposed to the Family Center a look at our special building and what it has to offer. It also provides a free, fun, and safe event for local children. Agencies decorate their offices and organize activities including games, treats, refreshments, and crafts.
Stuff the Bus
As the start of school approaches each August, many local families struggle to afford basic school supplies for their children. To assist these families, the Family Center agencies join with other local nonprofits and businesses to hold the "Stuff the Bus" school supply fundraising event. In early August, a multi-day collection event is held at the McDonalds on Tiffin Avenue. Family Center agencies volunteer during both the collection days and the distribution event held a few weeks later at the Family Center.
Prescription Assistance Program
Two Family Center agencies, Caughman Health Center and Hancock Christian Clearing House, are working together to help ensure local residents have access to life-sustaining prescription medication.
The Prescription Assistance Program’s roots can be traced to 2006 when Brenda Sciranka, manager of Caughman Health Center, became concerned with the growing number of clinic patients who couldn’t afford their prescription medication. She knew that when medical conditions such as diabetes, mental illness, depression, and high blood pressure are left untreated, it often leads to greater, and more costly, health problems down the road. With grant funding from the Community Foundation, Sciranka was able to hire a full-time registered nurse (RN) to connect patients with national prescription assistance programs. These programs, offered as a community service through pharmaceutical companies, provide free prescriptions to those who qualify. In 2008, Caughman Health Center helped patients in need receive more than $1.3 million in free prescription medication.
While the RN position made a big impact, there was still an unmet need; it took several weeks for a patient to begin receiving their prescription medication through a national program. This time gap, from diagnosis to receiving the medication, was critical to the patient’s health. “A lot can happen in a month,” explains Sciranka, “such as inpatient stays and emergency room visits.” And, many patients who didn’t begin a medication immediately would opt to forgo it entirely, especially patients with non-symptomatic conditions like high blood pressure. Once again, the Community Foundation stepped in to help by funding a grant to provide short-term prescription assistance. The grant monies enable Hancock Christian Clearing House to help patients purchase an immediate supply of their needed medications, with costs ranging from a few dollars to several hundred dollars.
The two agencies, located just down the hall from each other at the Family Center, continue to work together to provide prescription assistance and regularly refer patients to each other.
1800 North Blanchard Street, Findlay, OH 45840
P: 419.425.5988 | F: 419.425.2047 | E: info@hancockfamilycenter.org