It is extremely important to give back to the community in which you live in. The following journal descibes a community service that I was able to volunteer a total of eight hours for the Dispensary of Hope in Murfreesboro, TN.

            The agency that I chose to visit was Dispensary of Hope of Murfreesboro.  The agency is a non-profit organization funded through grants and Middle Tennessee Medical Center.  Patients from any clinic can come to this agency with their script.  When the patients arrive at the agency, they must first speak with a social worker.  The patients must show proof that they are without prescription coverage and that they are under 200% of the poverty line.  After they show proof, they wait for just a few minutes and if the pharmacy has their prescription, it is filled. The patients then are educated about their medication.  Sometimes the pharmacy does not have the script, so then what the pharmacist will do is give the patient a list of the four dollar medications that are available at Wal-mart and Kroger.

            The general statuses of the aggregates visiting the pharmacy were diabetics and hypertensive patients. Health needs that I identified for the patients were nutritional information and medication compliance education.  Some of the patients that came into the clinic had let there script run out for their hypertension and/or diabetes. So, when I took their blood pressure, it was very high. I was unable to assess blood glucose while at the clinic.  I educated them about the importance of medication compliance.  Also, some of the patients ran out of their insulin or metformin. These patients needed education on medication compliance, as well as nutritional information.  The nutritional information was needed because by observing the patients, most of them were obese.

            I assisted the staff with services that promote the health and wellbeing of the community by educating patients and checking their blood pressures. I educated the patients about normal blood pressure readings, and I also told them the signs and symptoms that they may experience when their blood may be rising.  Some patients that needed education were diabetic, so I made sure they knew the normal ranges for blood glucose testing. Also, I educated them about their medication administration and the importance of compliance with their insulin. I also helped by assisting the staff with stocking the medication room, cleaning, and sorting medications.

            A challenge of partnering with this agency to help meet the needs of vulnerable aggregates is that helping everyone is not an option. The medications are limited.  It is just not enough of every medication for every patient. For example, there were two patients that needed Lantus today, but there was only one bottle left. The policy is first come, first serve, so the first patient who arrived received the Lantus. A suggestions that I would like to propose that will help this agency achieve its purpose and reduce risks for the patients is to ask the surrounding hospitals an pharmacies to donate medications that are in high demand, such as insulin and hypertension medications, to the agency so they can better serve the community. The reason I believe insulin and hypertension medications are the most needed is because there two medications were the dispensed the most on the day I volunteered.

            Working as a volunteer with the Dispensary of Hope made me feel good about what I was doing.  Helping patients who need medications, but cannot afford them is a rising problem.  Medications are so expensive, and with the economy on a downward slope, people are losing their jobs everyday. The staff mentioned that more and more patients are coming in that have lost their jobs. Volunteering at The Dispensary of Hope has helped me appreciate the needs of vulnerable aggregates and the role of the community health nurse better because I was able to participate actively and provide needed medications to the members of the community.  Agency’s such as the Dispensary of Hope would not exist if community health nurses and medical staff did not recognize the importance of caring for patients that cannot afford medications and healthcare.