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Ramsell Corporation and its subsidiaries underwrite all operating costs for Flowers Heritage Foundation. One hundred percent -100%- of donor dollars go directly to these programs.
Sylester Flowers, our founder, has an extensive and esteemed history serving disadvantaged populations throughout his pharmacy career. Today, Flowers' commitment to operating businesses that serve the underserved is stronger than ever. Sharing in these ideals of caring for vulnerable populations, our scholarship recipients will play a vital role in reducing the looming pharmacy shortage and ensuring proper patient care in the face of growing medical needs and risks. "We are proud to have been awarded this scholarship by the Flowers Heritage Foundation. This gift exhibits the high priority the Foundation places on education, the future of pharmacy, enhancing patient services, and building healthier communities." - Phillip R. Oppenheimer, Pharm.D. Dean, UOP, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy
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OUR PROGRAMS BRIDGE THE GAP The goal of Bridge the Gap (BTG) program is to identify and address disparities in HIV/AIDS care and prevention and other emerging health related crises. To address these issues successfully, BTG seeks to improve existing health care services and systems, recommends both short and/or long-term solutions, and encourages participatory-centered team efforts from working closely with community partners, including: People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), advisory boards, collaborators, communities, opinion leaders, and key stakeholders. Together, we discover successful and sustainable outcomes. We respond compassionately through building capacity and managing effective change. The Board medical advisory group authorizes policies and protocols for programs the Foundation considers for funding. It assists in designing models that address unmet needs requiring assistance that are identified by either request or circumstance. In 2007, one BTG project successfully secured funding for 22 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) on the Montana AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) wait-list. We obtained life-saving prescription drugs and alleviated the wait list. In essence, we provided vital medications to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured people.
ADAP clients are the most vulnerable and underserved PLWHA. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of ADAP clients are racial/ethnic minorities; 80% have incomes at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, and almost three-fourths (73%) are uninsured. ADAPs represent the nation's prescription drug safety net for PLWHA, providing FDA-approved HIV-related prescription drugs to patients who have limited or no prescription drug coverage. Some states have been forced to implement a waiting list for PLWHA who are enrolled in their ADAPs. These vulnerable patients are not able to benefit from highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which since 1996 has decreased AIDS deaths and tripled the average life expectancy for PLWHA (from 7 to 24 years). As of July, 2007, a total of 308 individuals who are qualified and eligible to receive life-saving medications through ADAP were on waiting lists due to lack of funding. In recent years, several patients died while on the ADAP waiting list. Particularly, this project is extraordinary because it literally saves lives using the most cost-effective means possible. Patient registration, enrollment, and other administrative mechanisms for it are managed by Public Health Rx, which has been providing pharmacy benefit management services to ADAP programs since 1997, and contributes its services to the project free-of-charge. The Flowers Heritage Foundation and Public Health Rx are also working on a public policy level to change this unacceptable situation and ensure adequate government systems are in place and funding is allocated to meet these needs in the future. DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON AIDS Many young people do not know the basic facts about HIV risk and prevention. Yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control, people under 25 are estimated to make up HALF of all new HIV infections in the U.S. This statistic demonstrates the large numbers of young people who are sexually active, have multiple partners without using protection, and lack critical information regarding the spread of HIV. Don't Turn Your Back on AIDS (DTYBOA) provides an interactive environment where high school students learn the imperative information regarding HIV risk and prevention. Foundation staff engage high school art education teachers to promote the program. Teachers build their fall curriculum around the art contest and use the program as a vehicle for both inspiring creativity, learning art technique, and raising awareness on this sensitive subject. Once engaged, we have found that the students' awareness of the AIDS health crisis increases and their risk behaviors reduce respectively. Our "Don't Turn Your Back on AIDS" Art Scholarship Competition serves to clearly inform young people about the urgent need for testing and prevention as a means to prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS among their peers. By stimulating frank discussion about the modes of transmission of, (and protection from), AIDS/HIV, this well-researched presentation has empowered thousands of high school students with crucial, life-saving knowledge. Winning artists' creations are placed up for bid in a silent auction at the annual ceremony. All proceeds go to funding future HIV/AIDS awareness programs for youth. Several student artists that participated in this contest have received full scholarships to reputable art institutions for example; the California College of Art, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, and Academy of Art in San Francisco. In 2007, our program engaged 240 talented high school artists from 15 high schools in creating works such as sculptures, paintings, drawings, textile works and photographs around the theme - Don't Turn Your Back on AIDS. Thirty scholarships were awarded to students with matching funds to their school art departments. Based on the feedback we received, this competition had a broad-reaching impact on the students' awareness of AIDS in their community and the world, and the high school student and their communities both benefited from that experience. The exhibit and awards reception was held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on December 1, 2007 - World AIDS Day. This venue was selected because of its proximity to the high art and culture in the heart San Francisco, and it is located across the street from the Museum of Modern Art and other reputable art institutions. It ensured that a larger audience had the opportunity to view the thoughtful, creative, and powerful works created by the students. Consequently, through this program, participants become potential peer educators, public health ambassadors, and public service advocates. FLOWERS PHARMACY SCHOLARSHIPS PROGRAM The pharmacist shortfall is expected to reach crisis proportions in 20081. In dustry experts estimate the current shortage is in excess of 7000 unfilled openings2, placing severe stress on the nation's already strained pharmacy, hospital, and care facility workforce. In high-growth states such as California, the shortage will be acutely felt, particularly in underserved communities where aging minority and medically indigent populations are in desperate need of professional pharmacist counsel. The Flowers Heritage Foundation Pharmacy Degree Scholarship Program was established to help address this critical unmet need through funding and support to financially needy students from underserved communities pursuing their Doctor of Pharmacy degree. The Foundation awards scholarships to students based on their demonstrated community service background, intent to provide pharmacist services in underserved communities, limited personal opportunities for higher education, and agreement to meet all program criteria. Currently, the Foundation institutes the program exclusively at the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, at the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, California. More than one third of practicing pharmacists in California are UOP graduates, and their pharmacy students annually rank among the very best in the U.S. in board passage rates.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, colleges lack the capacity and funding to train adequate numbers of pharmacy students who are faced with the state's rising costs of living.3 Consequently, the Foundation's vision is both timely and innovative. A recent study found a high level of job satisfaction (77%) among pharmacists. This fact, combined with the growing awareness that pharmacists play a key role in preventing deaths from medication errors, reducing health care costs, and improving patients' health outcomes, should be an incentive for young people to enter this profession. This incentive combined with financial support for education costs will help ensure an increasing number of trained pharmacists will be available to meet the growing demand.
1 Critical Care Medicine, Vol 35 Issue 4, April 2007. 2 Pharmacy Choice. Tuesday, July 3 2007. 3 The Daily News of Los Angeles, February 11 2007.
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