When 65-year-old Maddie entered the World Medical Relief (WMR) headquarters in Detroit four years ago, she reminded Rita Grezlik, WMR’s president and CEO, of her mother. Maddie was a retired grandmother of three living on a pension of only $900 a month. She was having trouble breathing and walking and she grew tired easily. She didn’t know what was wrong until a doctor diagnosed her with congestive heart failure and prescribed nine medications that Maddie could not afford. “My mom died of a complication of diabetes and congestive heart failure,” said Grezlik. “It was a horrible slow painful death. When Maddie came in she was a sprightly, adorable woman. Her eyes twinkled. I thought, ‘If we could get this woman her medications she can live a longer, healthier life.’” Because Maddie was in the early stages of the illness and the WMR was able to get her all the medications she needed, four years later Maddie’s still with the program and she’s doing all right.
The WMR headquarters on Rosa Parks Avenue in Detroit is a weathered eight-story, red-brick building with a fenced-off parking lot topped with barbed wire. It usually wouldn’t catch the eye, but appearances are misleading. The WMR is a non-profit organization with a local and global mission to provide medical equipment, medicines and medical supplies to thousands of low-income people in metro Detroit and around the world. Its local programs provide durable medical equipment, prescriptions and medical supplies, and it also co-sponsors the WMR-American Red Cross Blanket Days Project.
WMR receives used medical equipment from all over the country, which volunteers clean, repair and sort before distributing locally and internationally at very lost cost. This includes dental chairs, hospital beds, X-ray machines and wheelchairs. “If you don’t have insurance, and you need a wheelchair, where do you go?” asks Grezlik. “People can come in with prescriptions from doctors or referrals from social workers and get wheelchairs and other equipment at deeply discounted rates,” she said. For example, a hospital bed that usually costs $1,000 is sold at WMR for $100.
Continued – The group’s prescription program is funded by the United Way, foundation grants, individual donations, fundraising events and handling fees for services. WMR utilizes prescription samples donated by doctors and also purchases generic medications. All prescription drugs issued by WMR cost $5.00 plus a $3.30 handling fee. The program started service for senior citizens in 1966, but with demands for medical assistance increasing due to unemployment, and a growing public awareness of WMR services, the prescription program expanded in January to include all adults. “As of now, we help people ages 18 and over,” Grezlik said. “We chose 18 as a starting age because children have MIchild from birth until 17,” she said, referring to the state-sponsored insurance program for children of low-income families. WMR recently started accepting walk-ins to accommodate the growing demand for aid. “Now we are seeing more and more referrals coming in,” Grezlik said. “Recently we have been getting six or seven referrals every day.” The good news is that WMR is fully prepared to take on needs for aid. “We have capacity to fill at least 50,000 prescriptions a year and 5,000 right at this moment,” she said. There are currently 672 people in metro Detroit who have been served by the WMR’s prescription program, according to a WMR fact sheet. Since January, 700 applications based on 2-1-1 and other sources have been sent in, Grezlik estimated.
The prescription plan is the only WMR program with income guidelines, which require applicants to earn no more than $19,000 a year and are similar to the requirements of Medicare Part D. The program covers about 400 different drugs all at the flat rate of $8.30 each. “A lot of people go to Meijers and Wal-Mart and get generic drugs for $4 or $5 dollars and that’s great for them, but most of the people we deal with don’t have transportation,” Grezlik said. “One woman told me it’s $7 dollars on the bus for a round trip to Meijers.”
One unique service WMR offers is shipping of the prescriptions to people’s homes at no extra cost. The WMR works in collaboration with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s 2-1-1 service, which is a major referral source along with the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority, according to Grezlik . “The 2-1-1 is the outreach part. We are the ways and means. The end result is people get medications they need and their lives improve so they can go to work, enjoy stable lives and contribute to society.”
Grezlik said that because of the organization’s name, people think it’s solely a global outreach. They don’t know it’s a local effort as well. “We have a difficult name,” she said. “We’ve struggled with how to put the local and the global together. It’s very confusing.”
People who are initially referred for a prescription often get help in other areas. “If somebody calls 2-1-1 for a referral, they probably need help with other things too. They may need durable medical equipment like [canes and walkers, etc.] or adult diapers.” A wholesale pack of adult diapers that would cost $145 at the grocery store costs $45 at the WMR and there is no income criteria to get those. WMR also offers local shelters and schools free hygiene kits, blankets and other supplies.
The WMR operates with a full-time staff of only five people, 10 volunteer board directors and 50 volunteers who help sort and store medical supplies. The volunteers are a crucial part of the organization and they are always looking to get new people to help. “If we didn’t have our volunteers, the programs would be in the pits,” said Carolyn Racklyeft, director of local programs. “We always need volunteers.”
In 1953, Detroit housewife Irene Auberlin founded the World Medical Relief to help meet the medical and physical needs of Korean orphans after she watched a television broadcast about an impoverished orphanage in Korea. She mobilized her friends, family and local business leaders to donate medical supplies and equipment and other goods and got help in shipping them overseas. Since then, WMR has aided thousands in 130 different countries and distributed over $5 million in local goods and services. The United Way helped the WMR spread services to local programs and in 1966 a grant from the United Way helped open the organization’s state-licensed pharmacy, which distributes good, dated samples and generic medications. “Irene Auberlin showed the world that one person can make a big difference,” Grezlik said.
