SPOKANE, Wash. — If you had to choose between buying milk or cold medicine for your child, which would you choose? Unfortunately, some 120,000 area residents face that kind of choice each day.
Tidyman’s employee-owned stores and the Intercollegiate College of Nursing are once again teaming up to make sure patients who visit the People’s Clinic at the YWCA, a nurse-managed health care clinic offering services to an underserved population, don’t walk away without the basic health and medicinal supplies they need most.
The second annual Tidyman’s “Health is Everything” Supply Drive is a community-supported event that relies on Tidyman’s shoppers to purchase prepackaged supply bags filled with various health and medicinal supplies for distribution to People’s Clinic patients.
“Most people don’t think twice about purchasing over-the-counter medicines or basic health supplies,” said Margaret Bruya, co-founder of People’s Clinic and an ICN faculty member. “But for many local residents, the price for health and hygiene supplies is too high because they simply don’t have the resources.”
Through March 31, Tidyman’s will collect the health and medicinal supplies at all eight Spokane, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene Tidyman’s stores. “Health is Everything” posters, supply displays and donation bins will be featured in each. The donated items will in turn be distributed to patients visiting the People’s Clinic over the next several months.
“Last year, our customers were so generous with their donations and interested in the health screening services offered that we decided to expand the promotion and make it an annual event,” said Patty Kilcup, Tidyman’s director of consumer and governmental affairs.
In addition to the stocked and packaged supplies, several pharmaceutical companies donated items for the drive. “The College of Nursing students and faculty worked closely with our health and beauty management team to fill the bags with the most needed items for People’s Clinic patients,” Kilcup said.
Customers can purchase prepackaged bags, priced from $2.99 to $8.99, located near the health and beauty isles at the Tidyman’s stores. Bags or individual purchased items can be placed in the colorful “Health is Everything” bins located near the store exits. The most-needed items for adults and children, included in the bags, include decongestant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, lip balm, cough drops, pain reliever, antibacterial ointment, nasal sprays, multivitamins and thermometers.
ICN nursing faculty and students will be in the Spokane and north Idaho Tidyman’s stores from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, to encourage customers to contribute needed clinic supplies and offer complimentary blood pressure screening.
Other services include bone density screening conducted by Endocrine Associates, Cedar store, 9-11:30 a.m., and Latah Creek store, noon-3 p.m. Mammography screening will be provided by the Sacred Heart Women’s Health Services coach in partnership with Inland Imaging, McKinnon store, 9-11: 30 a.m., and Lyons/Addison store, 12:30-3 p.m. Call Julie at 324-7311 to schedule mammography appointments.
For more information about the drive, visit the ICN Web site at www.nursing.wsu.edu.
The People’s Clinic provides a reliable, caring health clinic system where uninsured residents can turn for their ongoing health care needs. Located at the YWCA, the community-based, nurse-managed clinic serves families and children who do not see a private physician or clinic, are without adequate health care, are indigent or live in poverty. Extensive community support has made the clinic an integral and sustainable option for residents.
People’s Clinic nurse practitioners see more than 250 patients each month and have treated more than 6,000 patients since opening in September 1998. The nurse practitioners, staff, supplies and outreach services for the People’s Clinic are partially funded through a four-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Local Initiative Funding Partners Program and matched by business, community and individual donations, all managed by Foundation Northwest.
Established in 1968, the ICN is the nation’s first, oldest and most comprehensive nursing education consortium. The college offers baccalaureate, graduate and professional development course work to nursing students enrolled through its four consortium partners–WSU, Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University and Whitworth College. The ICN educates more than 550 graduate and undergraduate students each year and is the largest undergraduate nursing college in the state.
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