FIGS was established in 1982 by a group of Wake County residents to address a serious problem: the need for prescription medicines for low-income people, in particular the elderly and the chronically ill. These were people who had neither medical insurance nor money to buy medicine from their own pocket.
The FIGS program is coordinated with area doctors and pharmacists. Each month, FIGS board members appropriate donated dollars to the Wake County Department of Social Services and the Urban Ministries of Raleigh. These agencies identify people who are eligible and need assistance. They then authorize pharmacies to dispense the prescribed medicines, and FIGS pays the pharmacies for those medicines. This structure allows FIGS to operate with no administrative costs and minimal overhead. Therefore, 98% of all contributions goes directly to pay for essential medicines.
Copyright 2006, FIGS ( Filling In Gaps). All rights reserved.