KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The story of a Union County Volunteer Firefighter who suffers from a rare immune system disorder and was recently cut off TennCare generated a lot of phone calls to the WVLT Volunteer TV News from concerned East Tennesseans.

Nick Harrell, 23 relies on a $10,000 a month medication to stay healthy. Without it he could die.

Volunteer TV News contacted a pharmaceutical company directly to see what options Harrell has, and found out there is a local organization that helps out East Tennesseans in similar situations.

“Dispensary of Hope” is a program that works with the Knox County Department of Health to helps uninsured residents in the community get their medication free of charge.

“We can only help people that have no insurance at all,” said Beth Trumbull from the Dispensary of Hope. “We do get a lot of phone calls from folks who are out of county or people who are actually underinsured."

The organization has 41 offices in seven states and works directly with doctors to get patients their much needed medicines.

"We ask physicians in our community to donate a portion of their samples so that we can help uninsured residents in our community," said Trumbull. “Right now in Knoxville we have more than 400 doctors that are donating to us. On average we help roughly about 150-200 patients a month with their medicines."

If you're in need of medicine and don't qualify for Dispensary of Hope's services, there are other avenues. One of which is asking your doctor about going directly to the drug manufacturer.

"Physicians sometimes have contact information that they can provide to patients for that,” said Dr. Jeffrey Schlactus, who treats Harrell. “Or patients can contact the pharmaceutical companies directly."

You can contact the Knox County Dispensary of Hope by calling (865) 215-5141.

You can find a list of prescription drugs and the assistance programs offered by their manufactures by clicking on the link below.