FLORENCE – South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster presented Mercy Medicine Clinic with $30,000 on Wednesday, as part of the Caremark legal settlement of which South Carolina is a part.

The event took place at the Floyd Conference Center located on the campus of Carolinas Hospital System in Florence. S.C. where more than 50 people, including state and local political officials, came to show their support.

“We are very pleased and honored that the S.C. Attorney General’s office has selected Mercy Medicine Clinic to receive this much needed financial support,” said its executive director, Kaye Allen. “This is both a recognition and validation of the important work that is taking place here and this check is going to help people in Florence, Dillon and Williamsburg counties.”

The Caremark pharmaceutical settlement is based upon a multi-million dollar legal action spread across 28 states including South Carolina. It is the result of a legal action where Caremark was accused of engaging in deceptive business practices by encouraging doctors to switch patients to different name-brand prescription drugs, which were to supposedly save patients money when, in actuality, they didn’t.

“As a former member of the (Mercy Medicine Clinic) board, I am excited about the fact that your are presenting this money because I know firsthand what these dollars are going to mean and the services they’re going to provide for the people in this area,” said S.C. House Representative Terry Alexander.

The money presented by McMaster and the S.C. Attorney General’s office will go toward helping Mercy Medicine Clinic continue its mission of helping the indigent and working poor obtain much needed healthcare.

“It’s a great honor for me and my office, as part of the state government, to be participating in the great success and great work you’re doing here by providing these funds,” McMaster said.

Berta Allen, CEO of Mercy Medicine Clinic, echoed McMaster’s recognition of volunteerism and the huge influence it has on the success of such organizations that rely so heavily on them.

“It’s almost impossible to make an organization of this kind run without volunteers,” she said. “But we’ve had great physicians and great nurses. We’ve just had great people who came and volunteered their time.”

S.C. House Representative Kris Crawford was one of several officials and institutions, including the United Way of Florence County, who were instrumental in helping Mercy Medicine Clinic secure the $30,000 in funding from the S.C. Attorney General’s office. He was represented on Wednesday by his wife, Rebecca.

“Kris has been a volunteer physician at Mercy Medicine several times and continues to believe in the mission here,” she said. “We hope this award will help Mercy Medicine continue their work to reach out to those without medical care.”

David Barr, president of the United Way of Florence County, said he was proud to have played a minor role in helping to secure this award.

“It’s wonderful that we were able to see that inquiry come to this realization,” he said, emphasizing the great number of people that this new money will help. “These are people with no insurance and would not be able to get these kinds of services. This speaks greatly about the contributions that Mercy Medicine Clinic is making toward the quality of life for Florence County.”

Lake City Mayor Lovith Anderson reflected on the early days of Mercy Medicine Clinic, which was founded in 1994, and the struggles that went into making it successful. Since then, the clinic has gone from a small room in the Manna House to an independent, multi-functional medical facility that also helps support a satellite clinic in southern Florence County known as the Lake City Free Medical Clinic.

Karen Papouchado has worked with the South Carolina Free Clinic Association for the past seven years and currently serves as its systems developer. She strongly emphasized the crucial work that is being done by Mercy Medicine Clinic and other similar medical facilities statewide to help provide healthcare to the medically underserved.

“It’s been a real privilege to work with the free medical clinic association,” she said. “This is a service that is immeasurable in its impact.”

Mercy Medicine Clinic provides primary medical care, as well as dental, retinal and pharmaceutical services. It is just one of four free medical clinics in South Carolina to feature a dental clinic and the only one with retinal-care services.