Call to Arms to support MedicAlert
I am writing to you as the Chairman of The MedicAlert Foundation, to ask for your support and help.
MedicAlert is a not for profit organisation. We, as Lions, introduced MedicAlert to the British Isles and Ireland and for more than 40 years the Lions of MD105 have provided a great deal of the support which has enabled MedicAlert to become the premier organisation of its type, not only in the British Isles & Ireland, but throughout the world.
MedicAlert now faces its greatest threat, from commercial profit making companies, whose interest is in making money, not in providing the welfare service that MedicAlert provides.
While these groups have the right to do business, some of them may be doing so by trading on the back of the valuable work carried out by MedicAlert. We have received reports of aggressive marketing and the use of dubious business practices. In many pharmacists and doctors surgeries, MedicAlert literature has been removed and replaced with alternative material by staff employed by these other organisations.
These organisations do not offer the same quality of service as MedicAlert. For example, they do not provide comparable emergency 24/7 service that MedicAlert offers. They do not help to sponsor those who cannot afford the service and they do not make any effort to raise awareness amongst health and emergency professionals. In short, they want the income without the effort of providing a service.
I would like to ask each and every one of you to visit your local pharmacists and surgeries to check that MedicAlert literature is available. Take time to explain MedicAlert's goals, services and benefits.
MedicAlert will be delighted to send literature to you, or direct to the organisation if this is appropriate. Simply email the address of the pharmacist or surgery to communications@medicalert.org.uk or call 0800 581 420 to arrange this.
Fellow Lions, please accept my grateful thanks for your support with this important issue, together, we will ensure that the vulnerable in our communities continue to receive the quality, life saving service their conditions demand.
Yours Sincerely,
Lion Phil Nathan MBE
(a very proud lion)
Chairman
The MedicAlert Foundation
