Just up the road from Tulsa, Skiatook – population 7,397 – holds a Pioneer Day festival and rodeo every fall. If you ever visit, remember that it’s pronounced /SKY-took/. Jonnie Parnell, 57, has lived in Skiatook since 1973, when American Airlines sent her father to work here.
Skiatook’s Antique Depot attracts treasure hunters from all over the region. Jonnie has had a booth there for 25 years. Holding estate sales and dealing in used merchandise allows her a flexible enough schedule to take care of her elderly mother, who lives next door.
(Fun fact: Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, which helped to launch the careers of Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise, was shot in Skiatook. Jonnie had a small speaking role, but her character wound up on the cutting-room floor.)
Jonnie manages her heart condition with metoprolol ER, the generic form of the brand-name drug Toprol XL. According to GoodRx, metoprolol costs around $6, which is 81 percent less when compared to the average retail price of $33.10 for the brand.
Generic cardiac drugs help patients live longer, fuller lives, saving $47 billion in 2017, while savings for the past 10 years total $492 billion. Heart disease—including heart failure, angina, arrhythmia, valvular heart disease and coronary artery disease—is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.
Read more: Savings Data for 20 Common Conditions
Jonnie also takes rabeprazole for acid reflux. GoodRx reports that the generic form of medicine costs around $19.60 -- 92 percent less when compared to the average retail price of $250.41 for the brand.
“If it weren't for these generic medications, I don't know where my life would be,” Jonnie says. “I can afford things.”
AAM would love to hear how generics help you stay healthy and productive.
By Rachel Schwartz, AAM Communications Director