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Lawrenceville pharmacy aids man at risk of blindness after meds lost in mail

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Updated  April 19, 2024 9:38pm EDT
Troup County
FOX 5 Atlanta

Man could go blind if post office doesn't deliver

A Hogansville man said the postal service has failed to deliver his critical medication.

HOGANSVILLE, Ga. - Here's an update to a story we brought you last night: a man in Troup County faced the risk of losing his eyesight because his prescription eye drops were lost in the mail.

After our report, viewers flooded our tipline, asking how they could help. One woman in LaGrange even offered to drive to Florida to get the drops for him.

Tonight, we have learned that a pharmacy in Lawrenceville has stepped up to assist 71-year-old Lee Waters, who suffers from glaucoma. They have agreed to provide him with a significant discount.

Lee wanted us to pass along his gratitude for the outpouring of support from the FOX Five family.

ORIGINAL STORY

The dysfunction at the United States Postal Service's problem-plagued Palmetto facility could cost 71-year-old Lee Waters what's left of his eyesight. 

The Hogansville man said he ordered the eyedrops that treat his glaucoma back on April 2.  

More than two weeks later, the Florida-based company he got them from says the package is trapped in Palmetto.  

"If I run out of these drops, I’ve got a possibility that I will lose what little bit of eyesight I have in my right eye," Waters said. "When am I going to get them? Am I going to get them?" 

Congress scrutinizes post office disfunction in Atlanta

As taxpayers across Georgia mail their check off to Uncle Sam dysfunction continues to plague metro Atlanta’s postal service. For months, about lost packages at the Palmetto facility resulting in lost patience.

Waters said his last bottle of eyedrops dries up in about four days. Without them, pressure will build up in his eye and irreversibly damage his optic nerve. He's already blind in his right eye.  

"I can’t imagine… I can imagine what total darkness would be," Waters said. "Right now, I see blurry." 

Earlier this week, members of Congress grilled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about the dysfunction at the Palmetto facility. 

DeJoy committed to improving things within the next 60 days. 

USPS postmaster general grilled on mail delays

Postal officials admitted that a vast majority of mail isn't arriving on time in the Atlanta area. Sen. Jon Ossoff demanded answers from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. It's the first time he's spoken out about it.

But Waters doesn't have 60 days. He has four. 

"Get your act together. Come on. It's more than not getting a postcard," Waters said. "Thousands and thousands of people are getting medicine through the mail. And they can’t get it because your people can’t run the operation and Palmetto the way it should be." 

FOX 5 reached out to Sen. Jon Ossoff's office to see if they could help Waters track down his package, but they said they'd need more specifics to look into his case.  

Ossoff gave DeJoy two weeks to get the facility straightened out.