Archive for the ‘Plain City Health’ Category

Joe and I recently attended a pharmacy conference. As part of our licensing requirements as pharmacists, we have to get continuing education each year. This education can either come in the form of lessons that you read, and then are tested on, or through sitting in on speakers at conferences (no tests necessary). Needless to say, Joe and I prefer the education that comes via conferences.

I thought I’d give you a rundown on the most interesting things we learned during the week while we were gone.

1. One of the speakers was Dr. Bill Andrews, Ph.D., who has spent the last thirty years of his life in research trying to prove that aging can be cured. Yes, that’s right. Dr. Andrews believes that aging, like other diseases, can be cured. His web site says that he will “Cure Aging or Die Trying.” His research into aging has led him to “telomeres,” sequences of DNA at the ends of our chromosomes that shorten through cell division as we age. All of our cells divide over our lifetimes and as they divide, the ends of our chromosomes, the telomeres, become shorter and shorter. If there was some way to stop the telomeres from becoming short, Dr. Andrews believes we could live longer lives and eventually even reverse the aging process. In some animals that have an enzyme, telomerase, that rebuilds the telomeres, there are no age restrictions. Crabs and the old, old turtles on the Galapagos Island are examples of species that do not have telomere shortening and could, conceivably, live hundreds of years without interference from humans or the other things that kill them besides the aging process.

This may sound like a bit of science fiction, but the research is behind Dr. Andrews’ beliefs. There are even a few products on the market which help to lessen telomere shortening. We’ll have one of those items for sale in the store in the near future. Joe and I plan to try it out.

2. From inspirational speaker, Giovanni Livera, we learned to “WOW” our audience and customers. Giovanni even showed us how to use our hands and mouth to express the word, “WOW.” You can see Joe doing the “WOW” in the picture–his mouth is the “O” and his fingers make the “W’s.” Pretty cool, huh?

3. We also learned that while some people may think social media is a “fad,” leaders in marketing, including our speaker Samantha Timmerman, know it is the way to get an advantage in any business. One thing she suggested to us was to write a blog posting featuring the answers to the top questions customers ask when they come in the pharmacy or speak to us on the phone. Joe and I brainstormed and we think these are probably our leading questions:

a. How late are you open? or When is lunch? So we obviously need to promote our hours, which are: 9 am-6 pm, Monday through Friday, 9-noon on Saturday, closed for lunch from 1:15-2:15 pm. One thing Joe has been considering is dropping lunch. What do you think? Give him your thoughts the next time you come in. Unfortunately, Joe and I both worked in pharmacies where lunches rotated and sometimes the pharmacist was the one who didn’t get to stop and eat. We purposely set up a lunch hour when we first opened so that would not happen. But maybe that needs to change now. Let us know.

b. Is Joe there? If he is, he’ll definitely either come talk to you in person or get on the phone. Joe is a very popular person in the pharmacy.

c. Is Margie Joe’s wife? Nope, that distinction falls to me, Robin. Because I spend most of my time behind the scenes in the lab or office, a lot of people assume Margie and Joe are married when they see them at the front counter together. Margie and I had even joked one time about getting t-shirts to wear that said, “Not Joe’s wife,” for all the ladies in the store, except me. I have to say, though, that if there was anyone I’d want to represent me, it would be Margie–she is pretty, smart, kind, and thoughtful! She can impersonate me any time.

So now you know why Joe comes back from these conferences filled with ideas and so hyper it seems like he’s gulped a pot of coffee. Joe loves pharmacy and he loves learning new things to make our lives and the business better. WOW!

At the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, the group, which represents the interests of independent drugstores (like Plain City Druggist) and community pharmacists (like Joe and me) gave an important talk about the wastefulness of mail order pharmacies.

In a slide show of photos that were sent in by community pharmacies participating in the “Dispose My Meds Program” (where customers brought in unused medications for safe disposal), NCPA showed thousands of dollars in medications that mail order pharmacies continued to send to patients all the while charging the patients’ prescription plans. These were medications that the patient did not order, want, or need and ended up bringing to their local pharmacy for disposal.

Sometimes a patient was deceased, but the mail order pharmacy continued to send medications even after being told numerous times about the error. The medications continued to be billed to the insurance plan.

Other times, patients were set up on “auto-shipping” plans and received medications even when they did not need refills, just so the company could bill for and receive payments for the medicine.

Who pays for this medication waste? The business purchasing the drug plan that requires mail order, the patients themselves, and, ultimately, all of us who must cover the mounting costs of health care.

To read the full article and see lots more photos of wasted medicines (and, ultimately, wasted money), go HERE. The photo at the beginning of this article shows an example of medication waste with mail order.

And read the NCPA blog posting about this HERE.

You can also watch a video about mail order medication waste HERE.

Beyond the waste of money in unused medications, mail order pharmacies offer false savings to the companies that choose them to provide their constituents with a medication plan. While many people have the perception that going with a mail order company is cheaper for them (they get a 90 day supply for the same co-pay as a 30 day supply–which we unfairly cannot provide the patient), there are many reasons why this is NOT the case.

For one thing, many of the mail order companies get rebates from drug companies when they use their “brand name” medications. Many mail order companies have gotten into trouble via lawsuits for switching patients to more expensive brand name drugs to increase their rebate checks, passing the costs on to the companies purchasing the prescription plans and thus, ultimately, the patients.

Community pharmacists are known for trying to save patients money by switching from more costly brand drugs to equivalent generic medications. Community pharmacies don’t get any giant rebates from drug companies for doing what is right for their patients.

This is just one instance of the way mail order companies are actually more expensive than local community drugstores. To read an article that details the many, many “False Savings of Mail Order,” go HERE.

You can read lots more disturbing articles about mail order companies and the “PBMs” or “Pharmacy Benefit Managers” that provide these plans and often own the mail order companies (talk about a conflict of interest!) HERE.

If you would prefer to have the choice to get your medications from your local pharmacy and are tired of these giant companies dictating prices and limiting access to pharmacy services, please consider writing your member of Congress. Right now, we need you to write and oppose the merger of Express Scripts and Medco, which will lead to one of the most enormous mega-mergers in pharmacy history.

To read more about why this merger is a threat and to write your Congressional representative to oppose it, please go HERE.

When Joe and I were in the process of opening the new pharmacy, we talked about having a soda fountain in the front. We even looked at gorgeous, antique wood, marble, and glass soda fountain fixtures that had been pulled from a pharmacy that had closed. The counters and cupboards were from a different era, created with intricate carvings and stained glass that you just don’t see in pharmacies today. 

Long before we opened Plain City Druggist, Lucas Drugs, which is shown in the photos here, boldly advertised not only that they sold medicine to the Plain City community, but sodas, too. Joe and I missed our opportunity for a drugstore/soda fountain combo shop by being born a little too late.

Because Joe and I had considered a soda fountain (we were talked out of it by several naysayers), I was really interested to hear a story on National Public Radio (NPR) about the revival of soda fountains and old-time concoctions. 

As the story recounted, soda fountains came in to being, because the medicine pharmacists mixed for their patients was so nasty tasting it required something sweet to help it go down more easily. In the time before pharmaceutical companies mass produced the now familiar bottles of pills and syrups, pharmacists made all of the medications on the spot for their ailing customers. Medicine in hand, those customers would then approach the soda fountain for flavoring.

Perhaps, like Mary Poppins, they also sang, “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way.”

Today, we do the same thing when we compound medicines. We don’t have a soda fountain, but we do have a whole shelf of flavoring to help remove the bitterness from some of the medicinal liquids we make. 

From the past, NPR’s story then jumped into present day and went on to tell about modern “mixologists” who have discovered old pharmacy soda fountain recipes and are reviving them in restaurants and bars across the United States. There are a few recipes for flavorful beverages on the NPR web site. You can find even more information about old fashioned concoctions on Darcy O’Neil’s web site, Art of Drink. 

O’Neil’s book, Fix the Pumps, tells the history of soda fountains and O’Neil provides an abridged history on the site under the heading “Soda Fountain.”

Soda fountains are no longer a memory from the past, however. They are becoming trendy, as people acquaint themselves with flavors their older relations once relished.

Maybe Joe and I weren’t born too late. Maybe we were just ahead of our time a few years ago when we thought about reviving the soda fountain in Plain City. 

To read the NPR story and also listen to the broadcast that I heard, go HERE.

Athlete’s foot is the most common skin infection in the U.S. with more than 25 million people afflicted every year. Caused mainly by fungi known as dermatophytes (Greek for “skin plants”), athlete’s foot is usually localized at the outermost layer of the skin and rarely penetrates to the inner tissue. Yet, with a minor injury to the skin, the fungi can find their way deep into the tissue and the infection can lead to serious consequences including toe or limb amputation.

Athlete’s foot is contagious and can be spread by direct contact or by walking barefoot in areas such as locker rooms and around swimming pools where the fungus has been deposited from other feet. Stuffing the fungus (and our feet) into shoes lacking proper air circulation then allows the fungi to grow.

With the Midwest summer being sweltering hot and humid this year (as it usually is), our feet get exposed to sweat for prolonged periods. The moisture in the inner surface of the shoes creates the ideal environment for the fungi to grow and multiply. Often these fungi are eradicated upon exposure to air or sun. However, lack of proper hygiene significantly increases the chances of acquiring the fungal infection.

Diabetic patients and patients who are taking immunosuppressive medications are at a significantly higher risk for experiencing complicated fungal infections, not only because of the impaired circulation of blood to their feet, but also because of the inability of their body to fight infections.

Because prevention is the best treatment, taking precautionary measures to avoid infection is the key to having healthy feet.

First, we suggest keeping the feet dry at all times. Using a drying powder can help close the pores and prevent sweating.

Additionally, wearing and regularly changing loose fitting socks that are made out of natural cotton or wool can also help in absorbing the moisture.  Synthetic socks often contain ingredients that increase perspiration of the feet and do not absorb moisture well.

Another trick to prevent athlete’s foot is to expose the feet to sun light and air for a few minutes every day. Washing your feet with hot water can also help.

Athlete’s foot infections are easy to identity and usually do not require medical attention. The infection is found most often between the fourth and the fifth toes.  Itching, scaling, and maceration (softening and whitening of the skin after being consistently wet–the way your toes and fingers look after soaking in a bath tub) of the skin is often seen. Inflammation or blistering might also occur. 

In the more serious infections, the infection is accompanied by pustules or ulcers on the sole of the foot, as well as thickened, white scales that can cover the entire foot. These types of infections require medical intervention and your doctor should examine your feet if you have these symptoms.

For simple, uncomplicated athlete’s foot infections, over-the-counter products most often eradicate the fungi and clear the infection. Antifungal agents, not antibiotic topicals, should be used to treat the infection. Our crew at Plain City Druggist can you help you select the right product. The infection usually gets cleared up in one to two weeks. If this is a recurring infection, however, using the topical creams for an additional week or two is advised. 

Interestingly, the infection can sometimes spread to the palm of the hand, but only one hand at time. Often people present with two feet and one hand infected. No one knows why only one hand gets infected!

Forks Over Knives is a movie that claims it “could save your life.” And, indeed, the movie offers information about diet and healthy eating habits that could keep many people off the surgery table and away from a surgeon’s scalpel.

While Joe and I earn our living from the fact that people are ill and require medications, we would love it if our friends and family did not have to take so many pills and never had to suffer from diabetes, heart disease, or many other conditions that are now being linked to our fast food, highly processed diets.

Joe and I plan to see Forks Over Knives this weekend. I’ll give you a review and tell you a bit more about the findings in the film after we watch it. But don’t wait for us–go to the movie yourself and do something good for your health (but stay away from the tub of buttered popcorn and giant cup of sugary cola while you are there)!

Another great place to get information on diet and health locally is The Wellness Forum. Dr. Pam Popper of The Wellness Forum in Columbus is also featured in the movie.

The movie will debut in Columbus this Friday, June 3, at the AMC Lennox Town Center 24 Theater located at 777 Kinnear Road.

To read more about this important film and view the trailer, please visit the Forks Over Knives web site HERE.