Archive for June, 2016

Mondays can sometimes be a bit stressful, but we can’t wait for Monday, July Fourth. This particular Monday will be filled with fun and laughter and family.

There is so much going on at Happy Druggist on the Fourth of July that we wanted to keep you updated on our plans. We are using the entire holiday to thank you, our customers, for your loyal support over the past year.

To begin the day, we will be participating in the Northland Independence Day parade which will get underway at 11 am near the intersection of Morse and Karl Roads. The parade travels north on Karl Road to the intersection with East Dublin Granville Road (State Route 161). As usual, the parade will feature marching bands, bicycles, floats, and tons of other entries from around the community. The last entry should complete the route around 12:30 pm.

The theme for the parade this year is “Building Our Future Together,” which is exactly what we want to do with you, our patients.

For more information on the parade go to The Northland Community Council page HERE or the Northland Parade page HERE.

Following the parade, we will be setting up in the parking lot of Happy Druggist Pharmacy, 5770 Karl Road, serving hot dogs with all the fixings and ice cold water in appreciation for your support. There will also be a face painter, balloon animals, and water balloon games, as well as other activities for the kids.

As many of you may know, Joe and Robin Craft, both pharmacists, purchased Family Medical Pharmacy in December 2014 from previous owner, Maria Masco. They changed the name to Happy Druggist Pharmacy, because they wanted a positive, sunny image that made people smile when they thought of the pharmacy.

Mark Robbins came on staff at the beginning of 2015 as the pharmacist manager. Mark is a graduate of Westland High School who was born and raised on the west side. His grandmother lived nearby in Sharon Woods, so he is very familiar with the area.

Mark graduated from The Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy in 2005. He loves giving back to the community and interacting with his patients here at Happy Druggist. His wife, Shelley, and their children, Natalie and Brady, jump right in and help with everything at the store, too. They are Mark’s biggest cheerleaders.

Please stop by and help Happy Druggist celebrate one year in the community. If you don’t know us, we’d love to meet you. And if you are a loyal customer, we want to say THANK YOU!!

The Plain City Farmers Market will have a special start date on Monday, July 4. For one Monday only, to coincide with the Fourth of July Parade at 3 pm in uptown Plain City, the Farmers Market will get started at 2 pm and continue immediately following the parade on Independence Day until about 5 pm.

Those who want to participate in the July 4 parade can line up at 2:00 pm at the north entrance of Pastime Park. The Parade will step off at 3:00 pm from the north entrance of the park, head south down Chillicothe, take a right at the traffic light, and then right onto Main Street. Kids on bikes do not need to register.

The gates at Pastime Park will open at 6 pm for the Fireworks display at 9:45 pm. The band Agent 99 will be performing at 7 pm and there will be food vendors available. Agent 99 is a cover band that plays 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s music. The event is free, but donations are accepted.

The Plain City Events Committee will be located in the Lions Building and will have a concession stand set up.

For more information on the Fireworks, visit the Village web site HERE and the events page on Facebook HERE.

Sponsored by The Uptown Plain City Organization (UPCO), the Farmers Market will take place every Thursday (beginning on July 7) after July 4th from 4:30-7 pm through October 6.

The Farmers Market is held at the corner of South Chillicothe and State Route 161 in Uptown Plain City (next to the Clock Tower building).

There will be music and lots of local vendors each week with “learn-and-taste” features.

Please shop locally and support our Plain City and Union/Madison County farmers by stopping by the Farmers Market.

Additionally, Marysville is holding their Farmers Markets on Saturdays through October 8 at Partners Park at the corner of Main and 6th Streets. The Markets run from 8 am to 11 am or until goods are sold out. For more information, call 937-644-8530.

You can find out more by visiting the Union County Farmers Market web site HERE.

And Like them on Facebook HERE.

Like UPCO on Facebook HERE.

Keep up with the Plain City Farmers Market by Liking them on Facebook HERE.

Summer is here and the sun is shining, but autumn is right around the corner! Along with Buckeye football season and leaves that change colors, autumn is the time of year when Medicare patients can choose whether or not to enroll in a plan that has prescription drug coverage, Medicare Part D.

How is Medicare Structured?

There are many different components of Medicare and hundreds of different plans that Medicare patients can be enrolled in. All of these options can make it confusing for patients to understand how their insurance coverage works, so we wanted to break it down and explain how Medicare patients can get insurance coverage for their prescription medications. You may have heard of the different “Parts” of Medicare:

• Medicare Part A: Inpatient hospitalization
• Medicare Part B: Outpatient doctor visits, medical equipment
• Medicare Part C: Hospitalization, doctor visits, and prescription drug coverage
• Medicare Part D: Prescription Drug Coverage

A Medicare patient can have Medicare Parts A and B (with or without D) or Medicare Part C. What makes Medicare Part D different from the rest of Medicare coverage is that it is up to the patient to decide whether or not to enroll in a Part D plan and the plan selection is left up to the patient.

How do I get Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage?

From October 15^th to December 7^th, Medicare has what is called an “open enrollment window” when new Medicare patients can select a prescription drug plan or current Medicare patients can choose to switch into a different prescription drug plan. In most cases people can only elect/change plans during this time period; however, there are exceptions to this time limit such as if the patient moves far away from their current home, has a significant change in health status, or has a change in other types of insurance coverage.

Patients who are thinking about enrolling in a Medicare Part D plan have a lot of options and doing a little homework by shopping around for different plans can help patients save a lot of money and select a plan that best fits his/her needs.

On the website Medicare.gov, patients can enter what prescription medications that they take and get price quotes on plan premiums (the monthly or yearly cost the patient is responsible for) and copays (the cost the patient is responsible for per prescription filled). This tool allows patients to determine what plan would save them the most money and can help patients budget their health care finances by estimating patients’ annual drug costs.

Additionally, patients can also evaluate Medicare Part D plans by their Star Ratings. The highest rating a plan can receive is 5 stars and plans with more stars have greater patient satisfaction in areas including customer service, member complaints/choosing to leave the plan, member experience, drug pricing, and patient safety.

Medicare.gov has the most information readily available for patients to evaluate different plans they are eligible for and make an informed decision. Patients can select a plan right from the medicare.gov website or they can also enroll by calling 1-800-MEDICARE or by attending a local community event that has professionals on site who can help patients select a plan and enroll.

Before you come watch the fireworks at Pastime Park (they start at 9:45 pm with festivities in the Park getting underway at 5 pm–more on the Plain City activities later in the week), you can spend part of your Fourth of July at the Rockin’ Ribs Fest in Marysville at the Union County Fairgrounds from 12 pm to 9 pm.

Besides live music all day, there will also be a Classic Car and Motorcycle Show.

There will also be plenty of food, assorted vendors, bouncy houses, laser tag, kids games, and much more.

Please thank American Legion Post 79 for providing the fireworks at dusk!

For more information, visit the Union County Fair web site HERE.

And Like the Ohio Union County Fair Facebook page HERE.

For more information, go HERE.

We want to wish our mom, Roberta Timmons, a very, very happy birthday on Monday, June 27.

We hope you will have a wonderful day, Mom, hanging with your “peeps.” We love you.

And as you always tell us, we are very proud of you!