Editorial Board
Pharmacy Post is pleased to introduce the members of its new editorial advisory board. Every month, we’ll ask their opinions on stories that we’ve written, stories that we’d like to write–and stories that they’d like us to write. Welcome!
BEV ALLEN
Bev Allen is well known in pharmacy’s political arena, as a recent past-president of the Canadian Pharmacists Association. Earlier this year, the Saskatchewan Pharmaceutical Association named him 1998 Pharmacist of the Year.
After practising in community pharmacy for almost 20 years, Bev joined academia in 1992 and is now an assistant professor, pharmacy practice division, at the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan.
MARIE BERRY
Marie Berry lives multiple lives–she’s a pharmacist, a pharmacy consultant, a lawyer and co-owner of Vimy Park Pharmacy in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is also an author, having recently updated her book on laws that effect pharmacy, entitled Canadian Pharmacy Law. Marie is also past-president of the Alumni Association of the University of Manitoba.
KALVIN BROWN
Kalvin Brown is an associate for the Shoppers Drug Mart banner. His 2,800-sq.-ft. pharmacy in South Porcupine, Ontario, offers disease management services for diabetes, asthma and attention deficit disorder. He’s heavily involved in managed care, as one of the founders of the the “Timmins Project,” which continues to successfully help manage drug plan costs for eight large employers.
In his ‘spare time,’ Kalvin is on the executive committee of the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association and serves on several of its committees.
ERIC DURANDO
For Eric Durando, there’s no place like home health care in Terrace, B.C. As pharmacy manager of Northern Healthcare, part of the seven-store Northern Drugs chain, Eric recently oversaw the store’s relocation to a larger, 5,000-sq.-ft. site. The new store also features a state-of-the-art, customer- and pharmacist-friendly dispensary area.
PAUL GAUVREAU
Two years ago, Paul Gauvreau embarked on a new career as a retail pharmacy consultant, putting together ‘total-store’ solutions that include merchandising, staff training and customer service. He’s based in Pickering, Ontario. Previously, he was director of sales and retail operations at Drug Trading.
JOHN KRALL
John Krall is the owner of Lewis & Krall I.D.A. in Welland, Ontario. He recently renovated his 7,000-sq.-ft. store, which includes 1,500 sq. ft. dedicated to home health care. John is a past-president of the Ontario Pharmacists Association and continues to serve on several of its committees.
Pharmacy Post would also like to thank and acknowledge the outgoing members of its advisory board: Lowell Baker, Pharmasave, Liverpool, Nova Scotia; Theresa Gatien, Millidge Place Pharmacy, Saint John, New Brunswick; Dennis Gerace, Dyck’s Pharmacists, Kelowna, B.C.; Philip Jones, Effective Retail Management, Calgary, Alberta; James Lococo, Shoppers Drug Mart, St. Catharines, Ontario; and Mary Warren, Falls Pharmacy, Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Bev Allen
Marie Berry
Kalvin Brown
LETTERS
KEN BURNS, SPEECHLESS?
(Re: Hey! Aren’t we forgetting someone here?, June)
[Author Ken] Burns indicated that he “bit his tongue” during two presentations on separate days during a seminar on diabetes care when presentors failed to mention pharmacists as members of health care teams caring for diabetics. I find it astonishing that Mr. Burns did not take advantage of these two excellent opportunities to either remind, or educate, health care professionals and the public attending that seminar of the essential role that pharmacists do play. It is because pharmacists do not take a more assertive stance in promoting and defending their role in the health care team, that perhaps the presentors did not include pharmacists.
This lack of recognition of pharmacists as members of health care teams, especially at the primary care level, may result from the public funding of these teams. Too often, pharmacist participation is not included in program funding since a common perception is that the public can receive drug consultations from their community pharmacists without charge so there is not a need to pay for a pharmacist to be a member of the team.
Mr. Burns then compared the health care team to a hockey team with the physician being the captain, and other health care professionals being other team members. He implied that the pharmacist was the icemaker. With advances in technology, especially in-line skates, some may argue that ice is not always needed to play hockey.
Rosemary Bacovsky, M.Pharm. M.H.S.A.,
Calgary, Alberta
KEN BURNS REPLIES:
Thank you for your comment on my column. I suppose the suggestion that I should refrain from “biting my tongue” may seem to have merit. My thought at the time was that it would be taken as yet another pharmacist whining about the lack of recognition of their valuable profession, especially in a forum where they were so poorly represented (I later found out there were only two of us out of a group of well over 100).
So instead what I have been doing is writing the Certified Diabetes Educator examination and coordinating a study of the impact of pharmacist’s intervention in diabetes self-monitoring. I have also tried to establish a relationship between local dietitians and pharmacists by distributing a directory of dietitians in the area. The value of the pharmacist in diabetes disease management has been one of the centerpieces of the presentations that I make regularly to area employers, employee groups and insurance providers.
No, the shame is not that I didn’t speak up. The shame is that I would have to.
P.S. Every full-blooded Canadian knows that roller hockey is not real hockey. If you don’t, try skating 20 miles an hour (32 km/hr) on wheels. Then try coming to a quick stop (could this be an extension of the health care analogy?). Or you could say hockey is like beer. It’s always better on ice.
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