01/Jul/2008
Things Are Changing
Down at the Drug Store
The more things keep changing at the corner drug store these
days the more they stay the same.
The old mortar and pestle, the ancient symbol of neighborhood pharmacies worldwide, came out of the closet at Central Drug Store a couple of years ago.
“It’s called ‘compounding,’” explained Central Drug Store owner Claud Derbes. “We’re back to putting medicines together the old fashioned way with some fantastic new machines that produce excellent results for patients.”
And that’s not all that’s new at the new neighborhood pharmacy. Not only can you go to the drug store to have your thyroid tested, but Central Drug Store now makes special compounds such as female and male hormones.
“We’re probably the first in the city to begin doing immunizations,” Derbes said. “We’re certified by Medicare, for example, to dispense the shingles vaccine by injection.”
He said they also give the flu vaccine, and they dispense the
drug Gardasil that prevents young females from contracting some STDs.
And if you thought of this corner drug store
as just a place to buy a bottle of aspirin, try looking for a Medela breast
pump to buy or rent at any other drug store.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to durable medical
equipment available at Central Drugs.
“We now provide all of the home health supplies, and we are a Blue Cross and Medicare certified provider of durable medical equipment,” Derbes explained. “We even stock a large inventory of diabetic shoes. We’re not talking about candy and liquor. That’s for the chain stores. We’re talking about things for people who can’t tie shoes.”
Central Home Health recently began stocking other neighborhood drug stores with durable medical supplies.
“You take, for example, lift chairs and other types of lifting devices needed to care for paralyzed or partially paralyzed patients, we also carry those,” said Derbes. “That’s a tremendous convenience for people living in Central.”
Speaking of convenience, how about the many tests that were once available only at the doctor’s office. Central Drug Store now provides most of those. “We have a one-minute test for cuminin levels, for example, that can save patients a half-day trip to the doctor’s office,” Derbes explained. “We’re certainly not the doctor, but we can do the tests and use modern software and our wifi network to send the doctor the information he requires immediately. We have been trained to do these things by the manufacturers of the same testing equipment you find in a doctor’s office.”
Central Drug Store is even contracting with large employers to go to workplaces to vaccinate employees for the flu.
“This is a service to both the employee and the employer,” Derbes said. “It saves everybody time and money.”
There was a time years ago when a trip to the drug store
often preceded a trip to the doctor’s office or the hospital emergency room, ‘just
to see what the druggist thinks.’
Now,
it looks as if those days are back!
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