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This morning we continue our four part series on improving
health care for you and your family with the help of your
pharmacist.
It's part three in the series, and today, we're talking about
managing diabetes.
Diabetes alert day is in March, and a lot of pharmacists today
are specialists in managing diabetes.
Here to explain is Carl Aquaviva, from Good Neighbor
Pharmacy, a network of more than 3000 locally-owned, community
pharmacies.
Welcome Carl.
Thanks for having me.
It's my pleasure.
You know, let's talk about the idea of pharmacists are really
someone you see much more than your doctor.
You probably see your pharmacist three or four times a month.
That's correct.
With the multiple medications that diabetics have to take, the
testing that's required of diabetics, we may see a diabetic
patient two or three times a month, whereas they may only be
able to see their doctor two or three times a year.
And what is the best advice that you could give as a pharmacist
to your patients that come in and want to talk to you.
I believe, obviously, we're part of the health care team, and I
think that the pharmacist plays a role in reassuring the patient
on what the doctor has told them.
Many times you go into the doctors office and it's such a
busy place and the doctor is in and out so quickly, and they
give you a lot of information in a short period of time, it's
nice to be able to come into the pharmcist where we know your
name, you're out customer, our patient, our friend, and you're
in an atmosphere that's not as threatening as the doctor's
office and we're able to, like I said, reassure the patient that
it's very important to do all of these things that the doctor has
just told them to do.
What I love about your particular pharmacy is that you
are, like you say, interactive, and if I came in with a
prescription sheet you could kind of decode it for me, right?
That doesn't happen at all pharmacies.
Absolutely.
When you come to our pharmacy, we'll fill your prescription
obviously, but we'll make sure that we give you an opportunity
to ask questions and that by the time you leave our pharmacy,
you'll know exactly what that drug is for, how you're supposed
to take it, and look for any possible side effects that might
occur.
Now, I know at your pharmacy, and there are 3000 of them
across this country, that if someone comes in and wants to
monitor blood sugar, you've got advice and help on that, but you
also do a lot of other testing and offer different services.
We sure do.
We offer flu shots, which is very important for diabetics to
get a flu shot every year.
We have other immunizations that we offer.
Zostivax, the shingles vaccine.
We also do cholesterol screening, which is very
important for a diabetic to check their cholesterol on a
regular basis.
We have, what we call, Meter Days, where the diabetic will be
able to bring in their machine.
We'll go over it with them.
We'll usually bring a company sponsor.
It's a company sponsored event, where one of their
representatives will come in, show them how to clean their
machine, what they need to look for when the machine may be
malfunctioning, so that their testing is accurate.
So that when they do their tests, they know that the
results they are getting are correct.
That's really important.
Yes it is.
And of course type two diabetes may be prevented, but at least
delayed, right?
Most definitely, with following a good regiment of exercise and
diet, and I believe every diabetic should have some kind
of nutritional counseling, too.
We are what we eat, as far as that goes, and it's very
important that they do follow a pretty strict diet when you
become a diabetic, because you want to be able to lessen the
effects of what diabetes can do to you, on a long term basis.
You know, my grandfather died from complications from
diabetes, and I wish he had Good Neighbor Pharmacies, or someone
like you, because he felt very removed.
I mean, his pharmacists was way back, you couldn't really talk
to him.
Hard to get through to your doctor but that's something you
really value is that you're up front, you're able to talk to
your patients that come in.
Yes, we like to think we remove a lot of those barriers that,
you know, makes it more comfortable for the patient to
talk to us, for the patients to bring questions to us, to make
sure that they are testing properly, that they're taking
their medication properly, checking their feet every month,
going to the eye doctor at least twice a year.
Those are very important things for a diabetic to keep track of,
and we like to think we get rid of those barriers so that it
makes it easier for them to do all that stuff.
Unlike a doctor, you don't have to make an appointment.
You can just walk in and see you, right?
Exactly.
You could walk into our pharmacy and usually you'll have an
answer to your question within minutes.
Wonderful.
Carl, thanks.
Great information.
So glad to have you on the show today.
Thank you for having me.
Want to learn more?
Log on to TheBalancingAct.com You can also follow us on
Facebook and Twitter.
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We hope you learned a little something today, and you know,
you and I are always talking about this, so important as
women to stay informed.
Absolutely.
Especially, especially when it comes to our health.
And remember, we have lots more on our website,
TheBalancingAct.com.
We're also on Twitter and Facebook.
Follow us, like us, tweet us.
Get social with us.
Until the next time, remember, find your balance.
So long everybody.
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