[Background Music starts] KIM: North Country Community HealthCare Pharmacy is a pharmacy
location in Flagstaff that services all of our clinics across Northern Arizona.
So we have thirteen physical locations that we service, but we also have a variety of
other integrated clinics that we sometimes support, as well.
RANDEE: I would have to say that the most unique thing is our TeleMed program and telepharmacy
services, just because we can reach our patients in rural areas that may not have gotten care
otherwise.
KIM: One of the challenges with pharmacy services and medication management is for our patients
use a lot of different pharmacies, and so you have a lot of different providers.
So that’s one of the things, I think, that North Country provides, is a medical home
where our pharmacists have access to the medical records and the pharmacy records to provide
more comprehensive care.
RANDEE: I think there’s a lot of challenges with medication management, whether it’s
a complex regimen and they can’t remember all their doses or there’s a side effect
to a drug that makes them not want to take it any longer.
Or maybe they just don’t feel any different and they’re not sure why they’re taking
it.
JACK: I’m Jack DeVore.
I’m a Medicare beneficiary.
RANDEE: Jack first came to North Country and had an A1C of 14.5 and told me he had never
felt better, so it was kind of a challenge because he didn’t see the point in working
hard to get that A1C down and what the risks involved with it were.
JACK: Randee’s helped me with that tremendously.
RANDEE: So after explaining everything that he was at risk for and what the A1C actually
reflected, he kind of agreed to start seeing me on a regular basis, and we went over medications
to begin with.
JACK: Randee does a lot because she keeps pushing me all the time.
And she’s good at it!
And she don’t make you mad like some doctors will.
RANDEE: He came back last week and he was at an A1C of 8.3, so we’ve made huge strides.
LEONARD: Yeah, I was just, more or less, doing like everybody else was doing, and I come
to find out later that that’s not always the best way.
RANDEE: Len came to the clinic in November of 2013 after he was referred by his provider.
He came to me on the first day and said, “I’m gonna beat diabetes and I want to do whatever
it takes.”
LEONARD: She told me things that I needed to know and her professionalism - I could
tell that right away - that she knew what she was talking about and telling me things
that I had no idea about.
RANDEE: I think when you can reduce the risk of any complication, it’s benefitting the
patient.
When you’re making a pretty remarkable impact and I think the patients really appreciate
that extra mile.
LEONARD: And I just feel altogether a lot better.
I’ve lost a lot of weight.
When I first came here I was about 173, 175.
I’m 147 right now, and that’s within about two-and-a-half months.
KIM: I think the most important outcome that we can have here at North Country in our patient’s
care is just being able to provide quality care to our patients.
Those who can or cannot afford it.
JACK: I think they’re great.
I haven’t run into anyone any better qualified than they are to handle a diabetic person.
RANDEE: There’s situations like that where I think the patients really appreciate that
close-knit relationship with us.
LEONARD: I’m very positive about that it can be done.
It does take work.
It takes some concentration, change a little bit of lifestyle.
But once you learn to do that and you adjust to it, it opens up a whole new world for you.
[Background Music fades]