Rethink Your Pharmacist
By Christine Cheng, R.Ph. and Fred Cheng, R.Ph.
March is Pharmacist Awareness Month and the BC Pharmacy Association is asking you to “Rethink Pharmacists”. Why? The top reason is we are the most convenient and accessible healthcare practitioners in our current healthcare system. You can come see us usually without an appointment and often with a very short wait time during the week and on weekends. We have moved far away from the days of just counting pills and labeling vials. Nowadays, in addition to assessing the appropriateness of your prescription, we can administer vaccinations, provide medication management services and specialty services (such as compression stocking fitting) for patients. Not only are we a trusted resource for our patients, we provide value to the health care system by providing consultations on many self-care issues, thus reducing the number of people needing hospitalization, visiting emergency rooms or even needing to book appointments with a family doctor. Pharmacists are on the front-line in helping find solutions to some of the challenges facing our health-care system, such as addressing the opioid crisis, increasing immunization rates, and deprescribing and reducing polypharmacy. We love being pharmacists. In our humble opinions, this is the best healthcare practice as it allows us to be involved in attaining and maintaining our clients’ health, while developing a relationship with them that extends beyond the prescriptions that might have brought them into the pharmacy in the first place. At our Pharmasaves in Cloverdale and Steveston Village, we also employ an integrative approach to pharmacy by helping our patients consider natural health options that could complement the Orthodox medicines that they are already taking. We are comfortable and capable of discussing how supplements and vitamins can play an important role in promoting and maintaining health and not simply relying on medicines to fix the symptoms of health issues. At our unique locations, we can also help take care of your animal family members with many of their prescription and supplement needs as well. Come get to know our Integrative Health Pharmacists. We look forward to meeting you and discussing your healthcare needs.
Christine and Fred Cheng are a passionate, charismatic sister-brother pharmacist team at their unique, family-operated Pharmasave stores in Cloverdale and Steveston, B.C. They specialize in natural remedies and compounding for both human and veterinarian use. Everything mentioned in their article is available InStore.
Articles, Q&A, blog posts and all materials submitted for publishing is the intellectual property of Cloverdale Pharmacy Ltd – reproduction in part or whole, in print or online, without written consent and permission is prohibited.
