Pharmacy leaders toast Drug Topics

Many o anniversary celebration . Your journalists would be complete without a and editors keep a good bal- R.Ph.s see few toasts and brief speeches. ance as they prepare each Drug Topics NSo Drug Topics asked a sam- issue between the various pling of pharmacy leaders to reminisce segments of pharmacy prac- as a about what the magazine has meant to tice. Most important, there trusted them throughout the years and what they is a clear professionalism like most about the publication. that is displayed in the qual- Manasse friend Here are some of the nice things they ity of the writing and choice ASHP had to say: of topics and their elaboration. Bruce Roberts, R.Ph., exec- “Since joining ASHP, I have enjoyed Sandra Levy utive VP/CEO of the Nation- and appreciated the bond of friendship al Community Pharmacists and professional relationship that has de- Association, said, “Drug Top- veloped between the staff of Drug Topics ics has served the pharmacy and the ASHP ‘family.’ You cover the profession not only as an in- issues of health-system pharmacy in a valuable source of news and comprehensive fashion. You dig deep information on political, Roberts where required. Judy Chi and Tony Vec- practice, and business topics, NCPA chione are always active participants in but also as an advocate for the profession. our press briefings, and they are never This is a time when all pharmacists, re- shy about asking us the tough questions. gardless of their practice setting, need to Thanks for being part of our profession in stay informed on changes in pharmacy a sustained and committed fashion.” practice, legislative and regulatory devel- John Gans, executive VP/CEO of the opments, and marketplace pressures. American Pharmacists Association, rem- Drug Topics provides the kind of timely inisced, “When I look back at all of the is- news coverage pharmacists need to re- sues facing the pharmacy profession spond to the challenges of a changing, over the years, Drug Topics has been there competitive practice environment.” asking the tough questions Henri Manasse Jr., executive VP/CEO every step of the way. of ASHP, offered this assessment: “I have Here’s to another 150 years been an avid and constant reader of of excellent reporting.” Drug Topics since my student days. The John Rector, senior VP and current news in our profession, in addi- general counsel of NCPA, tion to the commentaries and analyses, commented, “Even in the has been an important part of my efforts Gans years 1971 to 1977 when I was

to keep up with what is going on in APhA a chief counsel for the Senate Photos: Getty Images/Masterfile www.drugtopics.com DRUG TOPICS MARCH 19 2007 33

Judiciary Committee, my staff of very beneficial to me in my practice. David Brushwood, R.Ph., J.D., lawyers and investigators and I used Whether one is involved in pharmacy professor of pharmacy healthcare Drug Topics in a variety of ways: to management or in direct patient care, administration, University of Flori- understand the sector and the issues each issue provides a comprehensive da, declared: “Drug Topics has been a confronting the practice of pharmacy, overview of issues facing the profes- trusted source of information con- especially the local privately owned sion as well as interesting clinical per- cerning issues relevant to pharmacy business and for ideas for legislation spectives on a variety of topics. I’ve practice. They have never ducked a or leads for hearing subjects and/or come to rely on it.” controversy. As an academic, with a witnesses. Throughout my years as Larry Kocot, senior commitment to the profession, I am general counsel and senior VP with adviser to the adminis- grateful that Drug Topics has provid- the National Association of trator at the Centers for ed easy access to what is on the Druggists [NARD] and now NCPA, I Medicare & Medicaid minds of practitioners.” have found Drug Topics to be a timely Services, offered these Timothy Covington, executive di- and reliable source of essential infor- congratulatory words: rector of the Managed Care Institute mation. Access on-line to the publica- “I have been an avid at Samford University, stated, “I tion and your frequent updates have reader of your publica- Beckner have read Drug Topics regularly for only served to enhance its value.” tion for as long as I can Ukrop’s my entire pharmacy career, begin- Mary Ann Wagner, R.Ph., senior remember. Drug Topics ning as a pharmacy student. I de- VP, policy and pharmacy regulatory has earned 150 years of unparalleled pend on Drug Topics to bring me affairs of the National Association of success because your publication re- timely and useful information about Chain Drug Stores, expressed this ports more than just the pharmacy clinical, economic, and professional sentiment, “Congratulations to Drug news. Drug Topics is unique in its re- trends and issues. Drug Topics deliv- Topics on your 150th anniversary! porting on pharmacy issues and pol- ers quality and useful information We commend you for continuously icy as it captures the perspectives of with a high degree of journalistic keeping pharmacists abreast of cur- pharmacists, pharmacy academia, competence and integrity.” rent issues and trends in the profes- and pharmacy professionals like no Janet Engle, Pharm.D., associate sion. Personally, I enjoy reading the other pharmacy publication. Also, dean for academic affairs and clini- letters to the editor to see what phar- the Drug Topics Web site has become cal professor of pharmacy practice, macists across the country have on a wonderful extension of the publi- University of Illinois at Chicago their minds and how they react to the cation for those of us that can’t get College of Pharmacy, remarked, various articles that are published.” the hard copy of Drug Topics fast “Drug Topics is unique as the writ- Lucinda Maine, Ph.D., R.Ph., ex- enough.” ers and editors provide pharma- ecutive VP of the American Associa- Jack Fincham, R.Ph., A. W. Jowdy cists with practical, current infor- tion of Colleges of Pharmacy, offered Professor of Pharmacy Care, Uni- mation that can’t be easily found these words, “I have consistently versity of College of Phar- anywhere else. From late-breaking thought of Drug Topics as pharma- macy, observed, “I have always re- news to government affairs, tech- cy’s Newsweek. The editorial staff lied on Drug Topics to provide an nology and business to what is new without fail found the news that was important perspective on issues im- in the Rx and OTC arena, you can ‘fit to print’ and also delved into pacting our profession. It is some- find up-to-date information quickly contemporary areas of pharmacy thing I review with every issue to and easily in Drug Topics. It’s been practice and politics that helped get a ‘take’ on the pulse of pharma- on my must-read list for more than every reader keep on top of changes cy practice.” 20 years.” in the profession.” William Popomaronis, director of Finally, Rick Kingston, Pharm.D., John Beckner, R.Ph., pharmacy specialty services, NCPA, president of regulatory and scien- director of pharmacy noted, “I’ve been reading Drug Top- tific affairs, SafetyCall International, and health services, ics since opening my first pharmacy called Drug Topics “one of the few Ukrop’s Super Markets, more than 20 years ago. The maga- pharmacy-focused magazines that reflected, “I have been zine has always presented timely provides a concise, timely, and en- reading Drug Topics for business subjects that help pharma- gaging view of emerging topics im- almost 25 years and cists ask the right questions to im- portant to all pharmacy practition- Maine have found it to be ex- prove the value they offer to their ers. Thanks for keeping us informed AACP tremely informative and patients and communities.” in such an enjoyable way.” DT

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pharmacists duplicate European The evolution of the R.Ph.: No products that were either unreliable or unavailable. longer ‘seen but not heard’ More than 300 pharmacy cook- books were published in the United Fred Gebhart charcoal, pots, and pans imported States during the 19th century, Harris from Europe. noted. One of the most active pub- hen you start look- “The idea of retail, the pharmacist lishers was the American Pharma- ing, “you find phar- who sells both beach balls and health ceutical Association, founded in 1852. macists at every level care, is really where we came from,” When the Civil War broke out, W of every endeavor Harris said. “I remember counting pharmacists on both sides were and every industry that touches on out threads of saffron in the 1960s be- scaling up familiar compounding health care,” said pharmacy con- cause were the only techniques into vast factories that sultant Marsha K. Millonig, MBA, places that carried such exotica.” churned out such vital medicinals R.Ph., president of Catalyst Enter- as whiskey and morphine. prises in Minneapolis. “Pharma- Expect change During Prohibition, many phar- cists have gone from making drugs Pharmacy changed as America macists turned to distillation to meet to managing the use of changed, Harris contin- continuing demands for potable al- drugs. But in a larger sense, ued. By the time of the cohol. During the Great Depression, pharmacists are doing what American Revolution, demand shifted to cold cream and we have always done, pharmacists had become other cosmetics that pharmacists evolving with society to smugglers and counter- had the skill to create. find a role and fill it.” feiters. Trade sanctions When a 1950 survey found that Those roles tend to fall had cut off supplies of only 26% of all Rxs were com- into one of five categories: vital medications such as pounded, pharmacists began look- access, accuracy, efficiency, Marsha Millonig quinine and opium. Only ing at ways to move out of the safety, or quality. That’s R.Ph.s knew where the shrinking world of compounding how David Brushwood, professor raw materials came from or how to and into the new universe of direct of pharmacy and healthcare ad- turn dusty bark and dried poppy patient care. ministration at the University of juice into useful formulations. In 1955, the University of Califor- Florida, Gainesville, describes phar- After the Revolution, nia, San Francisco, created macy. “As we move into new areas, pharmacists became skilled the first six-year Pharm.D. we can put just about anything chemists. European suppli- program. Ten years later, pharmacists do—from compound- ers reserved special stock UCSF had pharmacists in ing to risk management to robotic for what most of the world the wards and round-the- design to drug utilization review— saw as a poverty-stricken clock pharmacy services into one of those categories,” he backwater: GEFA, good based on unit-dose distri- said. “Pharmacists who are pros- enough for America. Ameri- bution, consultative serv- pering and happy are those who cans got the leftovers that ices, and a drug informa- David Brushwood are flexible and can see themselves suppliers couldn’t dump tion center. doing things differently as needs anywhere else. change.” One result of supply problems Enter the future The first known American phar- was the creation of the U.S. Pharma- In 1973, UCSF professor emeritus macist was a 17th century apothe- copeia in 1820. USP was an attempt Donald Brodie described a new cary who opened for business when by physicians and pharmacists to model he called pharmaceutical care. New York was still known as Niew create quality standards and stan- His Rho Chi lecture in Boston Amsterdam, said Michael R. Harris, dard formulas for medicines. marked the definitive shift from M.S., R.Ph., former associate curator Among the earliest pharmacy product focus to patient focus. of pharmacy and public health for publications was an 1826 handbook “For the past half-century, pharma- the Smithsonian Institution. The ear- from the newly formed Philadelphia cy has been a profession of change,” liest surviving pharmacy inventory College of Pharmacy. The handbook said Kenneth Baker, pharmacist, at- order was a mix of patent medicines, offered recipes to help American torney, and executive director of the

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Pharmacy Compounding Accredita- squeezed product distribution mar- cology, nutritional support, and tion Board. gins, pharmacy boosted productivi- psychiatric pharmacy as well as The rise of retailing and chain stores ty and volume. The other road fo- pharmacotherapy. The profession put community R.Ph.s into a product cused on patient care. Academic is debating the need for a separate distribution role. Payers and regula- pharmacists led the charge, initially specialty in ambulatory care. tors increasingly saw R.Ph.s not as luring hospital pharmacists out of “The profession is moving ever healthcare professionals but their basement dispen- farther away from dispensing and as necessary merchant inter- saries and into daily con- toward direct patient care,” Burns mediaries between drug- tact with physicians, pa- said. “We are also seeing increasing maker and drug consumer. tients, nurses, regulators, use of knowledge without direct “When I got out of UCSF and the rest of the health- patient care involvement, areas like pharmacy school in the care community. drug information, quality improve- early 1950s, talking to pa- Pharmacists in other set- ment, and regulation.” tients was the biggest part tings are heeding the same Specialties are emerging all the of retail pharmacy,” remem- call. Some are moving out time, Burns said, such as emergency Larry Sasich bered Fred Mayer, president from behind the dispens- medicine, informatics, genomics, of Pharmacists Planning Service Inc. ing counter, frustrated with tradi- and biologics. “Pharmacists are and a member of Drug Topics’ editori- tional retail practice. showing up at NASA, in healthcare al board. “By the 1960s, we weren’t Others see wider possibilities in marketing and communication even supposed to tell patients what specialty practice. Community phar- groups, in primary care where you they were taking or why. We were ex- macists have developed niches in might have expected to see a nurse pected to count, pour, lick, stick, and disease management, durable med- practitioner or a physician assis- shut up. It has taken 50 years to get ical equipment, home care, and sev- tant,” she said. “Pharmacy educa- back to patient care.” eral other areas. tion is going to have to adapt just to That move back to patient care Pharmacists in Asheville, N.C., keep up with what pharmacists are helped spark a new round of evolu- and other cities have demonstrated already doing.” tion for pharmacy and pharmacists. significant financial and health im- What that means for pharmacy Larry Sasich, pharmacy consultant provements by managing patients schools and pharmacy training is for the consumer interest group with diabetes, asthma, and other not clear. Burns suggested two pos- Public Citizen, called pharmacy a diseases. sible models. One is the medical schizophrenic profession. “We are A growing number of companies model. That would give pharma- torn between being healthcare pro- with self-insured health programs cists a uniform base education, the fessionals and merchants,” he said. are contracting with phar- Pharm.D., followed by resi- “We have been professionally cen- macies to manage med- dency and other specialty tered and not publicly centered. We ication therapy, said Anne training. The other is an have to get involved in a meaningful Burns, VP of professional engineering model. That way in the public debate about drug affairs for APhA. Medi- would give pharmacists a safety, drug use, and drug regula- care Part D’s requirements variety of as-yet unnamed tions. That’s what professionals do.” for medication therapy specialty degrees much as Not all pharmacists agree. “There management offer similar engineers graduate in electri- are some pharmacists who are very opportunities to pharma- cal engineering, mechanical happy to take $100,000 a year and cists nationwide. Anne Burns engineering, or nuclear engi- a BMW as a signing bonus to work neering. Either way, the fo- 44 hours a week,” said pharmacy Health-system side cus is on more specialized training. historian Dennis Worthen, current On the health-system side, phar- “Pharmacists have always been Lloyd Scholar at the Lloyd Library macists are managing specialty the medication experts,” said Edith & Museum in Cincinnati. “Other disease clinics in cardiology, hy- Rosato, senior VP for pharmacy af- people see major problems with perlipidemia, diabetes, organ trans- fairs at the National Association of that scenario.” plantation, and a growing list of Chain Drug Stores. “The major chal- Baker has also seen the profession conditions. The Board of Pharma- lenge is getting payers to recognize move along dual paths. One road ceutical Specialties already has cer- that we can provide high-quality followed distribution. As payers tification programs in nuclear, on- patient care.” DT www.drugtopics.com DRUG TOPICS MARCH 19 2007 37

ing care of patients and helping Pharmacy education: them with their medications is what the profession will be known for in Change is the only constant the long run, she said. There is a commonality of expec- Valerie DeBenedette of medication information in health tations for a pharmacist’s perform- care, toward disease state manage- ance, regardless of what degree is harmacy education has been ment, and even medication therapy earned, said Cynthia L. Raehl, in an almost constant state of management. Pharm.D., FASHP, FCCP, professor change for the past 150 Currently, the requirement for a and chair, Texas Tech University Pyears, since the era when a Pharm.D. consists of four years of Health Sciences Center School of pharmacist learned by being an ap- pharmacy school preceded by at Pharmacy and president-elect of prentice. That era was followed by a least two years of prepharmacy AACP. “To earn a degree is just the combination of apprenticeships and preparatory classes. The previous beginning of a career,” she said. “It courses at local apothecary schools, entry-level degree had been a is not just the degree, it is the life- and then by matriculating in B.S.Pharm. degree (a five-year long learning that a pharmacist schools of pharmacy for degree pro- course), but all pharmacy students must embrace that allows a phar- grams that gradually have been ex- graduating since 2004 have earned a macist to continue in the practice.” tended over the years. Pharm.D., said Lucinda L. Maine, All these advances demand that The past decade saw the entry- Ph.D., R.Ph., executive VP of the tomorrow’s pharmacy practitioners level degree for the profession American Association of Colleges of understand and integrate into their change over from a bachelor of sci- Pharmacy (AACP). own practices the new scientific ence degree to the doctorate in With the Pharm.D., the entry- principles that will be coming. “Sci-

nsteadt pharmacy (Pharm.D.). But for the level pharmacy degree is equivalent ence is moving at a very fast pace, past decade and more, the entire to a medical degree or a dentistry and we must keep pace with sci- profession has been undergoing degree, Maine said. “People think ence,” said Raehl. There will be a Thomas Dar change, as it attempts to move away we are still overeducating people reaffirmation of the need for sound from prima- for the practice, but we scientific foundation in pharmacy rily dispens- are not. The per- education that is stimulated by ad- ing medica- son we are vances in such fields as stem cell re- tions toward gradu- search, genomics, physiology, and being the ating biochemistry, she said.

Photo: Photo Disc/Digital Imaging: chief source today will be practic- “The dynamics of pharmacy edu- ing for the next 25 cation in the past five years is that years or more.” Be- we cannot produce pharmacists fast cause no one will enough,” said Maine. be able to predict Preparing pharmacists for work- what will happen ing in the real world, whether it is in therapeutics during in a hospital or a community set- that time, the goal of pharmacy ting, has taken a lot of input from education is to create a learner various groups. “It is very exciting who is committed to keeping up to see the active collaboration tak- with the changes, she said. ing place among the colleges and The move to a Pharm.D. “is schools of pharmacy and communi- recognition that the dispensing role ty pharmacy owners and operators is not going to be the only role that to prepare pharmacy students as we contribute to health care in the future practitioners,” said Sandra long term,” said Marilyn K. Speed- Kay Jung Guckian, M.S., R.Ph., VP, ie, Ph.D., dean and professor at Uni- pharmacy education and research, versity of Minnesota College of National Association of Chain Drug Pharmacy and president of AACP. Stores. She noted that NACDS and “It is a major paradigm shift.” Tak- the American Pharmacists Associa-

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University School of Pharmacy, has Six (or more) degrees of pharmacy more than 30 years of experience working as a pharmacist in chain harmacists in the United States have been awarded many differ- drugstores. The idea that the pro- ent academic degrees—or none at all, if you hearken back to the P fession will move away from dis- days of apothecary apprenticeships. The result is an alphabet soup of pensing medications and toward degrees, many of which are now obscure. Who wouldn’t look at Ph.G. having a greater hand in counsel- and not assume it is a typo for Ph.D.? Here are a few pharmacy de- ing patients has been touted for grees and their abbreviations, plus a few that didn’t get abbreviated: years, he noted. Many chains would be happy to replace phar- Doctor of Pharmacy Pharm.D. macists with pharmacy technicians Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy B.S.Pharm. or even robots, he believes. Master of Science M.S. The views of pharmacy colleges are diametrically opposed to the Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D. views of the chains, Miller contin- Pharmacy Doctor P.D. ued. “The chains want quantity and Graduate in Pharmacy Ph.G. not quality, and the schools, quality and not quantity.” R.Ph. Registered Pharmacist Now is the time for pharmacists Pharmaceutical Chemist to step up to the plate and provide Master of Pharmacy patient care, and for the people who hire pharmacists to make it possible Bachelor of Pharmacy for them to do so, Speedie said. “We are providing outstanding clinical tion are collaborating on the devel- Before 2000, the Pharm.D. degree education, but we need to do better opment of the Community Phar- was an alternative choice to the B.S. at empowering our graduates to be macist Preceptor Education Pro- in pharmacy. The transition to an leaders for change, so that they will gram, which will be available to all entry-level doctoral degree was not demand to use the skills we are giv- pharmacy schools and community met with universal approval, and ing them,” she said. pharmacists. some disapproval still continues. Society has to come to terms There’s no doubt there will be a Many in chain drugstores and com- with the fact that we must have a lot of discussion about this issue. munity pharmacies questioned the “medication use specialist,” added The important fact, Guckian said, is need for adding a year and upping Maine. “When there were four- to keep a focus on attracting stu- the degree to a doctorate. An on-line year pharmacy grads, there were dents to the profession who have a Drug Topics survey of 488 R.Ph.s only about 600 individual chemical desire to help people and are enter- in 2006 found that pharmacists entities approved and in use. That ing pharmacy school with a vision were almost equally divided as to number today is in excess of for direct patient care practice. whether the move to a Pharm.D. 15,000. And, gosh, they are power- Pharmacy students are now gain- was a good idea, with 52% saying ful and they are complicated and ing the skills they need in order to No. The survey found that 42% of they are being used in an aging be the kind of practitioners who can respondents felt that a pharmacist population.” perform disease state management with a B.S. degree was capable of Change may be the only constant regardless of practice setting, said meeting the needs of community in pharmacy education. The six- Jennifer Athay, Pharm.D., associate pharmacy practice and that 11% felt year Pharm.D. program is now the director of student development that the doctoral degree was “wa- norm, but many pharmacy students with APhA. There is less emphasis tered down” by the requirement enter pharmacy school today al- on the dispensing role of pharma- that all new pharmacists have one. ready holding a bachelor’s degree, cists, but there is still a dispensing “The chains do not want any making a Pharm.D. a de facto eight- role for pharmacists to play, she part of this professional pharma- year program. Whether that course added. “I look at it as ‘Oh boy! Look cist model,” claims Dennis B. of study becomes the required norm at how much time I have to spend Miller, R.Ph., Delray Beach, Fla. remains to be seen. with patients.’ ” Miller, a graduate of THE AUTHOR is a writer based in New York State.

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challenging, but it feels good when Generation Next: Pharmacy you have a challenge and you meet it. I have watched so many small runs in these families stores go out of business for one rea- son or another, but I still have peo- Reid Paul great-great-grandfather, Gilbert ple come to me and complain about Thompson, opened the first having to wait at the big stores.” or 171 years a Thompson has Thompson Drugs store in nearby Perhaps hardest is the knowledge been behind the counter at Ottawa, Ill., in 1836, before moving that the Thompson family tradition Thompson Drugs. Six genera- it to Spring Valley. will end soon. “I am the last genera- Ftions of Heimstreets have Now 60, Thompson has had time tion,” he said. “There is no one in my counseled patients. The fourth gen- to reflect on his career. “It’s given family to follow me. I hate to give it eration of Seiferts recently began me a comfortable living, and it has up, but I am going to be 60 this year, practice as a pharmacist, while Ru- given me some challenges,” he told and I only have so much longer to do pal Patel, a professor of pharmacy, is Drug Topics. “There were days when it. I have a 12-hour day, and when I following the trail her grandfather I was glad to be there and some come home from work, I am tired.” blazed … in India. days when I wished I was not.” Still, what is remarkable about Mostly, however, Thompson ap- A sense of camaraderie these pharmacists—and the count- preciates being able to help his pa- Geoff Seifert never really had an op- less others nationwide—is that the tients. “With computerization and portunity to see his father at work be- commitment to pharmacy had less Medicare Part D and prescription hind the counter and grew up hun- to do with running the family busi- drug cards, it is difficult some- dreds of miles and two generations ness and more to do with a shared times,” he commented. “It is more removed from the family pharmacy. concern for providing service to Still, he developed an appreciation for the community. Even as finan- the pharmacy profession and his fam- cial pressures may be pushing ily’s heritage, which includ- many family-owned communi- ed not only his father, ty pharmacies out of business, grandfather, and great- some children are still follow- grandfather, but also ing in their parents’ footsteps. Terry Thompson is the fifth generation Behind the counter to run Thompson For Terry Thompson, becom- Drugs, pictured ing a pharmacist was integral- past (l.) and present. ly related to the family’s Thompson Drugs store. “I started when I was old enough to know,” he explained. “I would do odd jobs—anything to be there. In the back of my mind, I always knew that was what I was going to do. It was important to me to continue the tra- dition.” Thompson Drugs is located in Spring Valley, Ill., a small town southwest of Chicago, where it has been since 1885. Thompson’s

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aunts and uncles. “Growing up, I was Iowa. He eventually decided to stay Long hours always part of the Iowa Pharmacists in Iowa as a pharmacist—the family When Rupal Patel was ready for Association,” he recalled. “Mom was pharmacy was in good hands with college, pharmacy was not at the on the auxiliary, and we would have his grandfather and father there. top of her list. Patel recalled her fa- conventions every year. I got a sense Benjamin Seifert continued to run ther Pramod Patel’s dedication to of the camaraderie of the profession. the family pharmacy until 1980 his work at a hospital near Boston It was fun and piqued my interest—it when Michael’s sister, Patti Jesinos- and later at an Eckerd’s in New Jer- gave me an interest in keeping those ki, took it over for the next six years sey. “It was a lot of hours,” she re- connections.” (three of Benjamin’s eight children membered. “I did not want to work The news was entirely unexpect- became pharmacists). Patti eventu- late nights and weekends.” ed for Geoff’s father, Michael, a ally decided to sell the pharmacy Patel took a pharmacy class and pharmacy manager for Dahl’s Food when she left Minnesota. was hooked. “I started with phar- in Des Moines, and a current board For Geoff Seifert, like his father, macy and fell in love,” she ex- member of the Iowa Board of Phar- one of the selling points of pharmacy plained. “The only reason I started macy. “I was surprised—shocked was the ability to take the skills any- with pharmacy school was to keep really—when he came home and where. After graduating from the the tradition going, but I was not announced he was going into phar- University of Iowa in May 2006, he pressured. You have to do what macy,” Michael recalled. “We really moved to Colorado where he now makes you happy, but when I told had not talked about it too much.” works for . “My father and my father I was going to pharmacy Unlike his son, Michael Seifert I talk about things more often now,” school, he was thrilled.” grew up in and around the Seifert Geoff said. “My father has been a re- Fortunately for Patel she also Drug Pharmacy his grandfather ally good resource for me. If I can’t found a way to avoid the long shifts, Henry had opened in 1908 and his fa- find the answers in the manuals, I can late nights, and weekends. She is ther Benjamin ran. “I started working ask him. And since so much has been now an assistant professor at Rutgers in the store when I was in kinder- changed since he went to school, he University’s Ernest Mario School of garten,” Michael Seifert remembered. uses me as a resource as well. It’s fun Pharmacy, specializing in communi- Michael followed in his father’s that I can help educate him ty pharmacy. footsteps to Drake University in somewhat.” What is particularly remark- able about Patel’s commitment to her family’s tradition is that it began not in the United States, but with her grand- father Purshotamdas Patel in India. After an internship in a pharmacy, Patel’s grandfather opened a pharmacy in the Gujarat province of India. Follow- ing pharmacy school, Pramod Patel came to the United States to practice. From left: Henry As a teacher, Seifert pictured in Rupal Patel said 1910 (posing on the that she sees stu- left side of the picture) and in the dents who come in 1930s; Michael with family experience in Seifert holding a pharmacy. “When you memento from one of the family’s finish high school, having pharmacies. that background helps,”

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she explained. “Still you don’t get adapt to,” Heimstreet said. “We’re the complete picture. With my father filling more scripts than ever before. I saw one thing, but I did not realize How do we continue to work pro- everything else pharmacy could be. fessionally and meet this work I think it is an incredible profession.” load? That’s what makes it still re- warding. Despite being busy, I am ‘Total family affair’ still able to counsel customers. Edward Heimstreet IV is deter- That’s what I love—being there to mined not to put pressure on his son help people.” to become a pharmacist. His two And as for the seventh generation, older daughters have currently by- Heimstreet is waiting patiently to passed pharmacy to pursue other see whether any of his children will careers. My son “thinks about it, but decide to carry on the family name. he’s only 15 years old,” noted Heim- He may not be putting pressure on street. “I’d recommend pharmacy as them to follow in his footsteps, but a profession because of the satisfac- as he made clear, he would be very tion that I find, but I don’t want to happy if they did. In fact, like all of Pramod and Rupal Patel carried their put undue stress on my family. If it is pharmacy tradition to the United States. the pharmacists Drug Topics talked ever going to happen, it will be his to for this story, Heimstreet believes decision.” would do chores,” he said. “It never that the greatest advertisement for Still, for six generations the Heim- occurred to me to be anything else the next generation is the enjoyment street family has carried on a proud but a pharmacist.” and satisfaction of the current gener- pharmacy legacy. In 1838 Stephen Edward Heimstreet IV eventual- ation of pharmacists. DT Heimstreet opened a pharmacy in ly took over the family pharmacy. Troy, N.Y. But Stephen Heimstreet “One of the most difficult decisions Editor’s note: If your family has a long- may not have been the first R.Ph. in my life was whether to leave in- standing pharmacy tradition, let us in the family—Edward Heimstreet dependent practice,” he explained. know. Please go to www.drugtopics. suspects that another relative stud- “For me and my family, it was the com and add your blog entry to the ied pharmacy and graduated in 1828 right move. I’d fill prescriptions, discussion for this article and share as one of the earliest women phar- but I also had to manage the front your story. macists. Following the Civil War, end, place the orders, Stephen Heimstreet moved his fam- and check inventory for ily to Wisconsin where, in 1880, our full front-end gift Stephen’s son Edward Heimstreet shop. After I sold the was one of the founding members of store, my work week the Wisconsin Pharmaceutical Asso- was cut in half.” ciation (later the Pharmacy Society Losing the store, how- of Wisconsin). ever, did not mean los- Pharmacy was clearly a family af- ing interest in pharmacy. fair for the Heimstreets. Along with “It’s not just about phar- his father and his wife, Stella, who macy, but it is also about was also a pharmacist, Edward playing a role in the Heimstreet opened three pharmacies community,” he argued. across southern Wisconsin. Charles “I’m involved in the Heimstreet carried on the tradition, community even though moving to Lake Mills, and opening I’m not currently work- his own pharmacy there. The family ing in the community.” continued to operate that family The job is just as re- pharmacy until 2000. warding as well. “Every “It was a total family affair,” Ed- day there are stresses Five generations of Heimstreet pharmacists posed ward Heimstreet IV recalled. “Mom that, as a professional for this picture in 1932. Not shown is Edward Heim- worked as the bookkeeper, and I pharmacist, you have to street IV, who was not yet born. www.drugtopics.com DRUG TOPICS MARCH 19 2007 45

chased the business in 1888. Adam America’s oldest pharmacy: died at 90, still treating patients up to one week before his death. Carl’s Drug keeps on ticking Greencastle was mostly outside of the American mainstream, but the Carol Ukens 24, he’d become a pharmacist and Civil War paid an unwelcome visit in opened the Greencastle drugstore. He 1863 when Union and Confederate ohn Quincy Adams had been then studied medicine and became a armies clashed at nearby Gettysburg. earning his annual $25,000 doctor. For the next 62 years, he Adam Carl and his physician son salary as the sixth U.S. Presi- served the good folks around Green- George tended to some of the wound- Jdent less than two months castle. He often packed his apothecary ed on both sides. For example, George when Dr. Adam Carl opened his kit and saddled up his horse to treat treated one of two Union soldiers drugstore in the small south central homebound patients within a 30-mile caught in a Confederate ambush. The town of Greencastle. radius, said Bonnie Shockey, president other man died in the ambush, be- Despite six relocations, Carl’s of the board of directors of Green- coming the first Union soldier killed Drug Store is still firmly woven into castle’s Allison-Antrim Museum. north of the Mason-Dixon Line. the business and civic fabric of Adam Carl also operated the drug- Although the implements used at Greencastle. And its amazing 182- store until 1854 when his son William Carl’s Drug may seem quaint today, year longevity has earned it the un- took over to allow his father to de- the pharmacy always kept up with official honor of being America’s old- vote all his time to medicine. When the latest practice innovations. Charles est pharmacy continuously serving William died suddenly in 1874, Adam installed a special cabinet to house the same community. resumed control until his grandson medicines for common ailments A descendant of German immi- Charles graduated from the Philadel- when over-the-counter items began grants, Adam Carl was born in 1800 phia College of Pharmacy in 1880 and to appear in the late 1800s. Carl’s also in Carlisle, Pa. As a boy, he worked in took over management of the drug- caused a stir when it hooked up a local pharmacy where he became store. Charles, who had started work- Greencastle’s first telephone. Annual interested in medicine. By the age of ing in the drugstore at age 14, pur- service cost $24 in 1906. Pharmacist Frank Ervin purchased Carl’s Drug Store in 1974 from Ed- ward Carl, the founder’s great- grandson, who was also an R.Ph. The first non-Carl owner was no stranger to the business. As a young boy, he had worked at the drugstore where his father, Richard, was the longtime assistant R.Ph. Bitten by the pharma- cy bug, he earned a pharmacy degree and was then hired by Carl’s in 1973. Ervin moved the drugstore from its downtown location about eight years ago because he needed a parking lot. He remembers his father’s day when 5-gal. jugs of cough syrup were mixed by rolling them across the floor and pills were coated and then wrapped in paper and tied with string. Fortunately for later generations, the Carls were packrats who seemed to save everything. Many of the tools of Carl’s trade have been preserved as part of a permanent display at the Dr. Adam Carl with a page from his daybook. At right, Carl’s Drug in 1923. Allison-Antrim Museum. DT

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Dew takes pride in the active role This R.Ph. is 90 years young he took in pharmacy organizations throughout the years. In 1973, he and still going strong served as president of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association. He was Sandra Levy school. “I just kept on working when also committee chairman of profes- I got out of high school; I really did sional relations for the National As- hen Carl Dew was in not have any money,” he recalled. “I sociation of Retail Druggists, now the seventh grade, his worked for three years before col- known as the National Community teacher asked the class lege. But I knew that I was going to Pharmacists Association. Wto practice filling out a college. I knew I would make it. No Dew has also received several job application. “I wrote the appli- one else in my family graduated awards over the years. He was a re- cation to Lane Drug Co. in Knox- from college. I had one sister who cipient of the Bowl of Hygeia award ville,” said Dew, owner of Corner graduated from high school. We for community service in 1963, and Drug Store in Lake City, Tenn. were just poor people. I did every- in 1979, he nabbed the Tennessee Dew, who is 90 years old and has thing to get by. I worked seven Pharmacist of the Year Award. no plans for taking early retirement, nights a week. I got out of school at Noting that his son David is in reminisced, “I wanted to be a phar- 5:30, ate, and then got to the drug- charge of the pharmacy these days, macist, and that really stuck with store at 6:00 and worked until 11:30.” Dew said, “He doesn’t do the poli- me.” When his teacher asked why Dew finally realized his dream ticking that I did. I really was fortu- he’d chosen to apply to a pharmacy, and attended Louisville College of nate and took a great part in that. Dew remembers his reply: “I just Pharmacy, which is currently the My wife and I made a lot of trips told her there was something about a Kentucky College of Pharmacy. He each year to the different cities.” drugstore that I liked from way back received a B.S. degree in pharmacy. When asked how things have when I was delivering papers. I liked “I’ve been registered in Tennessee changed for him as a pharmacist the smell of the drugstore.” since 1940,” he boasted. over the years, Dew said, “It hasn’t So enamored of pharmacy was Dew also served in the United changed much, except I got older, but Dew that when he became a senior States Navy as chief pharmacist mate I still do pretty well. I come down to in high school, he worked at Corner and was stationed for two years in the store in the morning. I always stay Drug Store mopping the floors and the South Pacific. After spending the until noon and sometimes longer. cleaning the windows so he could remainder of his Navy career in Last weekend I took 15 hours of CE save money to attend pharmacy Texas, he returned to Corner Drug. credits in Knoxville,” he said proudly. Dew became sole owner of the When queried what it is like to be pharmacy after his partner passed a pharmacist in the same town for away in 1959. “I’ve several decades, Dew said, “I have a been sole owner few customers that I have had for 50 since then,” he years. Many of them were kids hang- said. “When my ing around the fountain in the ’30s son finished and ’40s. The kids grew up in Corner pharmacy Drug and I see a lot of them from school, I start- time to time. They wish the old foun- ed giving him tain was back, but I took it out.” the drugstore. Dew has been very forward- But I’m still thinking and has kept up with tech- here and I’ve nology. “We were the first around been very for- here to have a Renlar computerized tunate.” prescription server. We’ve had it since 1983. That’s a long time. I keep looking up the new sizes and new products and put the orders in. We Carl Dew is 90 years old and still practicing pharmacy. Insets: Dew (r.) in his younger buy from two wholesalers and we days and with his son who now runs the pharmacy (top) and today (bottom). can send the order in between 5:00

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and 6:00 P.M. and get delivery at 8:00 thing unique to be competitive, Dew son, who is our technician, wrote A.M. the next morning.” said, “No, we don’t worry about that. back and said, ‘No, it’s not wrong. Pointing out that Corner Drug is Usually they send customers here be- He was born in 1916!’ ” exclaimed located 15 miles from Oak Ridge and cause we carry much more stock and Dew. 30 miles from Knoxville, Dew said we get an order every morning. We When questioned about whether he doesn’t face competition from a have 2,500 people in town and we he knows of any colleagues who are slew of chain stores. However, there draw from a 15- or 30-mile radius.” his age and still practicing pharmacy, is a Walgreens located about 15 miles It’s apparent that Dew has a sense he responded, “I sure don’t. I ran into north and a CVS and another Wal- of humor. When asked if people in- several pharmacists in Knoxville greens 10 miles south in Clinton. quire about when he is going to re- who are in their 70s and 80s and most There is also another independent tire? He said, “Oh yes, they ask me of them quit 10 years ago. Some keep pharmacy in town. “In the old days that. I tell them, ‘I will when I’m 65,’ up their licenses and some don’t.” there were two or three independ- but I had my 90th birthday.” How much longer will Dew prac- ents, but they all dropped out, and Dew said he recently filled out an tice pharmacy? “I guess as long as we were the only independent until electronic application that asked for I’m able, I’ll still do that.” the early 1970s when someone who his birth date. The form was re- Finally, when asked if he’s glad worked for me opened a store down turned to him stating that a mistake that he became a pharmacist, Dew the street,” he said. had been made in his date of birth. responded immediately, “Oh yes, When asked if he has to offer any- “My granddaughter, Jessica Thomp- I’m glad. I’ve enjoyed it all.” DT www.drugtopics.com DRUG TOPICS MARCH 19 2007 49