- By Amy Hartley
- Senior Voice
- What began as a few informal presentations has grown into an informative arena on prescription medication for all aging Alaskans and their doctors. Thanks to a grant from the Alaska Commission on Aging, pharmacies from the Anchorage Pioneers' Home Pharmacy are traveling around the state to share their expertise on medicine.
- The Anchorage Pioneers' Home Pharmacy staff manages medication for residents of the state's six Pioneers' homes. But beyond filling prescriptions and keeping a watchful eye on residents' health, the pharmacists are now offering educational information to those living outside Pioneers' home walls. Staff calls it educational outreach, but seniors throughout Alaska see the effort as an easy way to ask professionals about the many pills they consume daily.
- At a recent discussion held at Anchorage Senior Center, 11 seniors listened as Tammi Hackley, an Anchorage Pioneers' Home pharmacist, described body changes in the elderly and warned of slipshod usage of prescription drugs. Although the audience was quiet while Hackley spoke, when the presentation ended, attendees were eager to get a quick expert opinion on their medications and their possible side effects.
- "I was there at least half an hour later just answering questions and listening to concerns," Hackley said. "We hope to have an open forum where they can discuss questions."
- Beyond educating seniors, pharmacy staff hopes to inform Alaska's doctors. Older patients tend to see more than one physician, usually a specialist for each ailment. But these doctors may not be specialists on seniors themselves, and could be unaware of how the medications they prescribe function in an older body.
- "As you get older, you develop more problems. With that comes more doctors and more medication. Some of those drugs may interact and if someone isn't monitoring that, it could be dangerous," said Bob Albertson, chief pharmacist at Anchorage Pioneers' Home.
- In essence, the pharmacist is the middleman and must guard closely the relationship between all drugs prescribed. Some medications may alter the effects of others, or become toxic when mixed. A good pharmacist has a handle on these matters, but the expertise at the Anchorage Pioneers' Home Pharmacy is ideal. There, the state's only nationally certified geriatric pharmacists are on staff. Hackley and Albertson are among 400 certified geriatric pharmacists in the united states, Canada and Australia.
- Jim Kohn, Alaska Longevity Programs director, oversees the operations of the state's Pioneers' homes. He said he's proud of Hackley and Albertson's distinction and views the pharmacy's outreach as a useful tool for health care providers as well.
- "Pharmacists are underutilized in the care of the elderly. Medication mismanagement is probably the most detrimental outcome to elders seeking health care," Kohn said. "Elders are overmedicated and medicated with drugs that are not appropriate for their population. Our staff can fix that, and that's what we're trying to do."
- "The people I try to reach are the physicians, because those are the people who write the orders. They are not geriatric specialist," Albertson said.
- The Anchorage Pioneers' Home Pharmacy has been conducting outreach efforts for over a year now. In this time, communities from Sitka to Bethel have learned a little more about how prescription medications operate among the elderly. Albertson says more than 106 presentations were held over the last year. With the Alaska Commission on Aging's support, more communities in Alaska will soon benefit from the pharmacy's educational outreach.
- Kohn said the pharmacy received the $25,000 grant from ACOA last year, under the agreement that staff would address preventative health services and medications management in their discussions. Overall, he said the program's running well and has been warmly embraced by the communities the pharmacy staff as visited.
- "We hit on something that people want and that people are really responding to - that's caregivers as well as seniors," Kohn said.
- To find out more about the outreach program, contact staff at (907) 343-7294.
- Editor's note: This is the first of two stories on the Pioneer' Home Pharmacy. Next month, we will look at the unique internship program at the Anchorage site. Students from the University of Southern California's School of Pharmacy travel to Anchorage to get hands-on experience in the field, while living and working at the Pioneers' Home.
- Last updated:
Friday, January 16, 2004
- Senior Voice