Demetris Alfred of St. Louis, MO (top left), Melanie Owens of Chicago, IL (top right), Carmen Palmer of Columbus, OH (bottom left), and Jeff Carter of Cedar Rapids, IA (bottom right), join President Biden for a White House Roundtable Discussion moderated by Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice on Feb. 23.
Event continues deep interest among elected officials in pharmacy’s role as the face of neighborhood healthcare during the pandemic and every day.
Two team members from National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) member companies were included in a White House Roundtable Discussion on February 23 focused on the COVID-19 pandemic response and observing Black History Month: Hy-Vee District Store Director Jeff Carter from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Walgreens pharmacist Melanie Owens from Chicago, Illinois.
Carter and Owens joined President Biden, Ambassador Susan Rice and two other Black American essential workers for an interactive conversation about the unexpected challenges that have presented themselves throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the various ways in which frontline heroes have risen to the occasion to serve their communities.
Underscoring the critical role of community pharmacy when it comes to ensuring the safe, efficient and equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, President Biden said:
“We’re moving to make sure that drug stores, pharmacies are going to be able to be a place — just like for flu shots — that you can go … We find that [pharmacy] is more accessible to an awful lot of folks who don’t have the means to travel very far [and] don’t have the access to get to where they need to go. And they’re used to their pharmacy and they know their pharmacist and they can get a shot.”
President Biden also noted the importance the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, emphasizing that the ramp-up in vaccine allocation will continue as COVID-19 vaccine supply becomes available.
“We’ve gone from … 1 million doses to pharmacies to 2 million this week … we’re going to be able to significantly increase that.”
Walgreens’ Melanie Owens – a second generation pharmacist – and Hy-Vee’s Jeff Carter illustrated the industry’s resilience and professionalism in the face of COVID-19, focusing especially on their companies’ commitment to addressing health disparities and ensuring the safety of patients, customers and staff teams.
Owens began by describing her role as a pharmacy manager for Walgreens:
“I began my career with Walgreens nearly 20 years ago, and it was the opportunity to help care for others in our communities that helped me become a pharmacist.”
Additionally, Owens described Walgreens’ efforts to serve communities in need and underserved populations through a variety of community-focused pharmacy and health initiatives.
Of note, Owens discussed the health equity program that has launched at the Walgreens store where she works in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, a location which serves a low-middle income and predominately Black American community. As part of the program, Owens and her team are delivering prescriptions and notifying customers when prescriptions are ready so that patients maintain their crucial medication therapies.
In addressing the historic and evolving challenges that his company and the industry continue to face throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ways in which Hy-Vee have stepped up to serve the community, Carter said:
“The pandemic has really challenged us to not only focus on service to our customers and our employees, but also safety. We really had to shift our focus rapidly on how we take care of our customers, on how we make sure that they are safe when they come into stores,” Carter said.
Carter described the various safety measures implemented at Hy-Vee stores across the Midwest – including the launch of the “Mask It Up”program and the addition of plexiglass shields.
Carter and Owens also described the work Hy-Vee and Walgreens are doing, respectively, to help vaccinate Americans as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program:
“We have pharmacists, we have pharmacy technicians, we have about nine mobile units ready to go out in the communities to reach people that possibly cannot reach the [COVID-19] vaccine,” Carter said. “… We just need to get the vaccine delivered so that we can go out and do our thing. We are ready to help,” Carter said.
“I just encourage everyone to be aware that the vaccine is here to help; make sure that they’re making their neighbors and friends and family aware of their experience as they get the shots taken care of; and let them know that we’re here to help them,” Owens said.
The White House event was the latest event among many others that have demonstrated elected officials’ sincere interest in the role of pharmacies as the face of neighborhood healthcare during the pandemic and beyond.
Members on the Front Lines of COVID-19
Drew Massey, Director of Pharmacy for Fruth Pharmacy, administers a COVID-19 vaccine to an individual at a vaccination clinic presented by Fruth Pharmacy in Mason County, WV.
Massey administers a COVID-19 vaccine to an individual in her private residence in Putnam County, WV.
Fruth Pharmacy’s Director of Pharmacy, Drew Massey, was featured as the Better Angel in Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) eNewsletter on Feb. 19 for his dedication to getting COVID shots to arms in West Virginia.
“Drew has administered shots in nursing homes, schools and other events. He has worked late into the evening, driving to homes of elderly West Virginians to put extra doses to the best use. He spent two days administering vaccines in rural areas of Putnam County to shut-in patients, many confined to bed. A compassionate and caring pharmacist, Drew has led the Fruth vaccine program and made sure that not one dose has been wasted. After a recent ice storm, with a clinic scheduled in Point Pleasant, Drew hand-carried the vaccine from his home and caught a ride to deliver the medication,” the column noted.
Rep. Joyce (R-OH) visits with Discount Drug Mart pharmacist, Lisa Birman.
Joyce (center) discusses COVID-19 vaccine distribution with Steve Ferris (right) and Joe Muha (left) of Discount Drug Mart.
U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) visited Discount Drug Mart’s Concord Township location on Feb. 11 to learn about the pharmacy chain’s preparations to ensure an efficient and equitable COVID-19 vaccination rollout in Ohio.
“Distributing COVID-19 vaccines and administering them to as many people as quickly as possible needs to be our main focus because each vaccination gets us a step closer to stopping the spread of this virus and restoring our way of life,” said Joyce. “Pharmacies like those at Discount Drug Marts are critical to our efforts to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines. These folks successfully manage flu vaccinations for millions of Americans every year and, having spent today learning about their storage and preparation procedures, it’s clear they are more than capable of ramping up our vaccination campaign. I will continue to do everything I can at the federal level to boost vaccine distribution and support the pharmacies and hospitals working to keep our communities healthy.”
