Mother Nature’s might is revealing itself yet again in the West Virginia flooding of three weeks ago. Also on display is the power of the helping hand and the human spirit – with the customers, employees and business partners of Fruth Pharmacy figuring significantly in the relief effort.

“VERY DEVASTATING”

Fruth describes the flash flooding of June 23, 2016, as only a true West Virginian can. She tells of the tragic loss, and near misses, of people she knows well, and she compares the flooding to other infamous days in the state’s history.

“It reminds me of the Buffalo Creek flood,” she said, referring to a tragic dam burst in 1972. “People heard the water coming, ran to the highest point and watched the water come in.”

Given the number of people in the extended pharmacy family who know Fruth, the question on the minds of many is how the people and property of the 29-store chain fared.

“We were really fortunate,” she said. “There was disaster all around us. Our new store took on minimal water, but we were really completely spared as a chain. We had no loss of employees or their immediate family’s homes. Having said that, within a few miles of our stores, we had loss of life, children swept away, tremendous loss. It is very devastating.”

She recounted one story of a neighbor who was sad to stand on the site of her family’s dream home that had been ruined, but whose emotions were focused more intently on those across the street who were swept away along with their home in the flood waters – leaving them among those who truly lost everything.

“That’s perspective,” Fruth said.

For West Virginians, the stories are many and cut deep – and so, too, are the motivations to help make a difference for those who got by with a near miss.

“HELPING CUSTOMERS KNOW THEY’RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE”

When Fruth talks about her company’s involvement in the relief effort, she puts everything in terms of the company’s customers, employees and [ READ MORE ]

Last week NACDS, with support from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), held a meeting to discuss strategies to improve public-private partnerships, which would lead to earlier and more broadly available pandemic vaccine.

During the meeting, NACDS, CDC, ASTHO, and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) presented an overview of a formalized Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) template, which outlines a standardized pandemic preparedness approach in community pharmacy.  The draft MOU, vetted by NACDS and other partner organizations, formalizes responsibilities between state-level public health agencies and community pharmacies in pandemic vaccination planning and response, specifically related to federally purchased and procured pandemic vaccine. The process to implement this MOU is currently being piloted with community pharmacies and health departments in Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia.

Panelists from state health departments and state pharmacy associations highlighted the successful partnerships and pandemic planning work being done in their states: Kentucky, Washington and Michigan.  Following in-depth discussion regarding the barriers and benefits community pharmacies face in planning for pandemics, the CDC closed the meeting by sharing its national vision for pharmacy and public health collaboration and a future scale-up of the pilot project.