September Meeting at Ocean

Diane JanTausch welcomed us at 11:30 - last minute change of meeting room also included no provision for lunch. Not to worry: resourceful Diane managed to get us cheese, crackers, grapes and health bars, as well as soda, water, tea and coffee. Thanks, Diane, for thinking of our growling stomachs.

Congratulations to Mildred Moran, a loyal member, who was selected by her peers at Life Fit, Point Pleasant, as the Fitness Role Model for 2008. Mildred is ninety-something!

Note: Flu shots will be given at OMC 11:00 am November 19 in Shore Rehab lower level conference rooms. This is a community outreach program and is available to seniors - bring your Medicare card!

Bob Schenk arrived at 11:45 and set up his presentation. He is a clinical pharmacist specialist and helped organize the Meridian Pharmacology Institute.

Guest speaker Robert Schenk giving his presentation

Photo by Tom VanDyke, edited by Martin Brilliant

Bob owned his own pharmacy for 18 years before becoming a consulting pharmacist. This job consists of reviewing charts of patients in health care facilities (such as nursing homes) looking for medication-related problems. Some chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease quickly add up the total of medications.

The main thrust of his presentation was medication therapy management. The more medications someone takes the greater the risk of complications. And the risk goes up approximately ten percent for each added medication.

Before this program was developed, the emergency room was getting patients with medication complications. OMC is one of the first in the country to do a community outreach to identify the risks. OMC received funding to support this new program and as a result they recruited a consulting pharmacist.

Patients with multiple chronic diseases and several different doctors can get many different medications. The result can be an “event” that interferes with the health of the patient. The risks can range from harmless to deadly. Twenty-eight percent of hospitalizations of the elderly are due to adverse drug reactions or noncompliance. One-third of seniors have experienced drug-related problems. Medication complications cause 106,000 deaths annually.

• adding a new drug

• changing the dosage of a drug

• stopping a drug

• food interactions

• alcohol or illicit drugs

• multiple sedating drugs

• taking over-the-counter drugs or herbs without telling the doctor or pharmacist

Problems or reactions can occur at any time. Side effects - read the inserts!! - can include, among a very long list:

Sometimes discovering the cause of a symptom can be like a merry-go-round. Start with a complaint. Go to a doctor. Get more medications, which don’t work. Get referred to a specialist for tests, scans, and more meds, which may help but don’t resolve the original complaint. Now the consulting pharmacist works his way backward through it all and eventually finds the culprit, which may be the first drug prescribed for the original complaint.

The risk of developing medication-related problems can increase with age. Body changes (perhaps in the kidneys or liver) can alter the natural elimination of the drug. You are likely to be taking more drugs. And ailments like arthritis and poor vision can cause trouble taking drugs.

Who watches over us? Your pharmacist - but there are fewer of them, with more techs and more prescriptions filled through mail-order. Next, your primary care doctor.

• Know your meds and why you take them.

• Keep an up-to-date list of meds.

• Take your list to all your doctors.

• Talk to your doctor and pharmacist about your meds.

• Use one pharmacy.

• Take medications as directed.

• Know your body - you are the best judge.

• Consult with a senior-care pharmacist.

What your pharmacist can do for you:

• Assess patient drug regimen.

• Is drug therapy appropriate, effective, safe and used correctly.

• Decide whether a symptom, sign or syndrome is drug-related.

• Advise the correct way to administer the drug.

• Provide guidance to patients and caregivers.

Included in our packet of information was a medication review form. You list your medications and information about them and mail it to the Pharmacology Institute and it will be evaluated free of charge. You can also have a private consultation with the pharmacist.

Bob also deals with diabetic evaluations in which a computer does a complete evaluation of tests, blood work, etc., which can really help to control blood sugar.

Thanks, Bob - this was one of the best presentations we ever had - thorough and to the point, some great stories, direct and complete answers to our questions, and presented with a wonderful sense of humor.

Change of schedule: the next meeting at Ocean Medical Center will be November 13, 9:30–11:00 am in the Community Room, featuring dietitian Debbie Dobies (Debbie couldn’t come on November 20).