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Will
Your Last Days Be Free of Pain and Suffering? Unfortunately, if you’re a senior, you should be thinking about the quality of death in our fair county. Your last hours on earth may be filled with more pain and suffering than you ever counted on. Why? Because, with one noble exception, we have NO late-night pharmacy services. This is how the story unfolds: It’s likely you will get cancer. You overcame all other accidents and illnesses in your life, but this is the final hurdle, and you probably can’t beat it. Hospice of the Foothills (incidentally, one of our community’s greatest organizations), tells me that approximately 65% of their patients are cancer patients. It remains, however, that 100% of their patients are dying. And all dying patients have some element of pain. If you are to die with any dignity, and in your own home, the management of pain and other symptoms (such as nausea, loss of appetite, anxiety, etc.) is critical. This management, as I’m sure you know, is handled almost entirely through prescription drugs. I speak from experience, as a friend of mine, an older gentleman with pancreatic cancer, lived with me for a couple of months, until the last week of his life. Your drugs are probably effective, and you probably have an adequate supply. However, drugs are sometimes ineffective, or you run out. Unless you are a Hospice patient, if things go wrong, they had better go wrong on the day shift. Otherwise, if you’re suffering at 11:00 pm, your options narrow considerably. Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital is not set up to handle your need. They are a hospital, not a retail outlet for prescription drugs. You’ll have to be admitted to the emergency room, and even then, the pharmacy may not be open. I took my friend there two times in the middle of the night, and fortunately the hospital was a great help. Fortunately for Hospice patients, David De Martini’s SpringHill Pharmacy is the resource for relieving pain and managing symptoms. SpringHill has the contract with Hospice for after-hours pharmacy services. It takes a special devotion and regard for people to take that contract. It’s heroic that the owner of a small pharmacy is on-call 24 hours a day to meet the needs of dying patients. And "heroic" is not just my term. It’s the word I heard repeated in talking with caregivers and hospital personnel. David’s willingness to be available at all hours has improved the quality of life for many a Hospice patient. Further, he is a rare breed of pharmacist: he compounds prescriptions. I have personally seen the results and the effectiveness of this special work, and again, patients are better off for it. And where, you might ask, are the big box stores during your crisis? Where are Longs, K-Mart, and Rite-Aid? Closed for the day. You can be assured that it’s not part of the "business model" for these stores to help cancer patients. But just to check this out, I called our local Rite-Aid, intending to ask if late-night pharmacy services might ever be available from them. After going through a fascinating phone tree and spending 10 minutes on hold, a very nice person gave me the number of the corporate offices. I made the call, but the PR representative was in a meeting, and I’m still waiting for a return call. Please understand that Rite-Aid isn’t a bad place, but their business is just not structured to meet the need. I sure they would lose money by keeping the pharmacy open late into the night. Too bad, because all these stores talk big about service and sensitivity. So, if you need prescription drugs after hours, you had better hope that you are a Hospice patient. I’ve just talked about the needs of the dying, but God forbid your child needs medication late at night. You will probably find that your physician is helpful and will gladly phone in a prescription. But who’s he or she going to call? The lights are off and nobody’s home. I hope this situation improves, in your lifetime and mine. Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a 12-year resident of Nevada County. His column appears the second Saturday of the month. barry@wvswrite.com is his e-mail address. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union. |