REFILL REMINDERS

I just wanted to inform you of some of the latest happenings here at the pharmacy.  One such happening is our addition of refill reminders.  Refill reminders can come in two different forms: (1) text or (2) Phone call.  Many of you are probably already aware of these reminders.  Hopefully, you appreciate them, but if you do not, we can discontinue them for you.  Our purpose behind the refill reminder is to help in the adherence to the prescribed medication regimen.  For example, if a doctor prescribes a medication to be taken twice a day and 60 pills are to be dispensed, then, our new system will send a reminder in 30 days from that fill.

As always, we want to be a valuable partner in your healthcare journey.  We feel these reminders can help in that journey.

Thanks for your loyalty and business.

Do you hate having to make several trips to the pharmacy each month?  Would you like the ability to get all your medications at the same time?  If so, we may have an answer for you.

McWilliams Pharmacy now offers the service of synchronizing your medications.  Whether you take 2 or 20 medications, we can potentially help align your medications so that you are more efficient with your trips to the store.  In addition to this streamlining, we will also be pro-active in calling your doctor for refills.  This will allow us, when time, to fill all the medications without having to wait for a return call from your doctor.  This will allow you to pick up all the medications, and avoid having to return to the pharmacy at a later time.

Understand this is a coordinated effort between yourself, us (the pharmacy), and your doctor.  It is our goal to make the process of medication delivery as benign as possible and we feel this is one way to help that process.

If this is would be of interest to you or someone you know, give us a call and we would love to explain it more fully.  The best part of this program is that is it absolutely FREE!  Yes, there is no cost and it is available to anyone that requests.

Don’t hesitate to call.  And, as always, thanks for your support of local businesses.

McWilliams Pharmacy
3706 College Avenue
Snyder, TX 79549
(325)573-7582

Have your allergies been driving you crazy?  If so, we have some remedies that definitely can help your itchy eyes, runny nose, and sneezing.  With this year ramping up to be “the perfect storm” for allergens and allergy symptoms, it stands to reason to be informed and equipped with the knowledge of how to treat your allergy symptoms.

The following are several things to keep in mind:

• Heat and high humidity promote the growth of molds.
• Cool nights and warm days allow tree, grass and ragweed pollens to thrive.
• In spring and summer, tree and grass pollen levels tend to peak in the evening.
• In late summer and early fall, ragweed pollen levels tend to peak in the morning.
• Windy and warm days often result in surging pollen counts.
• After a rainfall, pollen counts may go up, even though the rain temporarily washes pollen away.

If you notice you are having allergy symptoms (runny nose, itchy eyes, & sneezing) and you want to treat yourself with over-the-counter (OTC) medications, be cautious.  Many OTC products contain more than one medicine.  One needs to be educated about which medications treat which symptoms.  The following can aid you in your quest for the best product for your specific symptoms.

Symptom Treatment

• Itchy eyes  Alaway Eye Drops, Visine A Allergy Eye Drops, any oral antihistamine
• Runny Nose Oral Antihistamine, Corticosteroid Nasal Spray
• Sneezing Oral Antihistamine, Corticosteroid Nasal Spray
• Some examples of the above treatments are:
• Oral Antihistamine – Allegra, Claritin, Zyrtec, Chlor-Trimeton, Benadryl
• Corticosteroid Nasal Spray – Nasacort, Flonase, Claritin Nasal Spray

In addition to these, one can always call McWilliams Pharmacy and we can tailor make an allergy treatment plan for you.  Thanks for your time.

Just a word to get you guys informed about the “going’s on” at McWilliams Pharmacy.  We want all you guys to know that we are now offering a free monthly Diabetic Education Seminar.  We have partnered with Cogdell Hospital to offer this to the public.  Each seminar will last about an hour and the topics will vary each month.  It is our hope to present the latest and most up-to-date information in a succinct and understandable fashion.  March’s topic was about the condition known as Metabolic Syndrome.  We learned how that affects diabetes and the things we can do to affect Metabolic Syndrome in a positive fashion.  Next month’s (May’s) topic will be “The Glycemic Index.”  It will give an overview of the Glycemic Index and how it can be used to determine one’s nutritional intake.  Next month’s Seminar will be on Tuesday, May 16^th at 10 a.m. in the Cogdell Hospital Education Room.  The education room is located on the second floor of the Administrative wing of the hospital.  We will be sending reminders on Facebook a few days before the event.  Check in regularly on our Facebook page for all our latest information.

Just a quick post to remind all customers and potential customers that, we at McWilliams Pharmacy offer FREE delivery.  Yes, FREE delivery.  One might ask, “Why would you offer free delivery?”  Well the answer is easy.  We feel delivery is a way to make one more connection with the customer.  We don’t consider a prescription a transaction, but rather a way to foster a healthcare relationship.  Delivery of medications is a part of that relationship.  We feel proper healthcare involves communication and developed relationships.  This belief accounts for our reasoning for always answering our phones with a “real live” person.  One might suppose that we are just “old fashioned” or lacking in technology.  If you feel that way, let me just give you a few arguments to the contrary.

McWilliams Pharmacy has a mobile app that one can download that offers the ability to refill medications at one’s convenience.  That mobile app is downloadable at your respective app store and is called “McWill Rx.”  Another technology that we offer is the ability to receive text and/or email notification when prescriptions are ready for pickup.  All we need for this technology is your cell phone or email address and a call telling us to “Sign me up.”  Lastly, our website is a place where one can set up an online account where one can refill prescriptions, look at prescription history, print out a personal profile of medications, and pay your bill.

Whether you embrace high tech, low tech or no tech, we aim to please at every level.  We love taking care of our patients/customers and extend that possibility to potential customers as well.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Just a little note to hopefully educate you about the flu shot.  So what is the flu shot? The flu shot is a vaccine that is given in anticipation of protecting oneself from a specific type of virus known as the influenza virus. This virus usually affects people during the winter months. Its symptoms can vary from headache, fatigue, malaise, fever, aches, drainage, congestion, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The CDC estimates that there are between 3000 and 49000 deaths each year associated with the flu.

When do I need to get the flu shot? Right now is a great time. The shot takes about two weeks to take full effect within the body. Therefore, any two weeks prior to an exposure to the flu virus is a good time. Taking a shot today would allow you to be protected in about 2 weeks and that coverage would continue through next spring.

Is it possible to get a flu shot and still get the flu? Yes. The flu vaccine is developed early in the year, based upon what scientists and researchers believe to be the most likely viral threat. Many years their prediction is accurate, but they have also missed on their prediction.

If the scientist predict inaccurately is the flu shot useless? No. Just because the exact virus may be missed by the scientists, many times the acquired virus will be very similar to strain within the vaccine and this will allow for some protection. Therefore, it is still wise to get the shot.

If you have questions or need a flu shot, come by the store and we will be happy to sit down and visit with you about it. Thanks for your time.

Hello all.  Glad you made it to our website.  Thanks for taking a look around.  We hope you will continue to interact with us via our website and our other social media avenues.  Our goal is to provide you, the customer/patient, an easy way to receive valuable and timely information from us.  We will, on occasion, also send out some information that hopefully makes you laugh or smile.  We will try to keep you abreast of the latest industry information and the latest “going’s on” in Snyder.  Check back regularly, as we will submit helpful information in our “From the Pharmacist” column.  Again, thanks for taking a look at our website.

Mike McWilliams, RPh