Drug Topics - November 10, 2008 - (Page 23)

Erin Mullen, RPh, PhD, is the assistant vice president of Rx Response. really difﬁcult to supply an island with pharmaceuticals post-disaster,” Joffee said. “So we moved a great deal of material in there pre-disaster in hopes that we would be ready for it.” Disaster pharmacy is extraordinary, Joffee said. It gives pharmacists the opportunity to use skills they rarely get to employ in the “real world.” There are no titles, and everyone works as a team, with doctors and pharmacists holding separate responsibilities. “You get to use every skill you have. You have to work with the supplies you have, and the doctors trust you to do what you have to do, and you trust them to do what they have to do. It really is an amazing relationship in the ﬁeld.” Information coordinator Erin Mullen, RPh, PhD, is the assistant vice president of Rx Response, an organization that makes sure critical medicines are available during disasters. The program, operational for two years, was activated for the ﬁrst time this year. Mullen said it became obvious after Hurricane Katrina that providing patients with necessary medications would require enhanced communications. “We’re helping ensure the pharmaceutical supply stays robust, and we’re helping with those problems that a single company may not be able to address. We’re facilitating a lot of information,” Mullen said. Rx Response is a point of contact for the entire pharmaceutical supply system. efforts when local resources Some pharmacists It relies on a network that enables federal are overwhelmed. The ﬁrst are members of DMAT. and state emergency management ofﬁmajor effort he assisted with cials to pass information to Rx Response came on Sept. 11, 2001, about pharmaceutical needs and other with the terrorist attacks issues that may affect the supply system. in New York. “And now I These communications are monitored by guess I’ve been to every diall segments of the pharmaceutical supsaster since,” he said. ply system to ensure resolution. This year, he deployed Rx Response members include the to Texas as the pharmacist American Hospital Association (AHA), the leader on the incident reAmerican Red Cross, the Biotechnology sponse coordinating team Industry Organization (BIO), the Generic following Hurricane GusPharmaceutical Association (GPHA), the Healthcare Distributav. He had to ensure that teams had appropriate materials tion Management Association (HDMA), the National Associato transport medications and supplies to get them to DMAT tion of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), the National Community ﬁeld members. It also was his responsibility to notify the Pharmacists Association (NCPA), and the Pharmaceutical Restate pharmacy association and the local branches of the search and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Drug Enforcement Agency of DMAT’s presence. During Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, Rx Response ensured After a week in Texas, he was deployed to Puerto requests were routed to affected areas. The organization Rico when it looked as if Hurricane Ike would hit San helped a distribution center that lost power and needed asJuan. He transported pharmaceutcals to the island. “It’s W W W.D R U GTO P I C S .C O M N OV. 10, 2008 (TOP) DENNIS BRACK; (BOTTOM) MAX DOLBERG DRUG TOPICS 23 http://WWW.DRUGTOPICS.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Drug Topics - November 10, 2008

Drug Topics - November 10, 2008 Contents Up Front Up Front in Depth Letters Rx Care Government Community Practice First Responders Clinical Practice Self-Care FDA Safety Page Weighing the Complications of Obesity New Products Viewpoint

Drug Topics - November 10, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.