The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has banned students, faculty, and staff from covering their faces on its three campuses in an effort to ensure public safety, a college spokesman said yesterday.

Pharmacy school bars covering of the face is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

“It’s not my decision,” Thorp said in a meeting with News & Record editorial writers last March.

Thorp said he would be happy to help UNCG gather information toward its goal.

“The question whether UNCG is the right place for a second school of pharmacy and whether the state needs one — those are things that need to be decided by President Bowles and Chancellor Brady,” he said later, referring to UNCG leader Linda Brady and UNC system President Erskine Bowles.

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What that precisely meant was unclear. But it did not appear to be a ringing endorsement.

When pressed about opinions on his campus, Thorp was equally nimble, if uninformative. “Well, you know universities are places where there are lots of opinions,” he said. “There is certainly some skepticism about it but there are some other people who think it makes sense.”

In any event, he said, it wasn’t their decision to make, either.

(He was a lot more forthcoming about Tar Heel basketball.)

But being opposed to a new pharmacy school “isn’t part of the UNC culture,” Thorp said, reassuringly.

That was then.

That was before UNC-CH began pursuing its own plans for a satellite pharmacy school at UNC-Asheville. This would not be a full-fledged school like the one envisioned for Greensboro, where as many as 100 students would enroll. But it would involve up to 40 students and would compete for funding at a time when state money is hard to come by.

As of now, there are three schools of pharmacy in North Carolina: the lone public one in Chapel Hill and private ones at Campbell and Wingate universities.

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A major premise in its long-range plans to establish a school, say UNCG officials, is the acute shortage of pharmacists in the state. Their proposal cites a 2008 report by the Pharmacy Manpower Project that ranked North Carolina and Wisconsin as the two states with the most serious shortages of pharmacists.

Some UNC-CH officials counter that the shortage isn’t as great now as it was thought to be before because of the recession.

Why then, the need for another program in Asheville?

And recessions do eventually end. The pharmacy school is a much longer-term proposition.

UNC-CH’s timing also is, well, suspicious. UNCG’s plan has been on the table for months. The Chapel Hill plan was either a well-kept secret or a late development.

Brady said Thursday that she learned of the Chapel Hill proposal at the end of September. “My sense is it had not been in the works very long,” she said.

There may be no calling dibs in these matters, but shouldn’t Chapel Hill at least have touched bases with UNCG as a professional courtesy?

“People have different approaches,” Brady said.

Even so, she added, “I personally don’t view the Chapel Hill concept as a competitor. It’s very different from what we’re proposing here.”

UNCG would offer the professional-level and graduate degrees, including doctorates, and include a significant research component.

She said UNCG’s provost, David Perrin, interim UNC-CH vice chancellor and provost Bruce Carney and the UNC system’s vice president for academic affairs, Alan Mabe, will meet within the next two weeks to discuss the two proposals.

“I don’t think it’s helpful for us to be competitors,” she said. “Sometimes that’s the case, but it would be good for the two institutions to sit down and talk about the two plans and the state’s needs.”

No offense to Asheville, but the arguments for a school here are compelling: the economic impact; backing from the Moses Cone Health System and influential local foundations; the impact on downtown, if it should be built there; synergy in research with the N.C. A&T/UNCG Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.

“Our argument is not only an educational argument,” Brady said. “It’s an economic development argument.”

The Asheville initiative definitely would cost considerably less up front. But UNCG expects a return of as much as $28 for every dollar invested, including between $5 million and $6 million a year in sponsored research and $6.5 million in annual tuition revenue.

For her part, UNCG’s Brady was clearly expecting statesmanship to trump turf concerns.

“The first chancellor to call me following my appointment here was Holden Thorp,” she said.

Can UNCG and UNC-CH meet in middle on pharmacy schools? by Allen Johnson is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Try telling Mac Wilhoit there’s nothing new under the sun. He knows better.

The 61-year-old independent pharmacist has reinvented his North Knoxville business several times, and he’s not through.

Since 1989 Wilhoit has offered his thousands of customers free deliveries, drug screenings and counseling. Now an innovative medication alert service is free to customers, all from the humble building on Washington Pike.

The small pharmacy stocks no groceries, cosmetics or beer at the store’s front end. Instead, medication counseling takes up that space. Prescription medicines are the bulk of the business, and Wilhoit and his staff greet his return “patients” by first name, accompanied by a pat on the back.

For years Wilhoit has responded with a flat “no” to national drugstore chain buyout offers. And Mac’s Pharmacy recently added another store – this time with his son managing. Wilhoit recently bought Edgemoor Pharmacy in Claxton, renamed it Mac’s Pharmacy and celebrated a reopening in October.

In an economy where business takeovers are the norm and chain stores are in every neighborhood, Mac’s Pharmacy is bucking the trend. Wilhoit believes he joins thousands of small businesses leading the nation’s economic recovery. Mac’s Pharmacy is part of a national group of 3,500 independently owned stores. The Leader Pharmacies network helps independent stores leverage competitive medication pricing.

“I’ve had lots of offers from chains, and I have nothing against them. It’s just not for me,” says Wilhoit, who has handed down the same philosophy to his son Mike.

Mike Wilhoit, 27, worked briefly for a chain drugstore following graduation from the University of Tennessee but soon returned to the family business.

“I know this other more personal side of pharmaceutical care,” said Mike Wilhoit. “It’s what my dad has always offered. And it’s what I’ve always wanted since I was a boy, wearing my own little white coat when I would visit the store.”

The store’s customer offerings range from a wellness program of free children’s multivitamins to a computer-generated dosage alert notification.

“We’re the same since 1989, only different,” Wilhoit said.

“We began by taking care of our patients, and we’re keeping that up by changing it up and offering more. It’s another way to differentiate ourselves and make Mac’s something extra,” he said.

Recently the pharmacy piloted “Medicine on Time,” a service that offers a monthly color-coded calendar card containing maintenance medications. Wilhoit says the new system does the hard work, helping elderly patients keep their freedom longer.

Prescriptions are filled as usual and inserted into a daily dosage punch-out card. The program is offered on a free trial basis.

“This is done in nursing homes, but not usually by local pharmacies,” he says. “And when home health nurses administer medications, it is more expensive for the patient.”

Mac’s also recently created “My Dose Alert,” a free automatic notification that alerts customers by phone, text message or e-mail when it’s time to take their medications.

“Research tells us that one out of every two patients do not take their medicine as prescribed, on time,” Mike Wilhoit says. “More than 80 percent cite forgetfulness as the main reason. That means the majority of people simply need a friendly reminder, and that’s what we’re offering the entire community for free if they buy their medication here.”

The high-tech and high-touch approach appeals to UT pharmacy school interns, says Wilhoit.

About a dozen students intern annually at Mac’s Pharmacy, a relationship that is growing, Wilhoit says.

“UT’s pharmacy school is still new, so we know more students will intern. And we show the students the other side – what an independent pharmacy looks like, and they love it. They see our technology, the robotics systems that fill prescriptions, and that technology allows them to get closely involved with our patients.”

Wilhoit says independent pharmacies are competitive in price, even cheaper, but it’s not their primary focus. Wilhoit’s answer to one-stop shopping is health care for his customers.

“That’s simply why I’m here. We even call insurance companies and physicians for our patients when they are having trouble with a prescription. We get on the phone for them. This is why I remain an independent pharmacy. I’m at liberty to create my own job satisfaction and give back to the community,” Wilhoit says.

“I don’t want people to come to Mac’s for price, or leave because of price.”

Mary Leidig is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL

Mac’s Pharmacy stays independent by focusing on customers’ needs is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools