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I have been in pharmacy for 40 years, and I am close to retiring. My dismay with chain stores has driven me to make an effort to try and improve pharmacy for pharmacists. There is, simply, no organization working toward improving our lives(pharmacists and techs). The APhA does a good job of education. But, it does nothing to try and improve our work lives. I keep searching for ideas and means to improve our chain lives. If you have any ideas, I would certainly be glad to hear from you. I hate to see all these young, PharmD grads going into chain pharmacy. They will not be able to utilize their vast clinical education. They have been trained to be a part of the healthcare system. But, life inside a chain, is not like being a part of the healthcare system. I often to compare it to living in a zoo or a circus. I think the conditions are intolerable. I work for a major chain. And, I have tried, again and again, to get some small changes made where I work. You probably know that this is an impossible job. We pharmacists are totally ignored by these large corporations. What we need is to organize….we need to gather together, and with “numbers” we can command respect and gain attention. This is the goal of The Pharmacy Alliance…to get pharmacists together and promote respect for pharmacists and technicians within pharmacy.

I am constantly amazed at my fellow pharmacists. Most of them are smart. Most are hard workers. Most are very honest. Yet, they will not organize. They will not come together to make an effort to get some changes in pharmacy. As I have said, I have been around in pharmacy for 40 years. We have had a lot of changes, but a lot of those changes have had a negative impact on pharmacy. Why are we still doing a lot of the things we were doing 40 years ago? What happened to technology in pharmacy? Why are pharmacies still designed like they were 40 years ago? Why are pharmacists still working 10 to 12 hours per day, maybe with a 30 minute lunch break? Why have we become “slaves” to the big corporations and “pawns” of the big insurance companies? I will answer: we have had no strong organization to fight for things that will make our working lives better. We have no power with the big corporations. We have no political power. We have been left out of the healthcare loop.

I know that I did not need to tell you the problems in pharmacy. I am sure you already knew all of this. I am not here to urge you to re-join The Pharmacy Alliance. I am asking you if you know of any pharmacy organization, other than The Pharmacy Alliance, making an effort to affect “real change” in the “real world” of pharmacy? I can tell you, from a very personal struggle, that it is an uphill battle to foster change in pharmacy. The biggest obstacles are pharmacists. They will not join together. They will not organize. I boggles my mind as to why they will not join together. We, at The Pharmacy Alliance, are a loose group of pharmacists, a lot of us near retirement, that have recognized the problems in pharmacy and tried to foster some change. We continue to urge our fellow pharmacists to join with us. With numbers, we can foster change. Without the numbers, we are left powerless. It is up to pharmacists across the country to decide if they willing to join together, or if they are going to remain apathetic and let the government and big corporations control pharmacy.

P.S. I would like add that after an audit of our expenses at The Pharmacy Alliance, we have found enough savings to be able to lower membership rates. Our biggest expense is the website. I would like for you to think about pharmacy, where it has been, where it is now, and where you think it will be in the future. If you feel that pharmacy is being “left out” of a lot of the changes in health care, then I will ask you to think about joining other pharmacists that are trying to improve the state of pharmacy.

Pharmacists: $60. Technicians and Students: $15.To join us, simply click HERE.