Tallulah Pharmacy team stayed active through outbreak
* Unsung Heroes: Part 3 of a 5-part series
Tallulah –In a small room, a team of four people undertake a precise, important job.
Tallulah Health Clinic Pharmacist David Mosteller and three technicians – Tammy Creasman, Lacy Hamilton and Tonya Howell – fill prescriptions, measure out pills and occasionally mix compounds, using the iconic pharmacist’s mortar and pestle.
The retail pharmacy at the clinic serves the community, clinic patients and sometimes fills prescriptions as far away as Asheville. A limited number of over-the-counter drugs are also available.
“I get to help people and take care of people,” said Mosteller, who has been a pharmacist since 1986 and will mark nine years at the clinic next week. “I’m kind of used to it, so I stayed with it.”
A native of Hayesville, Mosteller decided to become a pharmacist after completing an internship in his hometown.
“I tried it, and I decided that I might try that – instead of digging ditches and throwing hay bales – and it looks a lot cooler on the inside,” Mosteller said.
He said his days usually began with checking the computer system to see what prescriptions need to be filled and then ensuring that they are properly filled.
On average, the pharmacy fills approximately 100 prescriptions daily.
“Some people don’t realize how many prescriptions we’re working on,” Mosteller said. “We may have 25 or 30 sitting over here and 10 or 15 over there.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a slight increase in the number of prescriptions the pharmacy filled. But due to the pandemic, the pharmacy has shut down its main service window and is only doing business through its outside window.
Mosteller added that most of the myriad drugs on hand were already mixed, but that the pharmacy would sometimes have to compound a prescription.
Although the pharmacy team still works in a small space, about two years ago, a wall was removed to give the team more room.
Howell also discussed her role as a pharmacy technician.
“The first thing we do is open up our computers and we get some 20 messages off the phone,” Howell said. “We have some (prescriptions) that are set to fill that have been called in ahead of time about every day. Then we process the ones that have been sent in from the time we left yesterday until the time we got here. We answer the phones between all those.”
The techs are also responsible for determining which patients will get medicine from the 340b side – or the wholesale side – depending on the patient’s insurance or lack thereof.
“These are for the people who don’t fill with our providers, or are not preferred by our providers,” Howell said.
The pharmacy stocks many drugs, based on what is most often needed by patients.