HIV patients depend, trust Walgreen pharmacists
By Judy Masterson jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com August 2, 2011 9:18PM
Helen Jung, pharmacy manager at Walgreens on Belvidere in Waukegan, talks about the HIV/AIDS Center of Excellence program at her store.
450 nationwide
Walgreens’ 450 HIV Centers of Excellence comprise about 5 percent of the company’s total store base, and the company is “looking to expand” to 500, according to spokeswoman Vivika Vergara. About 50 of the stores are located in doctors’ offices and hospitals. In Illinois in addition to the Waukegan pharmacy, Walgreens also operates an HIV COE at the Howard Brown Health Center, in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, two through private medical practices and a home-delivery HIV COE in Glenview.
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Updated: August 3, 2011 2:29AM
A Waukegan drugstore is quietly helping people with HIV take their medicine.
One of 450 retail sites across the nation identified by Walgreens as “HIV Centers of Excellence,” the pharmacy chain’s store at 1811 Belvidere St. is staffed by six pharmacists who are specially trained to work with people living with HIV/AIDS.
Pharmacy Manager Helen Jung and her fellow pharmacists keep in close contact with their HIV patients, reminding, reviewing and educating them on how to take what can be a complicated regimen of $36,000-a-year in drugs.
They call patients, sometimes daily, to check for side effects or to remind them it’s time to refill the powerful cocktail that keeps their viral load in check. They help guide those who may also be struggling with addiction and other diseases as well as financial issues — if a patient lacks insurance, they work with pharmaceutical companies to get the medicines donated.
“Our patients know we care,” Jung said. “We talk to everyone in person, and we don’t give up.”
In Lake County, about 1,000 people are living with HIV and many of them, like Sidney Boclair of Waukegan, depend on the Walgreens’ pharmacists they’ve come to know and trust.
“They’ve been tremendous,” said Boclair, who was diagnosed 25 years ago and takes three medications twice a day.
Brian Bongner, STD/HIV program coordinator for the Lake County Health Department, pushed for a Center of Excellence in Waukegan.
“The standard treatment protocol for HIV may require more than three — four, five or six — medications,” Bongner said. “Our patients also often have issues like hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. We treat so much with medications there are a lot of contraindications.”
Walgreens also operates COEs for other medical conditions including infertility, Hepatitis C and oncology.
“HIV is a little unique, with certain neighborhoods, cities and markets more highly impacted,” said Glen Pietrandoni, Walgreens manager of specialized health conditions. “We’ve tried to identify the store, the neighborhood, the corner, where it makes the most sense.”
The HIV COE in Waukegan sits just north of Catholic Charities Lake County on Lewis Avenue and a short drive from two Lake County Health Department clinics, all three of which cater to people with HIV.
“It’s an extremely important service,” said Scott Ewart, supervisor of Catholic Charities’ HIV program, which helped 192 patients in 2010. “A lot of people get confused about their medications. A close monitoring is a wonderful thing.”
Because HIV patients still feel the stigma of infection, Bongner said, confidentiality and compassion are key to successful treatment.
“The HIV COE works so well with what we try to do,” Bongner said. “It builds that continuum beyond our walls.”
Jung, 32, who earned a PharmD degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago and worked as a Walgreens pharmacist for 10 years before heading the new Waukegan COE in 2009, demands empathy from her staff.
“Either you have it or you don’t,” she said. “If you don’t have it, you have to go somewhere else.”
HIV patients often come in scared and worried about privacy issues, They often want to tell their stories and explain their challenges.
“It’s a relationship and a dialogue,” Jung said. “They know that not only can we answer their questions, but they actually feel we care.”
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