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megram - 55JunGTA - Index

is so helpful,” says Teresa.“When you get older you hesitate
to do that with doctors. I felt so comfortable — and
relieved.”
Her daughter Christine also felt a huge weight lifted off
her shoulders. “Anya gave mom her confidence back,”
Christine says.“It’s all about the time she was able to spend
with her.”
“A lot of it is so clinical when you’re speaking to a specialist,”Teresa
adds.“Anya is a pharmacist, but she explains
everything very clearly.”
Anya takes pride in her plain-talk approach to discussing
prescriptions with seniors and their family members.“No
jargon,” she says, smiling. In a typical 60-minute
interview session,Anya will sit down with the patient and
ask him or her to put all of the prescriptions and over-thecounter
remedies he or she takes on the table between
them.
Then, one by one, Anya picks up each box or bottle.
She asks the patient when the medication was prescribed,
when it needs to be taken and what instructions are there
for taking it. Anya goes through this process with all prescriptions,
as well as any over-the-counter or herbal remedies
the patient brings in. Combining certain medications
can lead to drowsiness or nausea, and in an aging patient
either symptom can lead to something more serious — a
bad fall, for instance.
Sometimes, Anya notes, she is pleasantly surprised at
how much patients and their family members know about
any number of medications.But more often she encounters
seniors with serious medical concerns who are compounding
their risk factors because they do not understand how
to administer their prescriptions or are unclear on the
effects of certain medications.
“I have heard stories through the years regarding med-
June 2008 • 49 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
Anya with Teresa Knot.
ication swapping, the use of a dead spouse’s medications,
and what herbal remedies are recommended by hair salon
groups,”Anya says.“It scares me what I hear sometimes, the
myths people will believe just because it sounds like it
might be true.”
Myths and mystery about certain medications and prescriptions
can be confusing to anyone. Dorothy* (*prefers
not to use her last name), a patient at St. Mary’s last year,
says her regular meetings and telephone calls with Anya —
which have continued since her discharge in October —
were a lifeline. When Dorothy left the hospital after two
months she did not have a family doctor because hers had
passed away.
“Anya is invaluable,” Dorothy says. “I didn’t know the
names of drugs or when or how to be taking them. She
filled in the blanks the specialists at the hospitals didn’t
have time to explain.It puts me at ease and makes my medication
routine less mysterious.”
Dorothy says her family is also grateful to know Anya is
looking out for her.As a pharmacist with special training in
elder care, Anya’s broad knowledge of medications and
drug interactions is a much sought after resource, especially
in the absence of a family doctor.
“I develop a medication list and I put a copy of it into
a bright yellow duo-tang so a patient can locate it easily,
especially at home,” Anya says.“I tell them, take this with
you to medical appointments. Carry it in your bag or purse
when you go out, and keep it by the phone when you are
at home — this is crucial information in an emergency.”
“I consult the list Anya printed out for me every day.It’s
how I check myself that I am taking the right medications
at the right time,” Dorothy says.
At the time of discharge from the hospital,Anya sends
an updated medication list to the patient’s family doctor