Salina Family Healthcare Center (SFHC) is excited to celebrate 10 years of their on-site pharmacy, Salina Family Healthcare Pharmacy (SFHP), on November 6!
SFHC made the decision to open its own pharmacy after Jim’s Pharmacy was closed in 2012. Prior to closing, Jim’s Pharmacy had a limited formulary of medications that were discounted for qualified uninsured patients of SFHC. Recognizing this would create a gap in the care of SFHC’s patients, the SFHC Board of Directors decided to invest in an on-site pharmacy that could continue to offer prescription medications at significantly reduced costs to health center patients. The vision for the pharmacy was initially limited to filling this void, but after opening the pharmacy on November 5, 2013, SFHC quickly realized that having an on-site pharmacy created many new opportunities to better serve its patients in addition to access to affordable medications.
“Limited access to medications is a major barrier to a healthy patient and community. We are so lucky at SFHC to have a very special pharmacy that can begin to break down that barrier for our patients,” said CEO Dr. Robert Kraft.
“SFHP helps break down barriers to medication access and supports so much of the vital work we do that is not paid for through insurance. Linking patients to community resources, pharmacist support of physicians through clinical pharmacy services, and so much more would not be possible without SFHP. Thank you to all of the pharmacists, staff, and patients of SFHP for a great decade! It will be exciting to see where the next decade takes us!”
Since first opening, SFHP has:
“I was hired in April 2014, about five months after SFHP opened. We were thrilled if we filled anywhere close to 100 prescriptions in a day back then. Our daily prescription volume has more than doubled with many more services and staff members to help our patients,” said Derek Pihl, Chief Pharmacy Officer.
Derek continued, “Rod Smith owned Jim’s Pharmacy in town for several years and was instrumental in getting SFHP opened for SFHC. I am forever grateful for what he and the original staff did to set our foundation and leave a legacy that is doing so much good for our patients and community. Being owned by SFHC, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), allows us to help patients in unique ways including assistance with the cost of medication. Thank you to all our current, past, and future SFHP patients. I’m very proud of our current pharmacy staff and know how much they look forward to serving the Salina community for the next 10 years and beyond.”
If you would like to help the SFHP team celebrate, we invite you to drop by Monday, November 6th from 9a-5p or congratulate them the next time you are in to pick up your prescription!