Or you can click here to it as a PDF.

Meet GPhA’s new president, Tommy Whitworth
August/September 2015
Inside:
Cut your
student loan
rate in half
Our 2015
convention
in photos
Coverage You Need.
Service You Deserve.
A Price You Can Afford.
contents
10
cover story:
drugstore eats
Once upon a time, the
drugstore lunch counter was
an American fixture. Today
they’re a little harder to find,
but definitely worth the trip.
So we sent Phil Ratliff out
to find some of the best
pharmacy food in the state.
Cover illustration by
John Roman
19
3
prescript
23
convention recap
Learning by doing
Phil Ratliff gets a taste of the
pharmacy business while getting
a taste of pharmacy food
Enjoy the view
...in these pictures from the
Georgia Pharmacy Convention
2015 on Amelia Island
4
news
29
PharmPAC
What’s happening in
the pharmacy world
Our Immunization Compliance
Kit, student loan refinancing for
pharmacists, board changes at
GPhA, and more
Investors in the future of
the pharmacy profession
in Georgia
31
contact us
Who does what at GPhA,
and how to reach us
32
postscript
5
19
tommy
23
August/September 2015
A note from President
Tommy Whitworth
As he takes the reins, our new
president considers the blessings
he’s had in life as a pharmacist
He keeps honeybees and
raises llamas. He’s got a man
cave and tools around on an
ATV. Oh, and he’s also a pillar
in his community.
Meet GPhA’s new president,
LaGrange’s Tommy Whitworth
Georgia Pharmacy
1
www.phmic.com
800.247.5930
Our commitment to quality
Ourmeans
commitment
you can to
restquality
easy.
means you can rest easy.
Pharmacists Mutual has been committed to the pharmacy profession for over a century.
Since 1909, we’ve been insuring pharmacies and giving back to the profession through
sponsorships and scholarships.
Pharmacists Mutual has been committed to the pharmacy profession for
Rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, Pharmacists Mutual is a trusted, knowledgeable company
overunderstands
a century.
1909,
we’ve
been insuring
pharmacies
and
that
yourSince
insurance
needs.
Our coverage
is designed
by pharmacists
for giving
pharmacists.
So profession
you can rest assured
yousponsorships
have the most complete
protection for your
back to the
through
and scholarships.
business, personal and professional insurance needs.
Rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, Pharmacists Mutual is a trusted,
Learn more about Pharmacists Mutual’s solutions for you –
Our
commitment
tothatquality
contact
your
local field representative
or call
800.247.5930:
knowledgeable
company
understands
your insurance
needs.
Ourmeans
coverage isyou
designed
by
pharmacists
for
pharmacists.
So
you can
can rest easy.
rest assured you have the most complete protection for your business,
personal and
professional
insurance
Pharmacists
Mutual
has been committed
to the needs.
pharmacy profession for over a century.
Since 1909, we’ve been insuring pharmacies and giving back to the profession through
www.phmic.com
sponsorships and scholarships.
Rated A (Excellent)
by A.M.more
Best, Pharmacists
Mutual is a trusted, knowledgeable
Learn
about Pharmacists
Mutual’s company
that understands your insurance needs. Our coverage is designed by pharmacists for
solutions
for
you
–
contact
your
local field
pharmacists. So you can rest assured you have the most complete protection for your
representative
or
call
800.247.5930:
business, personal and professional insurance needs.
PO Box 370 • Algona Iowa 50511
*
Compensated endorsement.
Not licensed to sell all products in all states.
Learn more about Pharmacists Mutual’s solutions for you –
contact
your ®
local field representative
or call 800.247.5930:
Hutton Madden,
ChFC
Seth Swanson
800.247.5930 ext. 7149
404.375.7209
800.247.5930 ext. 7128
850.688.3675
www.phmic.com
PO Box 370 • Algona Iowa 50511
*
Compensated endorsement.
Not licensed to sell all products in all states.
prescript
Charging ahead
When I was a kid, I
had charge account
privileges at a tiny
store: Plaza Pharmacy, Nancy Pylent,
proprietor. People
who know me won’t
be shocked to learn
phillip ratliff
that (until the inevitable happened and I was cut off) I ran up huge
monthly bills on Mad magazines and soda pop.
Plaza Pharmacy had a Coke machine, not a cooler or fountain, so to charge a drink Nancy would
hand me 15 cents to plop in the drink machine
then record the transaction in a ledger. Fifteen
cents seems minuscule by today’s standards, but in
the age of “The Brady Bunch” and “The Monkees,”
it added up, especially when you wanted to be a
big shot and buy your friends a round.
Traveling from McCaysville to Metter, hitting drugstores in Conyers, Commerce, Athens,
LaGrange, and Columbus along the way (see
“Pharmacy Eats,” page 10), I heard several stories
about kids who were given this privilege — and
who went on to shock their parents with their
exorbitant ice cream habits and lengthy itemized
monthly bills. (They didn’t see that one coming?)
Georgia Pharmacy magazine
is the official publication of the
Georgia Pharmacy Association.
President and Chair of the Board
Tommy Whitworth
Unless otherwise noted, the entire
contents of this publication is licensed
under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
license. Direct any questions to the editor at
[email protected].
First Vice President Liza Chapman
President-Elect Lance Boles
Second Vice President
Tim Short
Chief Executive Officer
Scott Brunner, CAE
[email protected]
Vice President of Communication
and Engagement Phillip Ratliff
[email protected]
August/September 2015
My nostalgic lunch counter road trip lasted
about a week. But it has been part of a lengthier
journey to discover what’s important to pharmacy and pharmacists in the Peach State. I’ve been
with GPhA a little more than six months. I’ve
helped register pharmacists for MTM and diabetes certification training sessions. I’ve socialized
at the convention and joked over goofy posts on
the convention app. In all that, I’ve learned that
pharmacists don’t just dispense medicine and sell
ice cream, cokes, and magazines. Pharmacists are
at the front line of healthcare. We can’t live without them. I didn’t understand that about Nancy
years ago, but I do now.
Along the way to providing healthcare, pharmacies also became the hubs. Maybe it’s a lunch
counter, or, as I found, a drink machine and an
extensive selection of fine literature. Pharmacists
and the businesses they operate have provided Georgia communities with a place to meet
friends, be known, and fill a prescription. I can
say without the slightest sense that I’m overstating, that pharmacists make life possible for some
— and better for everybody.
Georgia Pharmacy
A S S O C I AT I O N
BLACK & WHITE
OPEN
GLOSS/GRADIENT
FLAT COLOR
1
Phillip Ratliff is GPhA’s vice president of
communication and engagement.
Director of Communication & Editor
Andrew Kantor
[email protected]
Art Director
Carole Erger-Fass
SUBSCRIPTIONS​
Georgia Pharmacy is distributed as a regular
membership service, paid for with membership
dues. Non-members can subscribe for $50 per
year domestic or $65 per year international. Single
issues are $10 issue domestic and $20 international.
Practicing Georgia pharmacists who are not
members of GPhA are not eligible for subscriptions.
POSTAL
ADVERTISING​
All advertising inquiries should be directed to Denis
Mucha at [email protected] or (770) 252-1284.
Media kit and rates available upon request.
Georgia Pharmacy (ISSN 1075-6965) is published bimonthly by the GPhA, 50 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta,
GA 30324. Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, GA
and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to Georgia Pharmacy
magazine, 50 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta, GA 30324.
Georgia Pharmacy
3
news
Keep up
with MAC
transparency
Not only do we have a
training video as part of
our immunization info page
(left), we’ve also got one on
the other big new Georgia
pharmacy law: MAC
transparency. Sure, most of
the onus is on the PBMs,
but there’s plenty affecting
pharmacists as well. Hear
GPhA’s CEO Scott Brunner
talk with VP of public policy
& association counsel Greg
Reybold about how the new
bill affects pharmacies, and
learn what your rights —
and responsibilities — are.
Check it out at GPhA.org/
mactransparency.
read more @
gphabuzz.com
4
Georgia Pharmacy
Meet (and download)
the GPhA Immunization
Compliance Kit
So you know that as of July 1, pharmacists across the state could begin
administering the herpes zoster,
pneumococcal disease, and meningitis vaccines. Well, sort of.
Obviously you can’t just begin
sticking needles in people; there are
steps that have to be in place first:
A (new) protocol agreement, new
paperwork for patients, a possible
change to your pharmacy layout,
and more.
The devil’s in the details, as usual.
But as usual, GPhA’s got you covered. We’ve put together a website
and downloadable package we call
the GPhA Immunization Compliance Kit. It’s a step-by-step guide —
and more — available only to GPhA
members.
What’s in the kit? A physician
protocol agreement. A blank adult
immunization record. An immunization consent form and affidavit.
And more.
But get this: These aren’t just
samples. These are actual, usable
documents you can print out and
give to patients to meet the requirements of the law.
The kit is part of our Immunization Resources page (GPhA.org/immunization), and it was put together with the help of GPhA attorney
Greg Reybold — a guy who knows
the ins and outs of the new law
intimately because he was instrumental in its creation. Greg and the
Immunization Compliance Kit can
help you implement the new law
legally and effectively.
GPhA and its members got the
new immunization law passed. And
now we’re here to help you take
advantage of it. That’s not just a
shameless plug — that’s the power of
your association, making pharmacy
in Georgia the best that it can be.
August/September 2015
Got a student loan?
You need to read this
If you or someone you know is
paying off a student loan, you’ll want
to read this. It’s one of those major
GPhA deals we love to share.
GPhA has partnered with a
company called SoFi to offer a new
program that can reduce the interest rate you’re paying on a student
loan. (We have it say it “can” reduce
the rate because obviously it’s
going to depend on your financial
situation.)
Through SoFi and GPhA, you can
knock your student loan’s interest
rate to as low as 3.375 percent fixed.
Considering that most student
loans in the last few years are in the
6 to 6.8 percent range, that can mean
saving more than $20,000 for some
pharmacy grads. Really; we ran the
numbers.
You can just go to SoFi yourself, of
course, but if you go through GPhA
as a member, the company will
knock another .125 percent off your
rate and save you a few hundred
bucks more.
Want the math? You got it:
• Let’s say you have a $100,000 loan
for 10 years. (We like round numbers.)
• At 6.8%, you’d pay $1,151 each
month, and a total of $38,096 in
interest.
• At 3.5%, you’d only pay $989 a
month, and only $18,663 in interest.
That’s $19,433 difference.
Now, if 19 grand doesn’t mean
anything to you, awesome. (Hint: You
can give it to the Georgia Pharmacy
Foundation— it does great work.)
But if saving the price of a small
car does seem like a good deal just
for filling out some paperwork, you
need to check this out.
Just go to sofi.com/GPhA and follow the instructions there. It’s simple
and an easy way to save a few grand.
the
georgia
pharmacy
convention
2015
279
attendees
228
soft drinks
consumed between
sessions
6+1
6 Georgia legislators
and 1 U.S.
congressman
Getting our move on
If you’ve ever been to the GPhA world
headquarters in Atlanta, you know that it’s a…
decent space. But for a place that’s supposed
to not only represent the pharmacy profession
across the state, it really could be better.
We found “better.”
This December, GPhA will be moving to
a new facility near the intersection of I-285
and Georgia 400 in Sandy Springs.
Besides allowing the staff to collaborate
in a modern, well-designed office (and
replace some of the decades-old office
equipment they’re using), the new digs sport
an 80-seat classroom where we’ll offer CPE
August/September 2015
sessions, certifications, and other training
courses each month.
We’re confident we can make this move
with little or no increase in GPhA’s current
budget. We’re doing that by launching a
fundraising campaign: asking leaders in the
pharmacy profession and industry to demonstrate their support for GPhA and our role as
the voice for pharmacy in Georgia.
So if and when we come to you asking
for a one-time contribution to help make
the new GPhA headquarters a place the
profession can be proud of, we hope we’ll be
able to count on you.
175 ✓
Photos uploaded
to the Georgia
Pharmacy
Convention app
1,191
Total app
interactions
Georgia Pharmacy
5
news
We’re looking
for leaders
We want you to be a pharmacist leader — someone your peers turn to and
someone the profession can call on.
And we’ve got a program to make that
happen.
LeadershipGPhA is GPhA’s elite
training program for tomorrow’s pharmacy leaders. Each year it accepts only
15 applicants from across the state
— Georgia pharmacists who demonstrate leadership potential — and
engages them in a seven-month-long
series of training and strengths-building activities to develop those leadership skills through a combination
of group sessions and actual project
experience.
Real Financial Planning.
For Life.
Contact FNA today for your complimentary
consultation and plan review
Michael T. Tarrant, CFP®
Retirement Income Planning • Investment Advisory Services
Tax Reduction Planning • Business Planning
Risk Management Strategies
An independent financial planner since 1992
770-350-2455 • FNAplanners.com • [email protected]
Registered Representative of INVEST Financial Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC. INVEST and its affiliated
insurance agencies offer securities, advisory services and certain insurance products and are not affiliated with
Financial Network Associates, Inc. Other advisory services offered through Financial Network Associates, Inc.
INVEST does not provide tax or legal advice. ad.10040.0516.127593
6
Georgia Pharmacy
They learn to identify leadership
skills in themselves and others, to
understand their strengths and weaknesses, to set and achieve the right
professional goals, to network more
effectively, to make the best — and
right — decisions, to improve their
communication skills, and more.
They’ll learn to use these skills to
understand today’s pharmacy issues
on both the large and small scale,
and how they can become part of the
solutions.
The result is a network of leaders
across the state who are actively
involved in improving our association
and profession, and who can serve as
professional ambassadors to community, business, and political leaders.
Is this you? If your vision for your
future includes a leadership role in the
association, LeadershipGPhA is where
to start. Visit GPhA.org/leadership for
more info and an application.
August/September 2015
Forward the foundation
If you know the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation,
you know it does a lot of good work. If you don’t
know it, that’s about to change, as we ramp up
the foundation’s efforts to make a difference to
pharmacists, technicians, and students.
The Georgia Pharmacy Foundation is GPhA’s
philanthropic wing. It provides scholarships to
student pharmacists, it provides training and
education programs for seasoned pharmacists,
and it extends a helping hand to pharmacists
struggling with addiction.
The foundation’s primary mission is education,
but its board knew it needed to update its vision
— and also to bring the foundation back on
pharmacist’s radar. So you’re going to be hearing
a lot more about the foundation and its new,
fourfold mission:
1. C
ontinuing to provide scholarships and grants
that support education for pharmacy students
and professionals.
2. M
aking a commitment to funding research on
the financial benefits of pharmacists’ role in
healthcare. We need the public to know just
August/September 2015
how much we contribute to the effectiveness
and affordability of healthcare.
3. Helping incubate innovation in pharmacy
practices that advance the profession, or
that provide tools to make pharmacies — or
pharmacists — more efficient.
4. Continuing to invest in the PharmAssist
program to help Georgia pharmacists face and
overcome addiction.
Having a vision is a start, but we need your
help to make it a reality. So yes, we’re going to
be asking you to reach into your pockets, dig
out your checkbooks, and support the Georgia
Pharmacy Foundation. A well-funded foundation can do so much for so many people, and for
the entire profession. It’s a commitment we hope
you’ll be willing to make.
Don’t wait to be asked. Help support the work
of the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation today with a taxdeductible contribution. Just go to GPhA.org/foundation.
Georgia Pharmacy
7
“I’M ALWAYS
WATCHING OUT
FOR MY PATIENTS,
BUT WHO’S
WATCHING OUT
FOR ME?”
WE ARE.
We are the Alliance for Patient Medication Safety (APMS),
a federally listed Patient Safety Organization.
Our Pharmacy Quality Commitment (PQC) program:
•
•
•
•
Helps you implement and maintain a continuous quality improvement
program
Offers federal protection for your patient safety data and your quality
improvement work
Assists with quality assurance requirements found in network contracts,
Medicare Part D, and state
regulations
Provides tools, training
and support to keep your
pharmacy running efficiently
and your patients safe
Call toll free (866) 365-7472 or visit www.pqc.net
PQC IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOUR STATE PHARMACY ASSOCIATION
8
Georgia Pharmacy
news
Shuffling the
board
Like a lot of organizations, GPhA has
a board of directors that makes the
big decisions. We also had a separate
“executive committee” that also helped
make those big decisions.
Now we like bureaucracy as much
as the next guy, but we also knew —
thanks to members’ input — that it
made sense to have a bit less of it.
We needed to thread the needle
between a board large enough to
represent the association’s geographic
and practice-area diversity, but be
small enough to be responsive and
make quick decisions.
That’s why, at the Georgia Pharmacy Convention 2015, the membership
voted to create a new, streamlined
board structure. Instead of a 41-member board and a separate executive
committee, GPhA’s new leadership
consists of a 11-member board representing all practice settings.
Remember, the GPhA Board of
directors represents you. Get to know
them and get in touch if you’d like to
see your association do something.
Just visit GPhA.org/board.
August/September 2015
New lobbying punch and a VP of
finance: Staff changes at GPhA
Some new names are going to be appearing on the GPhA
org chart, including a couple of old friends who are getting a bit more formal treatment.
First, after our big wins this year in the state legislature, we’re beefing up our legislative advocacy team.
Greg Reybold joins the staff as our vice president of
public policy & association counsel. You may recognize
him as the attorney who helped us craft (and later, explain to members) the immunization expansion bill that
passed this year.
Cindy Shepherd joins us not as full-time staff, but as
our dedicated legislative consultant. She’s been working with GPhA on our lobbying efforts before, and this
solidifies the deal.
Outside our government affairs department, Dianne
Jones of Suwanee has joined the GPhA staff as our new
vice president of finance & administration, following
in the footsteps of Dan Griggs (see “A farewell to Dan,
right”).
Dianne has a ton of experience leading the finance
and operations side of not-for-profit membership organizations: She spent seven years as controller and CFO
for the Atlanta Athletic Clubs, and more recently as CFO
and general manager for the 1818 Club, a business club
associated with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.
Reybold
Shepherd
Jones
A farewell
to dan
Dan Griggs, GPhA’s vice president of finance and administration, is retiring this August. You
may not know Dan, but you’ve
indirectly felt his impact.
Since he joined GPhA in April
2010, Dan’s helped clean up and
restructure the association’s
finances and saving a lot of
money — your dues dollars —
by working with our contractors
and re-working our agreements.
He’s “looking forward to doing nothing for a while,” he says
of his retirement — “nothing”
meaning spending time with his
wife, two children, and (we suspect) his three grandchildren.
He’ll be missed.
Inspiring confidence
GPhA/UBS Wealth Management Program
We know pharmacists think about much more than
prescriptions. You think about your future and retirement,
making the right financial decisions for your family, and
helping your employees so their future looks confident too.
UBS provides GPhA with exclusive UBS benefits for the
complexities of your life and pharmacy. Contact us today
and let us help you plan with confidence.
Wile Consulting Group
UBS Financial Services Inc.
3455 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1700
Atlanta, GA 30326
ubs.com/team/wile
Harris Gignilliat, CIMA®, CRPS®
First Vice President–Wealth Management
Senior Retirement Plan Consultant
404-760-3301 [email protected]
As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, we offer both investment advisory and brokerage services. These services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways
and are governed by different laws and separate contracts. For more information on the distinctions between our brokerage and investment advisory services, please speak with
your Financial Advisor or visit our website at ubs.com/workingwithus.UBS Financial Services Inc., its affiliates and its employees are not in the business of providing tax or legal
advice. Clients should seek advice based on their particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor. CIMA® is a registered certification mark of the Investment Management
Consultants Association, Inc. in the United States of America and worldwide. Chartered Retirement Plans SpecialistSM and CRPS® are registered service marks of the College for
Financial Planning®. ©UBS 2014. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. 7.00_Ad_7.5x4.875_AX0220_WileConsultingGrp2 GphA
August/September 2015
Georgia Pharmacy
9
cover story
10 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
tion
stra
illu
n
oma
hn R
by Jo
The label said “Take with Food,”
So we took that to heart.
story and photos by Phillip ratliff
heir food is simple but satisfying. The atmosphere is
more friendly than fancy. We’re talking pharmacy lunch
counters and soda fountains, artifacts of a simpler time
in American life, when people connected with one at the
corner drugstore over milkshakes or a patty melt.
Although we may see them as relics of a bygone era, wildly successful lunch counters and soda fountains still inhabit small-town Georgia.
Some operate as grills, offering burgers and dogs. Others, offer frozen
treats. There’s even one meat-and-three in the mix.
August/September 2015
I took a tour across the state — a tour of some of Georgia pharmacy
lunch counters and soda fountains. The assignment was rife with
potential for delicious excess: Visit seven old-timey establishments
over the course of four days. It was, in short, the ultimate road trip,
covering more than a thousand miles and 18 hours, each step of the way
snapping photos of dishes ranging from artisanal ice cream sundaes to
fried baloney sandwiches. The caloric intake was obscene.
The result: A peek at why Georgia’s pharmacy lunch counters and
soda shops are among the best places on earth.
Georgia Pharmacy 11
cover story
Conyers:
Beasley Drug Company
Two slices of nostalgic bliss
When Ora Bailey, owner of Beasley Drug Company
in Conyers, felt that the grilled cheese at her pharmacy’s iconic lunch counter wasn’t grilled cheesy
enough, she insisted that her cooks make every
sandwich with not one but two slices of American.
This was a grilled cheese she could feel good about
handing out, at no charge, to sledders during the
snowpocalypse — and it’s the same grilled cheese
she wants to eat herself.
“I try to eat salads, but, boy, when I eat one, I’m
in heaven,” Ora says.
Ora’s grandfather, Ralph Beasley, opened the
pharmacy in 1934, moving Beasley’s to its current
location in 1942. It was at the heart of downtown
Conyers, surrounded by a grocery, a feed and seed
store, a cobbler, and a five and dime. Ralph sold ice
cream and sodas early on, then sometime around
1964 added hotdogs and hamburgers to the menu.
It’s that 1964 lunch counter experience that Ora
is dedicated to preserving: parquet floors, Formica
counter, vinyl stools — and, besides sandwiches like
her beloved grilled cheese, lots and lots of ice cream.
A kid’s scoop is only 73 cents with tax, an Beasley
offers free ice creams for completing the public
library’s summer reading program or remembering
to get a flu vaccination. Free ice cream is one small way that Ora keeps
Beasley Drug Company as a constant in a city that
has changed drastically in the past few decades.
Today, with strip malls serving up the basics like
groceries and housewares, downtown, dubbed Olde
Towne, houses mostly boutiques and specialty
shops.
“This community means a lot to me. I know
most people who come in [to Beasley]. I’m the
seventh generation to be baptized at the Methodist church down the street. I feel like I have been
blessed with a lot. So I bought this store to be able
to give back to the community,” Ora says.
Duluth
Duluth Rexall Drugs
Come for the meatloaf
Pharmacist and entrepreneur Lynda Alley, owner
of the award winning Duluth Rexall Drugs, can
recite her massive weekly menu like it was the periodic table: by days of the week or by food group.
But invariably, her exorbitant litanies come
back to a single dish, one that Dultuh Rexall serves
Come in to Beasley’s any day during
lunch and you’ll find the counter
packed.
12 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
Danielle Sexton serves up a hamburger plate featuring Duluth Rexall’s burger, hand patted out of ground chuck. And don’t forget the side dishes,
like the gravy-covered potatoes, collard greens, and beans with this pork roast.
everyday — a humble main course that everybody
loves and hardly anyone knows how to make well:
I’m talking meatloaf, juicy slabs of it.
Meatloaf is to Duluth Pharmacy what 5-W-30
is to Jiffy Lube. It’s made fresh every day in Duluth
Rexall’s kitchen, sliced thick, doused in gravy, and
surrounded by sides.
The roster of those sides reads like a who’s
who: There’s creamed potato, rice and gravy, pinto
beans, white beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas,
and plenty of biscuits or cornbread for sopping, too. Lynda’s operation is dripping in history. The
counter with its vinyl-covered stools and booths
datd back to around 1960. Coca-Cola wallpaper
and memorabilia cover most of the wall space,
with photos and newspaper clippings filling in the
empty bits.
Lynda’s commitment to quality is getting her
noticed. There are smaller awards, like best sweet
tea in Gwinnet County. And big ones, like No. 10 on
Thrillist’s list of best Georgia restaurants outside
285. (That’s one spot above Paula Dean’s Lady and
Sons, and you better believe Lynda made sure I
knew that.)
It’s nice being noticed b the press, but Lynda’s biggest fans are her customers. “We have regulars who eat breakfast then half of those come
back again for lunch. My wait staff knows that
they want when they come in. They’ll have the
sweet tea coming to them before they sit down.
I feed 200 to 600 a day, breakfast and lunch,” she
says. “The week starts slower, but by
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
we’re slammed.”
McCaysville: This ain’t no soda fountain
On the books it’s called McCaysville Drug Center, and much
about the bustling north Georgia operation lives up to its name.
There’s a pharmacist counter built in the late 1960s and covered
with something resembling a Mansard roof, and rows of shelving
stocked with such standard drugstore fare as diapers and OTC
remedies, orthopedic shoes and candy bars.
To its fans and customers, however, McCaysville Drug Center
goes by another name, McCaysville Drug and Gun, a place
that can help you knock out a head cold or take down a wild
boar. Tourists drop in while shopping in McCaysville or across
the Ocoee in Copper Hill, Tennessee. Husbands sneak in to
daydream while their wives shop downtown for antiques. Wives
sneak in while pretending to shop for antiques.
And some of those gawkers end up buying guns, owner Hugh
Rogers says. He sells to hunters wanting to bag white-tail deer
and to first-time gun buyers wanting to feel safer. Hugh devotes
roughly 65 percent of his time and his business to keeping up
with gun piece of McCaysville Drugs and Guns.
August/September 2015
Hugh makes a brisk business of selling hats and t-shirts
online, mostly to aficionados of Internet oddities. The “drug and
gun” aesthetic is a little on the Sons of Anarchy side, but when
you’ve made the leap to a gun and drug store, you’re probably
long past subtlety. That leap happened in 2011 when Hugh, fed up with competing with big box stores on the price of ibuprofen and toilet
paper, started fishing for new ideas. He’d heard about a gun
dealing-florist-pharmacist in South Georgia, GPhA member Billy
Connelly, and decided to give two-thirds of that concept a try in
his own neck of the woods.
It’s all working out in a way he couldn’t have imagined when
he decided to pull the trigger four years ago:
“That’s the crossroads we were at the time. Up-front inventory wasn’t moving and we had to make a switch. Now, the gun
side keeps edging out more and more. Gun sales started with a
six-foot counter. Guns now fill half the store. We could fill a place
twice this size if we had the room,” Hugh says.
Georgia Pharmacy 13
cover story
Athens
ADD Drug
Keeping it simple, keeping it real
In case you’ve missed it, Athens is sort of a college
town. That means that nine months out of the
year, tens of thousands of students arrive. A host
of them flock to ADD Drugs, a pharmacy outfitted
with a 16-seat lunch counter in Athens’ hipster-laden Five Points business district.
At ADD, you can get a fried baloney or grilled
cheese sandwich and only be out a buck fifty, something you don’t have to be a student to appreciate.
ADD’s owner, pharmacist Kevin Florence, points
out that there’s a delicate and predictable mixture
of patrons to the 60-year old establishment that includes the atheltc
community, seniors, and elemtnary
kids on summer break.
The secret to ADD’s low prices
and perennial appeal is consistency and simplicity. A grilled cheese
sandwich requires bread and
cheese, the same cheese you can put on a hamburger and the same bread you can use in a baloney
sandwich. A patty melt is just sliced-bread-not-bun
variation on a regular hamburger.
From a solid core and a lot of creative mixing
and matching, and the addition of a limited signature ingredients, you can get all manner of breakfast and lunch items.
“And some of the best milkshakes in town!”
That’s Tony Glenum, a NYC native who has been
coming to ADD Drugs for years, and is devoted to
the one-dollar fried egg sandwich.
That’s just what pharmacist owner Kevin
Florence is going for. He’s owned ADD for the past
three years, after spending time in a retail chain
and working as a compounder. When he heard that
ADD was being sold, he spent a couple of years
working out details of the purchase.
Along the way, he became a pretty clever businessman.
“Keep it as simple a possible for the cost side,”
he says. “It’s easier on storage space, easier to prepare the easier to move people in and out; you have
to turn over seats.
Above all, Kevin wants his food to taste like
it did decades ago — for a visit from a UGA alum
to feel like old times. When students return to
14 Georgia Pharmacy
Amy Tyndell serves up smiles and small talk to ADD regulars, while
Faye Mosley works the grill.
ADD this fall, they’re going to find the same great,
affordable food that got them over the hump three
months earlier.
“They get the same experience every time they
come. It’s not changed,” Florence says. “They could
have eaten here in 1974 and we still have the same
burgers and the same French fries.”
Commerce
Commerce Pharmacy
Here for the long haul (and bingo)
It’s 8:55 on a Tuesday morning and more than a
dozen people, most all seniors, are lined up outside
Commerce Pharmacy. The sidewalks are still pretty
sleepy this time of morning — so I can’t help but
notice that something extraordinary is erupting in
front of Commerce Pharmacy.
What has convinced more than a dozen Commerce citizens to queue up this early is not a run on
prescriptions but a pastime more often associated
with retirement homes and parish halls: Bingo.
Bingo is part of a master strategy not only to
get people to fill their prescriptions at Commerce
Pharmacy — but to stop off for a bite at the soda
counter. It’s not a fancy counter: just seven vinyl
covered barstools and a well-worn strip of Formica.
When the doors finally open, the throng makes
its way to auxiliary seating while Bingo cards are
handed out.
Soon, ice tea begins to flow, served up by
counter manager, Melle Rearden. Melle, an expert
on Commerce Pharmacy first came to the company
as a customer some 40 years ago.
“After school I’d sit in the corner and read comic books,” Melle tells me.
Melle and her colleague, Patricia, are making
tea and salads that morning. Pimiento cheese,
along with tuna salad sandwiches and daily specials like pasta salad and chicken wraps, are what
August/September 2015
AIP fall Meeting
Sunday, October 25, 2015 • Macon Marriott & Centreplex Macon, GA
featuring
Continental Breakfast
& Lunch Provided!
• CE programs
• Legislative update
• Networking with colleagues
• Meeting with AIP partners
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! Attend this year’s Aip Fall Meeting
Please fill out and fax this form to (404) 237-8435)
Member’s Name:
Nickname:
Pharmacy Name:
Address:
E-mail Address: (Please Print)
Will you be joining us for lunch? (12-1pm)
Names of Staff/Guests:
q Yes q No
# of additional Staff/Guests:
cover story
bring the downtown businessmen to Commerce
Pharmacy. They come from the nearby funeral
home, the insurance agency, and the dozen or so
other businesses lining main street Commerce, and
they’re the drugstore’s bread and butter.
But it’s the ice cream that attracts kids.
Commerce Pharmacy has had tubs of the frozen
treat delivered from Atlanta’s own Greenwood Ice
Creamery for 60 years.
Rebecca, a 2000 Mercer graduate, usually
spends her time across the store behind pharmacy counter. But when the lunch slam is on, it’s all
hands on deck. As a result, she’s gotten to know the
ins and outs of working in a soda fountain.
“I started as a soda jerk. Now I’m just a jerk,”
she jokes.
Regardless of which counter she’s standing
behind, Rebecca chats with diners, and she’s learned
a lot from her interactions about what Commerce
Pharmacy has meant to people over the years.
“People spent their childhood here. To this day,
they’ll come in to fill a prescription and talk about
when they were children coming here,” she says.
Soon the Bingo crowd will leave as a new
crowd, downtown businessmen, enters Commerce
Pharmacy. Minus the Bingo innovation, it’s a pattern that’s been around for a while.
Rebecca sees the Bingo as a variation on
a theme that’s been unfolding for what will be
century and a decade next year. “Commerce Pharmacy has been here since 1906. Anything in the
downtown area, any sort of downtown activity, the
drugstore has been a part of that,” she says.
Patricia Shubert of Commerce Pharmacy makes a mean banana split,
thanks in part to Atlanta’s own Greenwood Ice Cream.
16 Georgia Pharmacy
Meet the scrambled dog: Dinglewood Drugstore’s signature dish.
Columbus
Dinglewood Drugstore
Scrambled dogs: pretty in pink
It’s the lunch slam at Dinglewood Drugstore in
Columbus and the counter is lined with customers.
Resting before about half of those is a Styrofoam
boat filled with what best can be described with
language borrowed from Georgia’s folk art world:
an assemblage of found objects.
There’s a hot dog bun. There’s gooey slices of
factory-made Velveeta. There are oyster crackers
and pickles topping a ladle’s worth of chili.
The most striking ingredient has to be the
weenies, diced into chunks and pinker than a highlighter. Add them in and you’ve got what the folks
at Dinglewood call the scrambled dog. In the minds
of some Columbus residents, it’s a work of art – and
something of an acquired taste.
Alison Lund, a military wife from Texas who
is eating her first at Dinglewood. “It’s good!” Alison
says, the way you’d say that the first time you ate
sushi or liverwurst.
A few seats over is an old Dinglewood pro,
Leslie Vann Lazrovitch. Leslie grew up in Columbus but now lives in Louisville. She’s been bragging
about Dinglewood Pharmacy for years and has
finally managed to convince her family to make the
pilgrimage.
“This is the first scrambled dog I’ve had in 15
years!” she gushes.
“I got the hamburger,” Leslie’s daughter says,
casting a furtive glance at the monstrosity her
mom is dissecting. “What’s in the chili?” I wonder aloud.
“Regular chili and some other stuff, “ the chili
August/September 2015
ladler, Ernestine, says.
“What other stuff?”
“I’m sworn to secrecy. I want to continue,”
she says, unclear if she means “working here” or
“existing.”
I float a theory that there’s a scrambled dog
because someone couldn’t decide between a bowl of
chili and a chilidog.
Yep, Ernestine says. The credit goes to a man
named “Lieutenant.” According to Dinglewood
sources, Lieutenant adapted his chili recipe from
that of his predecessor, Sport Brown. After working
alongside another friend Dinglewood owner and
pharmacist Terry Hurley, for more than 40 years,
Lieutenant left it to Ernestine and toppings specialist Tiffeny to carry on the Dinglewood legacy.
Scrambled dogs are moving fast. Soon, a fresh
plastic container of neon weenies arrives.
“They’re special made for Dinglewood,” Tiffeny
explains.
“Yeah, but what I mean is, why are they so ….
pink?” I ask.
“Because they’re special made for Dinglewood,”
she says, as she dumps the package contents into a
bright pink pile.
The Medicine
Cabinet’s sundaes
are named after the
Meeks’s grandkids.
LaGrange
The Medicine Cabinet
We all scream for ice cream
Pharmacist Scott Meeks and his brother Randy
were knee-deep in executing a plan to open 18 independent pharmacies throughout Georgia. Then it
took an unexpected turn. The building they bought
for their LaGrange store, the Medicine Cabinet, was
an old Bruester’s ice cream shop, and the former
owner was having trouble removing the giant
freezer. He asked the Meeks if they’d like to buy it.
Randy suspected that opportunity had just
fallen their laps. Sitting two blocks from LaGrange
OUR ISMC SEGMENT STRATEGY
Health Mart is leveling the
playing field so our pharmacists
can grow their businesses.
Health Mart is the largest network of independent pharmacists in the nation.
We’re strong, yet flexible, and we’re here to help our customers succeed.
THE HEALTH MART DIFFERENCE
GAIN ACCESS
TO PREFERRED
NETWORKS
BRING
PATIENTS TO
YOUR STORE
EXPAND YOUR
SERVICES FOR
MORE REVENUE
BUILT ON THE STRENGTH OF McKESSON
Count on
Reliable
Distribution
Optimize
Your
Generics
Improve
Your
Bottom Line
Boost
Your
Efficiency
Plan for
Your
Future
HM-09005-01-15
HM-09005-01-15
August/September 2015
Georgia Pharmacy 17
cover story
The Medicine Cabinet offers a lot more than medicine.
College, a block from the town’s main churches, a
block and half from the city center, the Medicine
Cabinet was hovering in the vortex of an ice cream
vacuum.
The Meeks got to work, outfitting the Medicine
Cabinet in LaGrange with an old-fashioned soda
fountain, building a lunch counter out of reclaimed
wood, and bringing in Randy’s son, Greg, to run it.
Greg developed signature sundaes (named
after the Meek grandkids), and will soon begin market testing hamburgers grilled on a Big Green Egg.
But his greatest triumph is probably perfecting the
formula for the Medicine Cabinet’s signature drink,
the lemon sour. It’s been a smash.
Through the soda fountain alone, they brought
up front of store sales to 3.5 percent. A cute-as-abug’s ear gift shop, run by Scott’s daughter-in-law
Isa, raised it to a whopping 7.5 percent.
It’s not a model that will work in every one of
their 18 stores, Randy says, but thanks to some planning, some luck, and the public’s insatiable appetite
for ice cream and fountain drinks, it’s a model that
is killing it in LaGrange.
Metter
IHS Pharmacy
A fountain ahead
When Laura Cardell was a junior at Metter High
School, she’d crave the food so bad she’d text her
dad to smuggle it to her during class.
Today she’s a college student, working parttime at the very source of the food she craved: IHS
Pharmacy in Metter.
As if that wasn’t poetic enough, Laura works
alongside Jodie Kemp, who is also a part-time art
teacher at the local elementary school. Nowadays
it’s Jodie who’s texting or phoning in the requests
for secret food service, and Laura who’s making the
backdoor deliveries.
There is no shortage of resourcefulness at IHS.
In the absence of a stovetop, lunch counter manager
Paula Dekle assembles her homemade soups in a
pair of crockpots. Paula prepares her burgers, bacon
strips, and grilled sandwiches on a pair of tabletop
griddles she picked up at a nearby hardware store.
Owner Dean Stone bought IHS when it was a
mere 1,900 square foot store. But IHS had something
Dean had always wanted: “I said if I ever bought
pharmacy with a soda fountain I was planning on
keeping it,” he says. The first year, Dean grew sales by 114 percent. A
year later, he relocated to IHS’s current 6,500-square-
It’s no surprise that IHS Pharmacy’s food is a hit at the local schools.
foot location. Sales grew another 40 percent.
IHS is now positioned at a busy downtown
intersection, near the town’s education community.
When lunchtime rolls around, the counter is usually
slammed.
IHS is the sort of place where employees enjoy
hanging out with one another, to catch their breath
after the lunch rush or to lighten the mood with a
quick story at the edge of the lunch counter.
Customers pick up on the friendly vibe, often
finding that themselves treated like one of the gang.
Even after the lunch rush, they continue to come
in, stopping off at the lunch counter for a brief chat
with Paula and milkshake master Tripp Parker.
It’s at that point you’ve crossed over, from customer to regular. And that’s a good thing.
“I’ve had people who forget to pay, coming back
the next day [to settle up],” Tripp says. “Some forget
their wallet. I say ‘Come on back whenever.’ And
they do.”
Georgia Pharmacy
A S S O C I AT I O N
BLACK & WHITE
OPEN
GLOSS/GRADIENT
FLAT COLOR
1
18 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
profile
Tommy
Llamas, cattle,
and bees — and
a 34-year career
in pharmacy.
Meet GPhA’s
new president.
By phillip ratliff
August/September 2015
T
ommy Whitworth is on his Cub Cadet
utility vehicle. He’s dressed in a T-shirt and
jeans, having doffed his lab coat several
minutes before, and he’s riding along the
highway shoulder on his way to the quickie
mart a mile up the road from his farm in LaGrange.
Traffic whizzes by, but Tommy is unfazed. He steers
the Cub Cadet deftly along the narrow stretch of
grass, then veers left to cross the highway. Soon we’re
walking inside the store.
Tommy enters like he owns the place, opens the
door to the employees-only walk-in cooler, and grabs
a 24-pack of aluminum-bottle Miller Lite.
“They drink this at Talladega,” he says.
Tommy sets his beer and three bags of pork rinds
on the counter, lays down his money, and we’re soon
barreling up the driveway of his 40-acre farm. The expanse of acreage before us is a breathtaking sight, like
TV eye candy: the Ponderosa or the opening credits
Georgia Pharmacy 19
profile
of Dallas, maybe. To our right is a copse of southern
pine. Dotting the fence line are several small white
boxes swarming with honeybees. To our left stand a
half dozen cows, two Jerusalem donkeys and what
must surely be a subject of LaGrange conversation,
a family of llamas. We pass Tommy’s ranch house and head
straight to what appears to be a garage a couple of
hundred yards down the drive. It’s Tommy’s “mancave” he says, outfitted with a bar, a beer cooler, as
much Auburn Tigers memorabilia as wall space
will allow, and a TV the size of a small movie screen
blasting Tommy’s beloved Atlanta Braves. The good life
To Tommy, this is the good life — the fruits of 34
years of hard work. He’s been an independent pharmacist owner, a hospital pharmacist, a community
pharmacist in both retail chain and independent
settings, and a compounder. Currently, he owns
and runs his own compounding operation, CMC
Pharmacy, located halfway between his farm and
LaGrange’s quaint town square, while working
shifts at nearby Emory Clark Holder clinic as an
oncology infusion pharmacist, doing sterile preps
for chemotherapy patients.
But Tommy’s embrace extends beyond the
various practice areas of his field. He’s a devoted to
his daughter Megan and wife, Susan, a pharmacist
with 33 years experience. He’s an avid cattle farmer,
specializing in high quality beef from delta Galloway cows.
Being a cattleman and a pharmacist has allowed Tommy to combine his passions in a way he
didn’t see coming.
“I’m a pretty good makeshift veterinarian,” he
says. “I have a good relationship with our vet. At
CMC, we do a lot of compounding with the veterinary clientele, have a good relationship with vets
— and dentists, OB/GYNs, podiatrists, pain doctors,
internal medicine — very broad compounding.”
Medicine was integral to Whitworth’s life from
the start.
A pharmacy lineage
He was born in LaGrange 1957, “to two of the most
caring human beings to ever set foot on this earth,”
he says. His father, Jack Whitworth, a UGA and
Medical College of Georgia graduate, ran a booming
20 Georgia Pharmacy
medical practice in Greenville. Later, Jack went to
work as the company doctor for a textile mill, Westpoint Pepperell, in Lanett, Ala. Jack was a humanitarian, rich in bedside manner and concern for his
patients. But he was brilliantly analytical, Tommy
says, conducting research on work conditions in
textile mills that would eventually influence medical policies at other U.S. mills. Tommy witnessed his father applying the
rigors of science to a people-oriented sort of profession and so much liked what he saw that he may
have gone to med school … had a man named Frank
Tigner not entered the scene. Frank Tigner, besides
being Jack Whitworth’s best friend and undergraduate roommate, had chosen a different path in the
medical profession: pharmacy. After earning his B.S.
at UGA, Frank moved to Greenville to work alongside Jack. Together, Jack and Frank became the
little town’s indefatigable medical team.
“They had a collaborative agreement. They
practiced together,” Tommy says. “I remember as a
small child the respect Frank and my father had.
They would go out together on house calls during
flu seasons and work unbelievable hours. Frank
had heard that you wouldn’t have to work as hard
if you’re a pharmacist than if you’re a doctor. But it
didn’t work out that way.”
“He and Daddy came back to Greenville and
practiced medicine and pharmacy together in some
shape or form or fashion until each died. Frank is
the reason I am in pharmacy today,” Tommy says.
When the family moved to Alabama as a teenager, Tommy’s dream of UGA made a slight detour
toward Auburn.
August/September 2015
“I learned from
my dad and Frank
that you leave
something
better than you
found it.”
Taking care
It’s daybreak on the Back 40 farm, and Tommy
and I are in our respective cars, heading toward
downtown LaGrange. We exit our vehicles at the
town square and walk past a statue of the Marquis
de Lafayette, the French aristocrat whose estate, La
Grange, or “the farm,” gave the town its name.
August/September 2015
A small peloton of cyclists pass us and Tommy strikes up a conversation. One is a pharmacist himself, it turns out. We approach a glorious
Georgian structure just off Lafayette Square and
Tommy punches a code into a keypad. Soon we’re
inside First Baptist Church’s nineteenth-century
preaching hall. I wonder if Tommy is a deacon
or volunteer of some sort, that he would have
access.
“I’m a Baptist by faith, but I am also very ecumenical, “ Tommy says. To illustrate, Tommy rattles
of the denominations he’s a part of. “I teach Sunday
School at the Baptist church and attend a Bible
Georgia Pharmacy 21
profile
study at the local Methodist church,” he says. For
the last several years, Tommy has served with an
Episcopal Church-based medical mission team in
Honduras, usually departing just a few days after
GPhA’s annual convention. It is all about loving people and taking care
of them, he says, a habit of heart and mind he
learned from watching Frank Tigner and his father
serve Greenville patients.
“That is what Christ has us here for, to love
your neighbor as yourself, treat them as you
would want them to treat you,” he says.
We exit First Baptist Church in search of
breakfast. Tommy knows the perfect spot, a diner
just off the main square bustling mainly with men
decade or so older than Tommy, huddled in groups
of two and three discussing news while students
from nearby LaGrange College bring them sausage
and biscuits, gravy and eggs, grits and coffee.
Tommy orders some of each and I ask for a bowl
of oats and a banana. “There’s no fruit here,” the
waitress tells me.
Meanwhile, Tommy has jumped into a
conversation about church and politics with two
60-somethings. The men joke and back slap and
trade stories. It’s obvious that Tommy is like a light
bulb in a roomful of moths.
Looking ahead
Tommy was installed at GPhA’s president on July
11. If you want a taste of what Tommy’s presidency
will look like, envision him at that roundtop in LaGrange, surrounded by instant friends, telling tales,
waxing philosophical about all the threads of his
life, woven in a cord, binding him to the profession
and to its people, envisioning his year much as he
does his farm — as an expanse of opportunity.
“I learned from my dad and Frank that you
leave something better than you found it. You
put back more than you took out of it. You can’t
complain unless you’re involved in the process of
making it better.”
Tommy has a vision for his presidency: Making
GPhA more responsive and more inclusive.
“We’re streamlining our board. We’ve got a great
plan — our strategic plan — in place and we’re already working on that. And we’re going to be doing a
lot more on the legislative side, because we’ve got to
be even more ambitious there,” he says. “I’m excited.”
And he wants everyone on board. “Hospital,
chain pharmacist, nursing home pharmacist, independent owner — we’ve all got the passion, and
we need to harness that.” Tommy says. “We want
everybody to have a place at the table.”
Georgia Pharmacy
A S S O C I AT I O N
BLACK & WHITE
OPEN
GLOSS/GRADIENT
FLAT COLOR
1
22 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
We grew.
We played.
We connected.
Scenes from the Georgia Pharmacy Convention 2015
It was hot on Amelia Island — hot
and humid enough to fog your
eyeglasses when you walked out of
the air-conditioned comfort of your
room or the convention hall.
And that hall was crowded with
hundreds of pharmacists and students, with some education sessions
filling their space and then some,
chairs spilling out into the hallway, or
attendees standing against the back
wall, taking notes.
Between sessions, they gathered
in the halls in groups of three or four
or a half-dozen, from all four corners
of Georgia. Heads nodded, cards were
exchanged, jokes told.
In the general sessions, those
same people listened to updates
August/September 2015
about the association, to awards
and accolades for the members (and
others) who made such a difference
this year.
They came to the President’s
Inaugural Gala to say farewell to
outgoing president Bobby Moody
and welcome his successor, Tommy
Whitworth.
And they danced, they golfed,
they played tennis and rode bikes
and splashed in the pool or the ocean.
In short, it was exactly what we
planned and a huge success.
Enough words: Enjoy some pictures from our convention.
Georgia Pharmacy 23
The first class of GPhA’s elite training program, LeadershipGPhA, graduated at the convention. The fourteen graduates spent the better part of a
year learning how to be leaders — in their practices, their communiities, their association, and their profession.
Between education sessions, pharmacists and students visited the
Expo Hall to meet with dozens of vendors showcasing their products
and services (and maybe win one of the prizes being given away).
As part of his farewell, Thomas Sherrer presented outgoing GPhA
president Bobby Moody with a football autographed by the 2014
Georgia Bulldogs football team. Rumor has it Bobby’s a Dawgs fan.
GPhA CEO Scott Brunner (far right) introduces our 2015 Legislative Champions at a general session. These are the folks who made it possible for us
to pass two important bills in the state legislature this year.
24 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
Expo Hall exhibitors ran the gamut from national companies to state
agencies to startups.
Education sessions were serious business, and the topics were up to
the minute. There were more than 15 hours of CPE available, too.
Many of the sessions filled their spaces... and then some. Here’s one of
several panel discussions that drew a packed house.
Conventions mean networking, of course — finding out what others
are up to, or just greeting old friends. Here 2015 NCPA President John
Sherrer (left) greets Dean Ted Matthews of Mercer University.
acy
Georgia Pharm
ASSOC
I AT I O N
We’re moving — and we’d like your help.
OPEN
BLACK & WHITE
y
armac
ia Ph
Georg
AS
SO
CIA
TIO
N
FLAT COLOR
GLOSS/GRADIENT
1
acy
Pharm
rgia
Geo
& WHITE
CI
BLACK
SO
AT
OPEN
ION
AS
FLAT
COLOR
1
NT
GRADIE
GLOSS/
Georgia Pharmacy
OPEN
&
BLACK
A S S O C I AT I
ON
WHITE
FLAT
COLOR
1
RADIENT
GLOSS/G
BLACK & WHITE
GLOSS/GRADIENT
OPEN
FLAT COLOR
The Georgia Pharmacy Association is
growing — in new directions and soon
to a new location.
Later this year, GPhA will relocate
to a new suite of offices in Sandy
Springs. We’ve launched a fundraising
campaign to help furnish our new
home.
It’s simple: We’d like leaders in the
pharmacy profession and industry to
demonstrate their support for GPhA.
Anyone giving a gift of $1,000 or more
will receive permanent recognition on
GPhA’s Leader Wall in the foyer of the
new office suite.
Send your gift to our current office
marked “GPhA Furnishings Fund.”
You can also reach out to GPhA
CEO Scott Brunner personally at
[email protected] and share with
him your pledge.
Georgia Pharmacy Association
50 Lenox Pointe NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
1
August/September 2015
Georgia Pharmacy
A S S O C I AT I O N
Georgia Pharmacy 25
Tommy Whitworth, his wife Susan by his side, takes the oath of office
as GPhA’s 2015-2016 president before giving a heartfelt speech... and
dancing (see below).
GPhA’s outgoing chair of the board, Pamala Marquess, speaks
at the President’s Gala.
Dance, dance, dance the night away: After his inauguration, newly installed GPhA president Tommy Whitworth (white shirt, bow tie) dances to...
well, we couldn’t tell you what the music was at this moment, because Tommy didn’t stop for most of the evening.
President Tommy — yes, you can call him that — holds up the gavel
of office, which was passed down to him, literally, by GPhA’s past
presidents at his inauguration.
26 Georgia Pharmacy
The Bowl of Hygeia (near left) caps the major awards given out at the
President’s Gala.
August/September 2015
The GPhA board of directors is installed. Front row, left to right: 2nd vice president Tim Short, 1st vice president Liza Chapman (Dawsonville),
president-elect Lance Boles (Hartwell). Back row: Board members Chris Thurmond (Athens), Daryl Reynolds (Griffin), David Graves (Macon),
Drew Miller (Griffin), Sharon Deason (Newnan; hidden) and John Drew (Fortson).
August/September 2015
Georgia Pharmacy 27
The 2015 Awards Ceremony
Dr. Lindsey Welch is named the 2015
Distinguished Young Pharmacist.
The Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award
is presented to Dr. Ashish Advani of the
Mercer College of Pharmacy.
The Cardinal Health Generation Rx
Champion Award is given to the
Honorable Bruce L. Broadrick, Sr.
Mercer College of Pharmacy Dean Ted
Matthews receives the Larry Braden
Meritorious Service Award.
Pharmacist and state representative the
Honorable Ron Stephens of Savannah
receives the Bowl of Hygeia.
A Buying group for independent retAil phArmAcies
...owned by 19 state pharmacy organizations
...a leader negotiating on behalf of
independents
...saving pharmacies money for
more than 25 years
...financially supports the
state pharmacy organizations
...serving pharmacies nationwide
1-888-200-0998 | www.pacealliance.com
28 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
Investing in PharmPAC is
investing in your practice.
2015 PharmPAC investors
The following pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, students,
and others have joined GPhA’s PharmPAC.
The contribution levels are based on investment for the calendar year as of July 31, 2015.
Diamond Investors ($4,800 or more)
Charles Barnes
Valdosta
Scott Meeks
Douglas
Fred Sharpe
Albany
Titanium Investors ($2,400)
Ralph Balchin
Fayetteville
T.M. Bridges
Hazlehurst
Greg Hickman
Monroe
TED HUNT
Kennesaw
DAVID GRAVES
Macon
THOMAS LINDSEY
Omega
Brandall Lovvorn
Bremen
Jeff Sikes
Valdosta
Danny Smith
McRae
DEAN STONE
Metter
David Graves, Macon,
PharmPAC chairman
August/September 2015
Georgia Pharmacy 29
2015 PharmPAC investors
Platinum Investors
($1,200)
Thomas Bryan, Jr.
William Cagle
Hugh Chancy
Keith Chapman
Dale Coker
Al Dixon
Jack Dunn
Martin Grizzard
Robert Hatton
Ira Katz
Jeff Lurey
Jonathan Marquess
Pamala Marquess
Ivey McCurdy
Silver Investors
($300)
Renee Adamson
Nelson Anglin
Chandler Conner
Mandy Davenport
Gregory Drake
Bill Dunaway
Eric Durham
Amanda Gaddy
Amy Galloway
Carson Gleaton
Johnathan Hamrick
Willie Latch
Kalen Manasco
Bill McLeer
Susan McLeer
Donald Peila, Jr.
Daryl Reynolds
Ashley Rickard
(continued)
Gold Investors
($600)
Drew Miller
Laird Miller
Mark Parris
Houston Rogers
Daniel Royal
Wade Scott
Terry Shaw
Tim Short
Chris Thurmond
Danny Toth
Alex Tucker
Tommy Whitworth
Sherri Moody
Brian Rickard
Andy Rogers
Bill Scrogins
Teresa Smith
Michael Tarrant
Chuck Wilson
Carey Vaughan
William Wolfe
Larry Braden
William Brewster
Bruce Broadrick
Liza Chapman
Blake Daniel
Mahlon Davidson
Sharon Deason
Robert Dickinson
Benjamin DuPree
Kevin Florence
Kerry Griffin
Micheal Iteogu
Mike McGee
Bobby Moody
Sonny Thurmond
Erica Veasley
Angela Wampler
Amanda Westbrooks
Steve Wilson
George Wu
Fred Gurley
Ann Hansford
John Hansford
Larry Harkleroad
Hannah Head
Phillip James
Henry Josey
Susan Kane
Josh Kinsey
Brenton Lake
Micheal Lewis
Eddie Madden
Susan McCleer
Mary Meredith
C Perry
Houston Rogers
Laurence Ryan
Jim Sanders
Kimmy Sanders
Krista Stone
Sharon Sherrer
Richard Smith
Archie Thompson
Austin Tull
Flynn Warren
Bronze Investors
($150)
Robert Bentley
Phil Barfield
Elaine Bivins
Nicholas Bland
James Carpenter
Mark Cooper
Jean B. Cox
Michael Crooks
Melanie DeFusco
Rabun Dekle
Christina Futch
John Gleaton
Member Investors
Marla Banks
Ken Couch
James Graves
William Huang
Stephanie Kirkland
Max Mason
Roy McLendon
Debbie Nowlin
Leonard Templeton
Lindsey Welch
Anonymous Donor
our goal is your goal
PharmPAC funds help elect legislators
who are friendly to pharmacy. As of
July 31, 2015, we still had a long way
to go to meet our goal for the year.
Visit GPhA.org/PharmPAC to find out more.
GOAL
$58,720.00
$0
$10,000
$20,000
$30,000
$40,000
$50,000
$60,000
$70,000
$80,000
$90,000
$100,000
Get invested today.
Visit GPhA.org/PharmPAC or call (404) 419-8118
30 Georgia Pharmacy
August/September 2015
a Pharmacy
contact
A S S O C I AT I O N
Reach out to us
Our phone number is 404.231.5074
Our Website is GPhA.org
Our blog is GPHABuzz.com
OPEN
For questions about our
events, or about CPE credits
Sarah Bigorowski
Director of Events
(404) 419-8126
[email protected]
FLAT COLOR
GPhA
Leadership
President & Chair of the Board
Tommy Whitworth
[email protected]
President-Elect
Lance Boles
[email protected]
First Vice President
Liza Chapman
[email protected]
Second Vice President
Tim SHORT
[email protected]
Chief Executive Officer
Scott Brunner, CAE
[email protected]
For questions about our
magazine, Web sites,
or social media
Andrew Kantor
1
Director of Communication
[email protected]
For questions about
engagement with the Georgia
pharmacy community
Phillip Ratliff
Vice President of Communication
and Engagement
[email protected]
For membership questions
Tei Muhammad
Director of Membership
Operations
(404) 419-8115
[email protected]
For questions about any of
our insurance products
Denis Mucha
Manager of Insurance Services
(404) 419-8120
[email protected]
August/September 2015
For questions about
governmental affairs
Scott Brunner
CEO
[email protected]
For questions about the
Board of Directors or for
scheduling the Executive
Committee or EVP
Ruth Ann McGehee
Executive Assistant and
Governance Manager
(404) 419-8173
[email protected]
For operational or
accounting questions:
Dianne Jones
Vice President of Finance &
Administration
(404) 419-8129
[email protected]
Patricia Aguliar
Accounting Coordinator
[email protected]
(404) 419-8124
For assistance with
independent-pharmacy issues
Jeff Lurey, R.Ph.
Vice President of Independent
Pharmacy & Director of AIP
(404) 419-8103
[email protected]
For questions about your
AIP membership
Verouschka “V” Betancourt-Whigham
Manager of AIP Member Services
(404) 419-8102
[email protected]
AIP Member Service
Representatives
Rhonda Bonner
(229) 854-2797
[email protected]
Charles Boone
(478) 955-7789
[email protected]
Melissa Metheny
(404) 227-2219
[email protected]
Gene Smith
(423) 667-7949
[email protected]
Georgia Pharmacy 31
postscript
Blessings
Life is full of contrasts, and
its blessings take different
forms, don’t they?
Just a few weeks ago, I
was at Amelia Island with
many of you for the Georgia Pharmacy Convention,
where I was honored to
tommy whitworth be installed as your new
GPhA president. The Omni
resort there is a place of breathtaking beauty,
our meetings were productive, and the convention was one of the best in recent memory. We
all came home better for the experience. It was
a blessing!
It’s now a month later, and I find myself
in a very different place. I’m embedded as a
pharmacist on a medical mission team in a
remote part of Honduras, attending to some
of the poorest people in the western hemisphere. The beauty here is a different kind of
beauty. The rewards are different, too. I see
souls ministering to souls, people helping and
healing one another. And I’m not only talking
about the medical attention we’re giving to the
Hondurans, either. Those of us on the mission
team feel just as ministered to and loved by the
people here. We’ll all come home better for the
experience. It’s a blessing!
The point is, blessings do come in different
forms. In blessing others, we find ourselves
blessed. That’s what pharmacists do everyday,
in all sorts of circumstances, not only in caring
directly for our patients, but also in helping
move our communities forward.
I hope in the year ahead you’ll feel ministered
to and cared for and valued by your association
as we move pharmacy forward. I feel blessed to
be a Georgia pharmacist and to represent you.
Georgia Pharmacy
A S S O C I AT I O N
BLACK & WHITE
OPEN
GLOSS/GRADIENT
FLAT COLOR
1
Tommy Whitworth of LaGrange is GPhA’s 20152016 president.
Working for Members:
The Georgia Pharmacy Association’s Four Goals
1
2
3
Ensure that public policy
and legislation are
favorable to the interests
of pharmacists and the
pharmacy profession.
Provide GPhA members
with the knowledge and
resources necessary for
professional success.
Help pharmacists be
recognized and valued
for their role in improving
health outcomes.
Pharmacists should actively
engage in legislative and
regulatory advocacy, including
participating in (and funding)
PharmPAC, while legislators
and regulators should seek out
and value GPhA perspective
prior to enacting legislation or
public policy.
The association should
provide education, timely
information, networking and
mentoring opportunities,
and a chance for members
to develop leadership
skills benefiting the
pharmacy industry and their
communities.
The public, other healthcare
providers, policy makers,
and payors should all
understand and value the role
of pharmacists in healthcare
delivery.
32 Georgia Pharmacy
4
Give GPhA members
exclusive discounts and
benefits.
Members should receive
exclusive discounts on all
GPhA products, programs,
and services, as well as
benefitting from group
buying program discounts.
August/September 2015
Georgia Pharmacy
A S S O C I AT I O N
50 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta, GA 30324
BLACK & WHITE
OPEN
we won!
In 2015 GPhA scored two major victories:
expanded immunizations and MAC transparency.
Crucial to those wins:
FLAT COLOR friendly legislators, elected with the help of PharmPAC.
GLOSS/GRADIENT
PharmPAC is GPhA’s political action
committee. It works to elect candidates
who think like you do, and who understand
the challenges you face in serving your
patients and running a business.
1
PharmPAC helps make sure pharmacists
have a seat at the table. And it works.
50 Lenox Pointe, NE, Atlanta, GA 30324 | tf: 888.871.5590
ph: 404.231.5074 | f: 404.237.8435 | www.gpha.org
But it won’t keep working without you.
By investing in PharmPAC, you help protect
your practice, your patients and the pharmacy
profession from bad law and policy, and
you join with hundreds of other investors in
growing your profession’s political influence.
Invest today — in PharmPAC and in your
practice — at GPhA.org/pharmpac.