Health Department to hire full-time pharmacist
By Sam Atkins
Published in News on September 16, 2004 1:58 PM
The Wayne County Health Depart-ment has been without a full-time pharmacist for over a month, and it may ask the county commissioners to increase the position's salary to be more competitive.
The county Board of Health members expressed their concerns Wednesday about the need for a full-time pharmacist. Health Director James Roosen said they have looked at several options.
The first would be to hire a full-time pharmacist. The board has budgeted $56,000 for the position, but the going rate is $70,000, he said.
Leila Jahad left her position as the pharmacist for a higher-paying one. There is a statewide shortage of pharmacists, and Roosen.
He said the second option would be to contract with a pharmacist. The pharmacist they are contracting with now will be gone for most of October and all of November and December. The department is working to contract with someone to fill in for those months, but has had no luck.
The third option would be to contract with a pharmacy to package and label each prescription provided by the department. It would still need a pharmacist to oversee the process, said Roosen. Department officials have visited several local pharmacies, but have had no success contracting with them. Board member Donna Edmundson suggested contracting with Cherry Hospital or the O'Berry Center, and members agreed that it was a good idea and will look into it. Roosen said he hoped to get a pharmacist on board as soon as possible.