Letters: Aug. 11, 2008

About Jim Plagakis' June 16 article, "Pharmacy: Not a job for sissies," oh, Jim, I feel your pain! Literally.

I've been a community pharmacist for 30 years and carried two pregnancies to term while standing on that rubber mat. Did I use the ever-present stool? Never, unless I was working by myself some evening or weekend and the pharmacy was "dead." Did I have leg, back, and foot pain? Absolutely. Why didn't I use the stool more often? Simple. Because there is only one stool. No one else sits. When we are busy, it will get in everyone's way. And my biggest reason was the same as yours: Not wanting to be seen as lazy or as a whiner.

Now, at age 53, I have been stricken with multiple sclerosis. Now, all of a sudden, I CAN'T stand all day. Nerve pain, muscle spasticity, and poor balance would surely result in a fall if I tried.

Why couldn't pharmacies be designed more ergonomically, so ALL employees could sit most of the time, in comfortable chairs, with good back support?

If a single chain did that, wouldn't that be a HUGE recruiting feature? Even better than MONEY?

Drug Topics does an annual survey of pharmacists. Wouldn't it be interesting if you also surveyed the working conditions that pharmacists have to endure. It might give young people considering this career pathway something besides dollars to think about.

Laurie Liljegren
Woodinville, Wash.
garth122@comcast.net

P.S. The photograph of me shows my current set-up, with feet on a bottom drawer of Rx vials!

John McCain or Barack Obama?

Regarding your July Instant Poll that asks pharmacists who they would vote for in the presidential election, it's pretty pathetic that John McCain is ahead! As Senator Obama has said, "You want to do the same thing time and again and get a different result." The current Administration has just about destroyed this country as we knew it, and pharmacists want more of the same. It is no wonder that the retail industry has basically been destroyed.

L. Lazarus, R.Ph. ltlazarus@hotmail.com

The element I don't understand is how folks cannot see the socialist nature and the naivete of Sen. Obama. The mark of a successful leader is well-honed wisdom from experience. I do not agree with Sen. McCain 100%, but I see his wisdom, and honesty makes up for any of his flaws. Also, if we had used his strategy in Iraq three years ago, we would have been out of combat roles by now and George Bush would have been a hero. Be that as it may, we now are about to win there. We need not pull defeat from the jaws of victory by electing Obama.

James W. Haney, R.Ph. MBA
Greenville, N.C.
JWHaney@cvs.com

Printed and e-mailed letters should be brief and include the writer's name, address, daytime phone number, and date of the issue you are referencing: Editor, Drug Topics, 24950 Country Club Blvd., Suite 200, North Olmsted, OH 44070-5351. E-mail address: drugtopics@advanstar.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.