WEBVTT

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(light music)

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Welcome to "Hadley Presents."

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I'm your host, Ricky Enger, inviting you to sit back, relax,

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and enjoy a conversation with the experts.

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In this episode, we discuss free services

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for managing your medication accessibly and independently.

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And our guest is CEO of Accessible Pharmacy, Andy Burnstein.

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Welcome to the show, Andy.

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Hey, Ricky, thank you so much.

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I really appreciate it, I'm glad to be here.

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Yeah, so glad to have you.

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If we had a Hadley frequently asked questions,

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the question of, how do I manage my medication,

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how do I figure out what's what as I'm losing my vision

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or if I'm totally blind,

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how do I do this in a way that works for me,

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that question would be definitely in the top five.

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So I know this is gonna be a really popular topic,

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so so happy to have you here.

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Before we talk about what accessible pharmacy is,

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and all of the cool things that it can do,

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why don't you just take a minute to introduce yourself

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and maybe talk a little bit

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about how Accessible Pharmacy started.

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So, I'm in Philadelphia.

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I actually live in the University City,

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right on University of Pennsylvania's campus.

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And our main distribution center

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is in suburban Philadelphia.

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I'll take a big step back,

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I'll tell you about Accessible Pharmacy

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and how we came into being.

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The punchline is, Accessible Pharmacy Services for the Blind

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is a home delivery pharmacy service specializing

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in the blind and low vision community.

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That's what we do.

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We're the only provider of its kind,

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and we're the largest blind owned healthcare company

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in the country.

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So our background is, this goes back a few years ago,

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I was running a healthcare marketing firm

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and we were developing some solutions

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and some strategies to help our clients deal

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with just the general issues of accessibility.

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I had reached out to a friend of mine

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who I met through Little League,

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our kids play ball together.

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I knew Alex because our kids play ball together.

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He was a nice guy and he was blind, he still is blind.

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So I was like, "Oh, I'll reach out to Alex,

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maybe I can pick his brain a little bit.

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We're gonna develop an advisory committee,

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and maybe Alex can gimme some insight

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into the consumer experience of a blind person."

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I didn't know too much about him other than he was

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a nice guy and his kids were good ball players.

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We met up for a cup coffee,

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and I found out that he's actually Dr. Alex Cohen.

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And his story is he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa

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in his late teens.

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And by the time he graduated college,

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he had lost most of his eyesight.

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And he ultimately went back, he reinvented himself,

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he went back to school and ultimately earned a PhD

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in marketing with a specific focus on retail accessibility

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for the blind community.

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And he wrote his doctoral dissertation

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on the accessibility of the top hundred retailers in America

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for the blind community.

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How accessible they were on the telephone, on their website,

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and at their physical locations.

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So here I am thinking like,

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oh, I'll hang out with Alex, we'll have a cup of coffee.

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Little did I know, he's arguably one of the foremost experts

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in retail accessibility in the country.

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That first meeting, that's when I was like,

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"Ha, We need to figure out,

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we should be doing some more things around this."

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And initially we started doing some consulting.

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We weren't having too much success with consulting.

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And at a certain point we were like,

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"Huh, I have some ideas, you have some ideas.

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I wonder if we could build

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our own business from the ground up.

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A pharmacy service that does nothing but specialize

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in the blind and low vision community.

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And really take steps to help people who are blind

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or have low vision manage their medication,

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manage their diabetes.

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But more importantly, or equally as importantly,

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do it in a way that's welcoming,

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that reduces stress and anxiety,

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and really starts to show people living more independently

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and living with healthier outcomes."

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So that was the origin of our business.

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And then obviously from that idea,

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we had to walk down the path of qualifying the idea,

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building a business plan,

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pulling in healthcare professionals

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because we're just business people.

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We don't know too much about medication.

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Pulled our whole business together

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and we launched just at the beginning of the pandemic,

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in April, 2020.

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We've been very fortunate.

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We're growing nicely, we're now licensed in 31 states.

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About 20% of our employees

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are blind or low vision themselves.

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We're bringing on patients every day

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and we're learning every day, and it's been incredible.

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That is awesome.

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And starting a business during a pandemic

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is not for the faint of heart, certainly.

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And so it's great to hear that things have gone so well

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and that you're continuing to grow.

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So you have this business that is Accessible Pharmacy,

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and the name really does say what it does,

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except I'm curious about one thing.

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So when we say accessibility,

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that can mean different things to each of us.

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So for one person,

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accessibility of their medication may mean having

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a braille label on a bottle,

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and for somebody else that braille label

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is equally as inaccessible as this tiny print.

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So what do you do to kind of encompass all of those things

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and make sure that each individual has their medication

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in an accessible way?

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You hit the nail on the head, that's exactly

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what it is.

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Everyone has an individual unique experience.

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People come to blindness differently.

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People have different degrees of vision.

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There's also the types of insurance they have,

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their support network,

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how comfortable they are or not with technology.

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All of these things play a factor in assembling a collection

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of solutions for an individual that empowers them.

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To oversimplify it, we essentially have three spheres.

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We have accessible support, accessible packaging,

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and accessible labeling.

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And when we have a conversation with a new patient,

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and we identify what's the best way to support this patient,

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and it happens through a conversation with the patient.

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What's the best way to package this medication

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so they can be managed properly?

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And what's the best way to label this medication

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so that it can be understood in the best way?

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And what's interesting is that everything we do

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in those spaces, it's all free.

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We make our money by charging insurance companies

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and getting reimbursed by insurance companies

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for medication.

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All these other things, it's all about figuring out

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what combination of these accessible solutions

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are the best fit for the individual patient.

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[Ricky[ - That's excellent.

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So let's get some examples

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then of what a conversation might look like

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and what's available for support for packaging

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and for labeling.

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The easiest way for a patient to interact with us,

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and we encourage this, is to pick up the phone and call.

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We wanna have a face-to-face.

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Not a face, a phone-to-phone conversation with someone.

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And really understand what kind of medicine are you taking,

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what are your challenges, how are you currently managing it?

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Who else is in the home with you

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that can maybe help you or support you?

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What's your level of understanding of technology?

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So we understand that,

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what's the best way to support that patient?

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When it comes to packaging,

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we have a collection of different solutions.

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We have presorted disposable pill organizers,

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different sizes and shapes depending

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on the person's medication.

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And within it we can sort prescription medication,

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vitamins, supplements, over the counter medication,

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to really remove the burden

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from the individual having to sort their meds.

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That's just one example.

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We also have presorted disposable pill packets.

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We have different size and shape bottles

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for people with mobility and dexterity issues.

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So we explain to them the different options there,

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and they can pick one.

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And then we go into labeling.

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And with labeling we have a grade one braille printer,

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we also have a contracted braille printer.

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We have the ability to print medication labels

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with large fonts.

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We can do it in both Spanish and in English.

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We also work very closely with a company called ScriptTalk,

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which is an incredible company.

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They've been around for a while.

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They actually make a sticker, it has a microchip in it,

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it's called an RFID sticker.

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And we can adhere that sticker to any of our packaging,

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and it essentially reads all the prescription information

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out loud to the individual.

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By the way, we can do a combination of all these things.

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We can put braille and the ScriptTalk and a QR code

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and large font all in one package.

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And on top of that,

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the ways that we can communicate with people are,

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depending on the person's need,

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obviously as I mentioned the telephone,

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but people can also interact with us online.

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They can email us, they can text us.

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We support a lot of our deaf-blind patients with texting.

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And we're also the pharmacy partner of Be My Eyes.

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So Be My Eyes is a great solution for blind users

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to connect with sighted volunteers.

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But there's also a section on there for,

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it's called Specialized Help.

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And anyone, whether you're a patient of ours or not,

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if anyone has a question about identifying a pill,

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or understanding a label,

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or understanding a drug interaction,

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you can engage with us through Be My Eyes

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and we can support the patient.

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We also use Be My Eyes to help people

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for small medical devices.

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So if someone buys a a talking thermometer from us,

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for example, we can send them the thermometer,

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and then using Be My Eyes, we can train them how to use it.

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That's excellent.

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Or like a blood pressure cuff, or anything like that,

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"How do these things work?"

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Exactly.

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Yeah, Be My Eyes is amazing.

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And having that specialized help,

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we're, Hadley is a partner as well.

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And so we love those guys,

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and it's good to hear that you all are partnered

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with them too.

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What really strikes me as you're talking

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about this is that it's been so well thought through,

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in that everybody has different needs

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and you've done what you can to meet those needs.

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And it really is a very customer-centric kind of thing,

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where you're sitting down and talking with people

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instead of saying, "Here's your options, you figure it out,

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just tell us what you want."

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There is actually that conversation,

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and I think that's so important.

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So for the people that are listening and saying,

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"This is what I've needed in my life for a while,

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what do I do, how do I get started?"

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Basically where can you operate?

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And kind of what's going on there?

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Are there concerns that patients need to have

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about the type of insurance they have, that sort of thing.

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What can you tell us about getting involved

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and getting started?

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Well first of all,

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you touched on something that's really important,

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which is we're still learning.

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We learn every day from our patients,

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from groups that we partner with,

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from our employees about ways to be more accessible,

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and about how to accommodate people's needs and challenges.

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And our hope is, in 2022,

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we're even gonna have more options and more solutions.

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I'll give you an example.

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We just started a first college internship program

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on Monday.

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We have a student who we met through

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Vision Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired

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out of New York City.

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And what's interesting is that his experience,

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he has a condition called North Carolina Macular Dystrophy.

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As a 20-year-old who embraces technology,

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the way that he identifies and interacts with technology

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or interacts with packaging and stuff

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is completely different

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than anything that I had never experienced before.

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It's awesome, we're learning every day.

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So that's one thing.

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The second thing is, we do accept all insurance.

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There's some situations that it's not perfect,

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but what we do is part of our conversation

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when we start to speak with a patient for the first time,

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we have a 10 minute conversation.

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And the conversation is, we ask about their medication,

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we ask about their challenges,

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how they're currently managing it.

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We get an idea about, as I mentioned,

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their level of technology comfort.

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We get the contact information

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for their entire medical staff.

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So for example, we'll reach out to their endocrinologist,

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we'll reach out to their cardiologist,

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their general practitioner.

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We'll introduce ourselves,

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we'll try to get some in-depth understanding

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about that patient's experience

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from the doctor's perspective.

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And then we have,

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one of the pharmacists from our team reviews everything.

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We contact the insurance company.

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And then assuming everything is good to go,

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we then call the patient back.

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And this usually takes a day or two.

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And then we say, "Alright, this is what we've learned."

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And we can make some recommendations.

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Quite often we're able to say,

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"You know what, I don't know if you realize this or not,

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but those two meds that you're taking,

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the one that your cardiologist is prescribing

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and the one that your general practitioner is prescribing,

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they're both safe to take together,

314
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but there's a good likelihood you're gonna feel

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really nauseous when you take them."

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And the person's like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize.

317
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I've been so nauseous for the last six months.

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I didn't even think about that."

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And we can make some recommendations about switching things,

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and pull the doctors in to make sure

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that they're comfortable with it as well.

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And then assuming that the patient's like,

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"All right, I think I wanna try this out

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for a few months to see if it's a good fit."

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We reach out to their existing pharmacy,

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we transfer the medical files over, and we start.

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Just to clarify, this is home delivery

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rather than.

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And that actually takes a big burden

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sometimes off the patient,

331
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because sometimes you have to go pick up the prescription

332
00:13:12.180 --> 00:13:14.160
and transportation is an issue.

333
00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:16.740
So this is by mail, is that right?

334
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Correct, and there's no charge for the

335
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delivery as well.

336
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That's so good.

337
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We all take various medications or vitamin supplements,

338
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and it can be such a hassle to figure out,

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"How am I gonna get there to get this?

340
00:13:30.630 --> 00:13:35.630
And oh no, I am running out and what do I do?"

341
00:13:36.180 --> 00:13:40.470
So having a lot of this just managed in such a way

342
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that the discussion is happening between the doctor,

343
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the patient, and the pharmacist, really very, very cool.

344
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I know that you are licensed in some states

345
00:13:50.730 --> 00:13:54.840
and not licensed in others, and that's on your website.

346
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What can you say about if somebody is in a state

347
00:13:58.950 --> 00:14:03.510
where you're not, and perhaps I shouldn't say licensed,

348
00:14:03.510 --> 00:14:05.820
I suppose it's more of a partnership kind of thing.

349
00:14:05.820 --> 00:14:10.110
But if you're not available in their state yet,

350
00:14:10.110 --> 00:14:14.040
is there anything that a patient can do

351
00:14:14.040 --> 00:14:16.680
to be a part of that process or to speed things up?

352
00:14:16.680 --> 00:14:18.390
Or what would you recommend?

353
00:14:18.390 --> 00:14:21.810
We're currently licensed in 31 states,

354
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including Puerto Rico and Washington DC.

355
00:14:25.380 --> 00:14:26.310
And it's a process,

356
00:14:26.310 --> 00:14:28.560
there's an application that we have to submit,

357
00:14:28.560 --> 00:14:30.600
an application fee that we have to submit.

358
00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:33.480
We've applied for licenses in every state.

359
00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:36.720
We're very fortunate we haven't been rejected by any states.

360
00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:39.090
Unfortunately because of the pandemic,

361
00:14:39.090 --> 00:14:42.030
some of the states that are create the approval process

362
00:14:42.030 --> 00:14:44.580
for us to deliver controlled substances into the state,

363
00:14:44.580 --> 00:14:46.740
they haven't opened yet some of the offices.

364
00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:50.160
In other states, they're remotely working.

365
00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:52.710
We're pretty confident that by the end of the year

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00:14:52.710 --> 00:14:56.070
we will have, we'll be able to deliver products nationally.

367
00:14:56.070 --> 00:14:58.380
We can ship right now vitamins, and supplements,

368
00:14:58.380 --> 00:15:00.990
and over the counter meds, and small medical devices.

369
00:15:00.990 --> 00:15:03.690
But when it comes to things like insulin

370
00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:05.340
or prescription medication,

371
00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:06.810
until we have the approval from the state,

372
00:15:06.810 --> 00:15:08.760
we're just unfortunately not able to.

373
00:15:08.760 --> 00:15:10.650
As things start opening up again,

374
00:15:10.650 --> 00:15:14.070
we should see things speed up a bit.

375
00:15:14.070 --> 00:15:19.070
I know that we've had people who have really struggled

376
00:15:19.380 --> 00:15:23.910
with their pharmacies getting accessible labeling.

377
00:15:23.910 --> 00:15:25.020
And it's just not happening

378
00:15:25.020 --> 00:15:27.967
because sometimes their pharmacy doesn't know,

379
00:15:27.967 --> 00:15:30.630
"What is this ScriptTalk thing even,

380
00:15:30.630 --> 00:15:34.830
or what do you mean you want me to mark this syringe

381
00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:35.663
in such a way?

382
00:15:35.663 --> 00:15:37.260
We don't understand how to do that."

383
00:15:37.260 --> 00:15:42.260
So sometimes just talking to someone who already gets it,

384
00:15:43.260 --> 00:15:46.500
who gets that there are accessibility challenges

385
00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:49.980
to work through and who may already know the answers

386
00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:53.160
to some of the questions, that can be so helpful.

387
00:15:53.160 --> 00:15:57.330
One last thing I wanted to ask about was,

388
00:15:57.330 --> 00:16:01.620
we've talked a couple of times about small medical devices.

389
00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:04.380
What kinds of things do you offer?

390
00:16:04.380 --> 00:16:08.910
Would these be thermometers, or things in addition to that,

391
00:16:08.910 --> 00:16:11.970
like pulse oximeters, anything like that?

392
00:16:11.970 --> 00:16:13.050
Exactly.

393
00:16:13.050 --> 00:16:16.650
Things like talking thermometers, talking glucose meters.

394
00:16:16.650 --> 00:16:17.483
We support

395
00:16:17.483 --> 00:16:20.610
some of the continuous glucose monitoring systems.

396
00:16:20.610 --> 00:16:22.650
We have talking scales.

397
00:16:22.650 --> 00:16:23.970
Everything in that space.

398
00:16:23.970 --> 00:16:24.870
And what we're able to do is,

399
00:16:24.870 --> 00:16:27.480
in some cases if they require programming,

400
00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:30.240
we can pre-program it before we ship it to the patient.

401
00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:31.530
And then we also, once they get it,

402
00:16:31.530 --> 00:16:32.880
they can contact us through Be My Eyes

403
00:16:32.880 --> 00:16:34.530
and we train 'em on how to use it.

404
00:16:34.530 --> 00:16:35.363
So I know that people are kind of chomping

405
00:16:35.363 --> 00:16:36.196
at the bit,

406
00:16:37.410 --> 00:16:39.030
going, "All right, contact info.

407
00:16:39.030 --> 00:16:40.590
Come on, where do I find it?"

408
00:16:40.590 --> 00:16:43.290
So where can people go to find out

409
00:16:43.290 --> 00:16:46.140
a bit more about what you all do,

410
00:16:46.140 --> 00:16:49.140
whether it's online or just picking up the phone?

411
00:16:49.140 --> 00:16:51.450
The easiest way...

412
00:16:51.450 --> 00:16:52.380
I'll start from the top.

413
00:16:52.380 --> 00:16:53.213
We have a website

414
00:16:53.213 --> 00:16:55.080
that's a very screen reader friendly website called

415
00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:56.733
accessiblepharmacy.com,

416
00:16:57.720 --> 00:16:59.460
and our contact information is on there.

417
00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:02.209
So if anyone has a problem remembering us,

418
00:17:02.209 --> 00:17:05.100
accessiblepharmacy.com is the easiest.

419
00:17:05.100 --> 00:17:05.933
On top of that,

420
00:17:05.933 --> 00:17:09.330
there's three other ways that someone can reach out to us.

421
00:17:09.330 --> 00:17:11.700
We encourage the best way is through the telephone,

422
00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:13.560
old school communication.

423
00:17:13.560 --> 00:17:16.710
We need to have a conversation to understand the patient

424
00:17:16.710 --> 00:17:18.420
before we work with the patient.

425
00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:22.473
So our phone number is (215)-799-9900.

426
00:17:24.510 --> 00:17:28.620
The next way is for those of you that have an iPhone.

427
00:17:28.620 --> 00:17:30.817
If you ask Siri, if you say,

428
00:17:30.817 --> 00:17:33.330
"Siri call Accessible Pharmacy."

429
00:17:33.330 --> 00:17:36.210
Siri will say, "Do you mean accessible pharmacy

430
00:17:36.210 --> 00:17:38.370
in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania?"

431
00:17:38.370 --> 00:17:40.770
That's us, and it'll just patch you right through.

432
00:17:40.770 --> 00:17:44.700
And finally, for those of you who are Be My Eyes users,

433
00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:47.670
in a specialized help section, you can find us there.

434
00:17:47.670 --> 00:17:52.670
And we have someone on our end overseeing the Be My Eyes app

435
00:17:53.040 --> 00:17:56.010
to support patients between the hours of 10 and four

436
00:17:56.010 --> 00:17:57.330
Monday through Friday.

437
00:17:57.330 --> 00:17:59.970
But if someone needs help outside of those hours,

438
00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:01.080
you can just schedule an appointment

439
00:18:01.080 --> 00:18:02.310
and someone will jump on.

440
00:18:02.310 --> 00:18:04.590
Great, that's fantastic.

441
00:18:04.590 --> 00:18:08.520
This has been so informative and so helpful.

442
00:18:08.520 --> 00:18:12.720
Any last comments you wanna make before we wrap things up,

443
00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:16.140
so people can rush over to their phones and call you?

444
00:18:16.140 --> 00:18:17.400
We're part of this community.

445
00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:18.233
As I mentioned,

446
00:18:18.233 --> 00:18:19.680
we're the largest blind owned healthcare company

447
00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:20.730
in the country.

448
00:18:20.730 --> 00:18:23.010
We wanna continue to grow and support people,

449
00:18:23.010 --> 00:18:24.090
we need patients to do that.

450
00:18:24.090 --> 00:18:26.460
So if someone wants to try us out,

451
00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:27.540
there's no long-term commitment.

452
00:18:27.540 --> 00:18:28.800
You can try us for a few months.

453
00:18:28.800 --> 00:18:30.367
If at a certain point in the future you're like,

454
00:18:30.367 --> 00:18:33.570
"Eh, you know what, I prefer my pharmacy."

455
00:18:33.570 --> 00:18:35.760
We'll call your doctors, we'll call the insurance company,

456
00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:37.440
we'll transfer everything back.

457
00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:40.680
But we invite people to be part of our community.

458
00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:44.340
Email us, call us, give us suggestions, give us feedback,

459
00:18:44.340 --> 00:18:45.420
and join us.

460
00:18:45.420 --> 00:18:48.420
And we are gonna be hiring again in the fall.

461
00:18:48.420 --> 00:18:51.000
So as we expand into different markets,

462
00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:52.980
we'd love to connect with people

463
00:18:52.980 --> 00:18:55.230
to speak about employment opportunities as well.

464
00:18:55.230 --> 00:18:56.063
Awesome.

465
00:18:56.063 --> 00:18:57.270
Thank you so much, Andy,

466
00:18:57.270 --> 00:19:01.530
for joining us and for sharing all of this information.

467
00:19:01.530 --> 00:19:04.020
And you're doing wonderful things,

468
00:19:04.020 --> 00:19:06.300
I wish you all and your team the best of luck

469
00:19:06.300 --> 00:19:07.800
as you continue to grow.

470
00:19:07.800 --> 00:19:10.380
Hey, Ricky, thank you so much, this is great.

471
00:19:10.380 --> 00:19:12.030
Got something to say?

472
00:19:12.030 --> 00:19:15.810
Share your thoughts about this episode of "Hadley Presents,"

473
00:19:15.810 --> 00:19:18.630
or make suggestions for future episodes.

474
00:19:18.630 --> 00:19:20.400
We'd love to hear from you.

475
00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.810
Send us an email at podcast@hadley.edu.

476
00:19:24.810 --> 00:19:29.810
That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T@hadley.edu.

477
00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:32.887
Or leave us a message at 847-784-2870.

478
00:19:36.690 --> 00:19:38.204
Thanks for listening.

479
00:19:38.204 --> 00:19:40.954
(cheerful music)

