PHARMACIST STEVE

Dear Pharmacists, please help them help you :

I have been pretty about the need to fight intimidation and retaliation from employers or even the fear of pharmacy entities . There is a huge demand of such legislation to protect our voices. If anyone does not believe in retaliation from employers or even at times, the fear or the mistrust of BOPs, then they must think again.

However, there are instances when Pharmacists can’t hide especially when we are begging for our Boards of Pharmacy to investigate working conditions. There has been a massive amount of work that has been done by several associations and individuals to bring those issues to light… to allow those conversations to happen during BOP meetings. And when we are asking and begging for some type of rescue and they act within the limits of their laws ( because that’s also important to realize), we pharmacists must respond. We can’t stay afraid.

Many boards of pharmacy are putting out surveys, complaint forms and such in order to have the basis to investigate and yet, we pharmacists are refusing to fill those reports. We are afraid. Again, listen very carefully , I sympathize and understand. But your board of pharmacy can’t act without your participation. And there is no board that can retaliate against you for voluntarily filling a complaint form. It violates their laws. In addition, the board is NOT investigating you. It is investigating the environment that is created by your company. Read that again. You are not the object of the investigation. Your pharmacy is not. Your company is!!

We can’t ask for help and when help is given to us in a process that makes sense according to the bylaws of our board of pharmacy, we refuse to receive it.

Yesterday, NC BOP put a form out and while I was waiting for the excitement, I was met with disappointment.

Please please, this fight we are asked to do is hard and long and tiresome. It is full with thorns from the corporations and such. It is hard to navigate. The obstacles are harder than I would have imagined.

Please help those who are fighting for you. Those surveys and forms are the fruits of a lot of labor from your associations and others such as the world of social media advocates like , the Accidental Pharmacist, Dr. Maurice Shaw, Eric Geyer The Cynical Pharmacist and so many others .

If we pharmacists keep on refusing to help the hand that is trying to help us, we can no longer accuse our entities for not addressing our needs.

The train is getting ready to head out. But it still needs all its crew members. And you are part of the crew. Until you take your position, it is not going to anywhere.

So take your position.