Express Scripts Canada Pharmacy Managers Put Patients First

Putting patients first is at the heart of all care through Express Scripts Canada Pharmacy. No one demonstrates this better than our pharmacy managers.

Meet Todd Derendorf, Pharmacy Manager of ESC Pharmacy, Central

A pharmacist for the past 30 years, Todd’s experiences in both hospital and community pharmacies left him wishing he could spend more time with his patients. Now, at ESC Pharmacy, “I have resources available so that I can focus on patients,” he says. “I can take the time to develop relationships and follow up with patients about their conditions and symptoms because we put patients first across the board.”

As many patients have chronic conditions—such as heart and vascular disease, respiratory diseases, diabetes, arthritis or mood disorders, it’s important that “we can spend time answering their questions and speaking with their physicians to help them manage their conditions.”

In one notable example, Todd had a patient who needed to start self-administering subcutaneous injections (into the tissue layer between the skin and the muscle) for a medical condition. Neither she nor her husband had any experience doing such injections, and they were unable to access injection training through their physician’s clinic and, frankly, weren’t feeling confident about it. Todd went over the medication with the patient beforehand, then shipped it so she received it right to her door the next day. “I followed up and went through the entire package in detail with her. I asked her husband to practice his injecting technique by injecting water into a hot dog.” The next morning, Todd called the patient and to walk them through administering her first dose. “I would not be able to do that in a different pharmacy environment. But through ESC Pharmacy, I may have performed the first remote subcutaneous injection administration ever,” he says with a laugh.

Meet Cynthia Widder, Pharmacy Manager for ESC Pharmacy, West

Cynthia chose pharmacy as her career so she could help bridge gaps in patient care and make a difference in the lives of patients. “The ESC Pharmacy experience helps us provide the best patient care,” Cynthia affirms. “The way we are organized as a pharmacy enables us to do a lot of counseling and follow up. We’re also well versed in connecting with different health care providers on our patients’ behalf.”

That means the ESC Pharmacy can help patients navigate the health care system. For instance, patients may need medication not covered by their benefits plan. “Usually, what happens in a different pharmacy environment is that the patient is told a medication is not covered,” she explains. “The patient is left to scramble and oftentimes, they will just not start the medication when they should. With us, we do a great job of connecting with patients, practitioners and all other potential sources of reimbursement. We do a lot of the legwork to try to get them started on their therapies as soon as possible. Patients know that we will do our best for them.”

Without question, the ESC Pharmacy and its pharmacist managers provide a concierge level of service with a patient-first approach.