Creating a new pathway for COPD within pharmacy.
I remember watching an advert on COPD and stop smoking a few years ago. The adverts starts with a voice over of a child reciting every breath you take … the image leads from a mother pushing her son in a pram, and ending with the son having to push his mum in a wheel chair. At the time I didn’t know who I felt sorry for; the son?, who watched his mum gradually deteriorating with COPD,or the mum?, whose life was shortened due to her smoking!
Either way the message hit me hard as a health professional. I am a never smoker … so why did the message hit me hard. It must be the years of trying to help individuals kick the habit. Or maybe it was because I had lost my mum soon before I saw this advert. Whatever the reason, I decided to make a change and use my profession to its fullest degree to help.
It has taken years to build collaborative work amongst proactive pharmacists in the area to see this vision. These pharmacists have now become close friends, and together we have launched a pilot pathway called S-COPD. This ‘S’ stands for Salveo (latin translation is good health) a group of five pharmacists with the same vision … Health and Well-being of the community through pharmacy.
