A table surrounded by native elders, health workers, and others asked questions and listened intently as local pharmacist Kim Metke and registered nurse Jane Elliot explained why they were sitting in the old age home at Couchiching last Friday morning.
Metke, owner of Pharmasave and the Fort Frances Clinic Dispensary, and Elliot, from the Gizhewaadiziwin Access Centre, have joined forces to visit communities where some residents are unaware of what drugs they’re taking or what they’re for.
“The whole goal is just to help people with compliance,” noted Elliot, who helped initiate the program along with nurse practitioner Todd Young.
“I think, traditionally, people get their prescription from their doctor, they go to the pharmacy, and they get a bag of pills,” she added. “This was really an opportunity for clients to spend a half-hour with their pharmacist.”
“It’s offering education at a time and a place that’s more appropriate for them,” added Young.
Elliot and Metke have been visiting First Nation communities throughout the district for one-on-one sessions with patients as well as group discussions with patients and health care workers.
“The initiative is to try and reach the First Nation people in as direct a manner possible,” said Metke. “What I’ve found is, culturally, they’re taught not to waste people’s time and ask questions.”
“The number of questions I’ve got in 10 years you could probably count on the fingers of one hand,” he added. “Even in a group, they’re reluctant to talk but if you get them alone in one room, they’ll talk your ear off.
“I was shocked, I was blown away.”
Metke was approached by the access centre to make the visits, which residents in the communities appear to appreciate as some have no idea what drugs they’re taking or why.
“In a lot of cases, that is what is going on. They have no idea of their disease and they have no idea what the medication is for,” he noted. “People are a lot more motivated to take their medication if they know what it’s supposed to do.”
Metke calls current information programs hit-and-miss as he runs into a mixture of educated and uneducated patients from one extreme to another.
“I was amazed. You can go into a home and they know more about the medication than I do. Others don’t know anything,” he remarked.
Metke has run into a wide range of situations. One woman had been suffering diarrhea for more than a year because of a reaction to her prescribed medication.
When another man complained of a dry throat after using a puffer, Metke simply suggested he take a drink afterwards.
“Is that worth going out there, I think so. I made him a little more comfortable and made his life a bit more comfortable, I hope,” Metke said.
So far, Metke and Elliot have visited five First Nation communities and plan on going to two more. And both hope to be back in those communities–and those homes–again.
“I thought it was personally very rewarding. You get a lot of information, a feel for what’s needed,” said Metke. “I feel I’m in a lot better shape to meet the needs of the people with regards to their medication.
“I definitely think it was a good program and it was worth while enough that I would hope to continue it,” he added. “Basically, I feel like I communicated with some of these people for the first time.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
