About Us
Put Pharmacy First is a campaign by retail pharmacists to reform our industry. We are concerned pharmacists from across the nation, including some who are members of the Change to Win coalition of unions, who want to work together to promote the highest professional standards and put patients ahead of profits.
We believe in the following Principles for Reforming Retail Pharmacy:
- Quality of care comes first.
- Front-line pharmacists are the most qualified to determine the direction of the pharmacy industry.
- Professional standards must be defended against the influence of "fast food pharmacy" practices that put profits ahead of patients.
- Pharmacy technicians play a crucial role in providing quality care and should be treated with dignity and respect.
We believe that we can defend those principles by helping to connect retail pharmacists with one another to discuss the problems we face, and to take the following actions together:
- Strengthen and enforce laws and regulations that protect patients and pharmacy standards. We will take concrete actions to make sure that pharmacy companies are playing by the rules.
- Influence public policy so that the industry evolves in a responsible way. We will pass new laws and regulations that keep up with and adjust to changes in the industry to make sure pharmacy comes first.
- Raise consumer awareness. We will take our message to the public and seek their support as we work to address the problems posed by "fast food pharmacy."
- Change corporate policy to create a more responsible and responsive healthcare service. We will work together in each company directly with management and corporate leadership to make the changes in company policy that we need.
My name is Ray Funatsu and I've been a pharmacist since 1963. In '74 I started working as a manager with Sav-on until '94; that's when I stepped down because it got to be a little too much. I worked until 2000 and retired and now I'm on-call.
