ANOTHER BUSY DAY AT THE PHARMACY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 10, 1992                   TAG: 9202100179
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
ANOTHER BUSY DAY AT THE PHARMACY
SORRY IT TOOK so long to write in response to Ben Beagle's Jan. 23 column, but it took a while to remove the man with the envelope taped to his back from the hood of my car.
It was another busy day at Phar-Mor Pharmacy. In addition to filling some 400 to 600 prescriptions, we had to look up some new third-party insurance cards, answer a slew of questions from patients about their medicines, check in yesterday's order and write a new order for tomorrow, verify some dosages/directions written by doctors, obtain refill OK's from doctors' offices, file prescriptions, give price quotes, do paperwork, and work on patients' insurance profiles.
It is obvious, after reading his last paragraph, why it takes so long to fill a prescription: The pharmacist and his co-workers are busy with other work and other prescriptions.
I do not, however, expect him to take my word for it. I want him to come to Phar-Mor as my guest, observe, and draw his own conclusions as to why it takes so long to fill a prescription. JOSEPH CODISPOTI ROANOKE

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB