Primary care just got easier in Alberta. Residents can now head to their pharmacist for prescription renewals and six other publicly funded health services.
    As of July 1, Alberta compensated for the seven new services. The goal is to allow pharmacists to use more of their skill set and free up doctors to see more patients and handle more complex cases.
    “Some of these services are to allow the doctors who have their own practices to provide longer term care for their sicker patients. We can help by providing some services they used to. It will hopefully free up their time to do other things,” said Pat Doyle, pharmacist in the IGA.
    “We have a long ways to go, but a good starting point. It’s a great thing for pharmacists and excellent for patients to provide another access point for health care. It’s also nice for pharmacists to be recognized for some things we’ve been doing for years but not being compensated for,” said Ray Ainscough, pharmacist at Riverside Value Drug Mart.
    Pharmacists will now be compensated for seven services. In the comprehensive annual care plan, pharmacists can work with their patients to deal with complex health needs, understand their medication and how to use it, set medication therapy goals, and help pharmacists monitor the progress of their patients.

Pharmacists in Alberta, such as Mike McGillivray from Riverside Value Drug Mart, are now able to provide seven new services, including renewing prescriptions. The services will free up doctors to care for more patients and handle more complex cases, and will take advantage of a greater breadth of the pharmacists skill set.

    Standard medication management assessment will help patients who do not have complex needs. Pharmacists and their patients can set medication therapy goals, monitor and manage drug therapies, and help Albertans better manage their medical conditions.
    Pharmacists can now assess and adapt a prescription, based on their professional experience and needs of the patient. For example, changing the dosage of a medication or substitute another medication to meet the needs of the patient.
    Pharmacists can now renew a patient’s prescription without requiring the patient to visit their physician.
    Patients needing injections of medication can now visit their pharmacist. For example, pharmacists may inject flu vaccinations or any other drug listed on the Alberta Drug Benefit List.
    If a pharmacist has additional prescribing authority they can assess a patient and write them a prescription for medication, without the patient visiting their doctor.
    In the case of emergency, where a pharmacist believes medication is necessary and the patient does not have a prescription, the pharmacist can authorize the use of a drug.
    “Some of the services we had been providing for free, but now we can be reimbursed for those,” said Doyle.
    Even though pharmacists are being compensated for a greater range of services, they will still work closely with doctors to give the highest quality of health care possible.
    “We’re not taking the place of a doctor, we’re working as a team. Before, we would have to get the okay from a doctor first, now we do it, and let the doctors know what we did. We still have to document and be professionally responsible for what we do,” said Doyle.
    “The whole thing is a collaborative effort. For example, every time we do a repeat for a patient we have to let the doctor know we did that,” said Ainscough.
    The new services will help make up for the loss of revenue from the reduction of the price of generic drugs. Starting July 1, Alberta reduced what it pays for generic drugs from 45 percent of the cost of brand name drugs to 35 percent. However, Ainscough feels the new services don’t quite make up for the losses.
    “It’s a baby step in the right direction. If you look at the pluses and negatives, they don’t balance. There’s a lot more fees and services under discussion with the government right now. For example, refusal to refill a prescription, they pay for certain injections, but not all injections, or in some provinces pharmacists can diagnose and treat minor ailments,” said Ainscough.
    For now, pharmacists are excited to use more of their skill set.
    “Pharmacists should have been able to do all this stuff years ago, so it is a step in the right direction,” said Doyle.
    “There’s still more we can do,” said Ainscough. “As long as everybody works together, pharmacies can become a really good thing.”

    The Rockyford Rodeo has been going for more than half a century. The rodeo is keeping the spirit of the cowboy alive with action only a rodeo can deliver.
    The Rockyford Lions are once again hosting the rodeo, which is entering its 55th year of operations. The weekend long rodeo starts on July 27 and attracts some of the biggest names in rodeo. The weekend will sate the appetite for any rodeo lover and provide quite a bit for the whole family.
    “Nothing has changed this year as far as the rodeo goes. It’s still three days of rodeo and chuckwagons,” said Rockyford Lions president Kevin Elder.
     Outside of the rodeo, there will be quite a few events happening, including the miniature wild horse race, and the hilarious catch and keep. Missing this year will be the gunfight downtown, but organizers felt they needed to switch things up a bit.
    “It was very popular, but it’s nice to keep things new and not have it go stale. When people come out, they see something different every year,” said Warren Kalbhen, arena director for the rodeo.
    “We’re trying something different again to get the whole family involved,” said Elder.
    Returning this year will be the trick riders, who haven’t dazzled audiences with their daredevil antics for a few years, and professional wrestling.
    Things start on Friday afternoon with the rodeo, followed by chuckwagons and chariots in the evening, beer gardens, and a family dance. T.C. & Company will be once again providing the live entertainment.
    Things resume Saturday morning with a pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., parade at 10 a.m., and the rodeo kicks into high gear starting 12:30 a.m. The rodeo continues to Sunday evening.
    This year will also have several special guests. Calgary Stampede Princess and Rockyford native Danielle Gariepy will be coming out to enjoy the rodeo. Gariepy will be joined by the Stampede queen and other princesses.
    “We have the Stampede Queen and Princesses coming out. One of the princesses is from Rockyford, which is neat for the town. Normally we don’t have Stampede royalty come to the rodeo,” said Elder.
    The rodeo would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of so many Rockyford residents.
    “Half the community volunteers. Not just for 2 hour shifts, some are helping organize for most of the year and others volunteer the entire weekend,” said Elder.  “The people who chip in do a lot.”
    For more information and to book tickets, call 403-533-3771, or visit www.rockyford.ca/rodeo.