KTA Puainako Pharmacy Honored as Recipient of Caring for the Community Award

Aug. 1, 2011 - PRLog -- What started as a 500 square-foot grocery and dry goods store has become a valuable health care destination and vital community hub for residents of Hawaii island. It is for this reason, among others, that KTA Puainako Pharmacy has been named winner of this year’s “Caring for the Community” award from Good Neighbor Pharmacy.    

Hawaii, known for its beautiful beaches, tremendous volcanoes and rich culture, is popularly known as a tropical paradise and the ultimate vacation destination. However, it’s a little-known fact that the health of its residents is threatened by serious medical conditions like heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes.

Born and raised in Hilo, Kerri Okamura, Director of Pharmacy for KTA Super Stores, has made it her goal to make a big difference on Hawaii island by reducing the number of residents who are affected by these diseases. She has been instrumental in creating educational and community outreach programs within the local neighborhoods, including mentoring more than 200 medication therapy cases. Ms. Okamura has improved patient care by offering diabetes education, smoking cessation and nutrition classes, vaccinations, immunizations, bone density scans,and A1C screenings, all while involving organizations like the University of Hawaii at Manoa Diabetes Detection and Prevention program, American Heart and American  Lung Associations and the American Cancer Society.

“This award honors pharmacies and pharmacists that have devoted their time, talent and resources to a wide variety of causes and community service to foster a strong, healthy community. Not only has Ms. Okamura been instrumental in creating community wellness programs to promote her patients’ well being, but she has played a crucial role in developing pharmacy students in Hawaii who will continue her mission. By educating students and patients alike, she is providing the knowledge necessary to keep the community of Hilo strong,” said Mike Cantrell, president of Good Neighbor Pharmacy.

Kerri has become the first preceptor of the year at the College of Pharmacy at the University Of Hawaii by training pharmacy interns, conducting immunization classes and acting as a mentor.  She has also partnered with Hawaii Health and Business Council, working with large employer groups ensuring that such illnesses and viruses do not spread within the workplace. KTA’s current focus is educating their community about the diabetes disease state. Hawaii has the highest diabetes prevalence and KTA is working with their patients to have more personalized, individual diabetes education.
 
“The most important step we can take to keep our families healthy and safe is to educate ourselves. My goal is to make my community aware of the programs available to help them prevent diabetes and heart disease. By getting these services and this information into the community, I hope to inspire my patients so they can avoid these deadly diseases before it’s too late,” Okamura said.

Visit here to view a video of Kerri Okamura: https://www.youtube.com/user/goodneighborpharmacy#p/u/16/...

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Good Neighbor Pharmacy is a network of more than 3,700 independent pharmacies across the United States. Our mission is to offer competitive pricing on a wide range of over-the-counter and prescription medications, while providing the personalized service you’ve come to expect from a neighborhood pharmacy.

Good Neighbor Pharmacy is part of a program offered by AmerisourceBergen, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical services companies serving the United States, Canada and selected global markets. For more information about Good Neighbor Pharmacy, visit:
www.goodneighborpharmacy.com or www.facebook.com/goodneighborpharmacy