The Vaccine Campaign of Our Lifetime
Oregon’s Governor And The Oregon Health Care Association Partner With Consonus Pharmacy To Bring The First COVID-19 Vaccines To Seniors And Staff In Senior Care Facilities
Oregon’s Consonus Pharmacy is One of Only Seven Independent Pharmacies—Apart From Retail Giants Walgreens and CVC—to Make the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention List of “Approved and Trusted” Providers of the Vaccine; Governor Brown is One of the First Governors to Adopt CDC Recommendations to Include Seniors in Phase 1
PORTLAND, Ore. (December 15, 2020) — In what Oregon Governor Kate Brown calls “the vaccine campaign of our lifetime,” seniors and their frontline care givers in long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the life-saving COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon, beginning the week of December 21.
Oregon’s Consonus Pharmacy, A CDC “Trusted and Approved Provider” of COVID-19 Vaccine
The CDC added Consonus Pharmacy to its short list of “trusted and approved providers” after learning about the Oregon Company’s expertise in geriatric pharmacy, record of flawlessly delivering high-touch pharmaceutical services, and its ability to operate with the logistical precision that’s critical for safe, effective distribution. Consonus Pharmacy will first launch the FDA emergency approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to seniors and staff at Consonus Pharmacy customers, including Marquis facilities in Oregon. Marquis, a fifth generation Company operates 23 senior care facilities across the country, is the largest provider of senior care facilities in Oregon, and owns Consonus Pharmacy.
“We applaud Oregon Governor Kate Brown for being the first Governor to officially recognize the urgent need to prioritize our state’s seniors and their health care workers,” says Phil Fogg, president and CEO of Marquis Companies and the vice-chair of the American Health Care Association. “Governor Brown’s decision allows Marquis Companies and Consonus Pharmacy to combine and mobilize our 30 years of expertise caring for seniors, delivering high touch pharmaceutical services and our ability to operate with critical precision needed to provide these life-saving vaccinations. We’re humbled to be part of this historic campaign of delivering what we believe is one of the greatest scientific achievements in history.”
Oregon’s Governor calls it the “light at the end of the tunnel.”
“We have an excellent vaccine distribution program and we’re working with our partners, including pharmacies, hospitals and our health care providers across the state,” said Governor Kate Brown in a recent COVID-19 briefing. “The vaccine won’t help us from the pandemic, the vaccinations will. I’m hopeful we can celebrate next year’s holidays with our families and friends.”
Forecast for Early Spring
“We’re hopeful that most of the long term care workforce and residents will be vaccinated by March 1,” says Rosie Ward, senior vice-president of strategy with the Oregon Health Care Association, which advocates for Oregon seniors. “We want to applaud Consonus Pharmacy for their quick and professional work with distribution efforts in this monumental and life-saving campaign.”
Marquis Companies & Consonus Pharmacy’s Rollout
After nine months of coordinating with state and federal health agencies, Consonus Pharmacy teams in geriatric pharmacy and on-site care, software technology, data analytics, and logistical operations are ready to roll. They are responsible for: safely storing the COVID-19 vaccines in Consonus Pharmacy’s ultra-cold storage facilities; reporting required vaccination data to local, state, territorial and federal jurisdictions within 72 hours of administering each dose; and following all Centers for Medicare and Medicaid COVID- 19 operational standards. To administer the required two doses, Consonus has coordinated three, on-site clinic visits with each federally matched customer in December and January.
“We want to stress the vaccinations are just the first step in our nation’s road to recovery,” says Fogg. “All of our facilities will continue stringent infection prevention protocols. We can’t wait for the day we can reunite residents with their loved ones and the COVID-19 vaccine is going to make that happen much sooner.”
How Long Term Care Pharmacies (LTCP) Differ From Retail and Hospital Pharmacies
Long term care pharmacies go far beyond just dispensing medications. Consonus Pharmacy, for instance, has a layered system of safeguards in place to validate each medication and monitor each recipient’s medication profiles. Specially trained Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacists continually review for possible drug interactions, appropriate dosing for the senior population and can recommend changes to regimens, and Nurse Consultants develop and monitor medication management systems.
Consonus Pharmacy has existing, trusted relationships inside the facilities, is quick to adapt to changing government rules, has an already established infrastructure for distribution, and access to health records and workflows to monitor and respond to any possible adverse event.
About Consonus Pharmacy Consonus Pharmacy is part of Consonus Healthcare, a fifth generation Company that for 30 years has provided rehab, pharmacy and consulting services designed specifically for the long term care industry. Consonus Pharmacies provides services to 50,000 seniors in 600 skilled nursing and senior living communities, in eight states. The Company is led by fifth generation Marquis which owns and operates 23 post-acute and assisted living services and an I-SNP, AgeRight Care Management Services.