CMH?to open pharmacy in March

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, February 22, 2012

When small, locally-owned pharmacies started disappearing on the North Coast, Columbia Memorial Hospitals patients took notice. Chris Laman, who manages the hospitals pharmacy for patients and staff, said he noticed a number of patients saying they missed the more personal touch.

Theres a large group of people that were served by Owl Drugs and Astoria Pharmacy, he said.

Laman approach CMHs administration and started the process of opening up its own pharmacy, which will open to the general public March 19.

The move also arose out of an effort to improve patients recovery.

Studies showed they werent always going to get prescriptions, said Laman. If you dont get prescriptions, you could end up coming back in worse condition.

Its going to prevent people from going back to the hospital.

Using its own exclusive pharmacy also currently prevents CMH from contracting with a third party to get large prescription orders. Patients can get small prescriptions taken care of at the hospital but often have to travel across town to get more significant doses of medication.

Laman recently announced that local pharmacist Patty Chow will run the location.

Chow, who moved to Astoria at age 3 from Hong Kong, has spent her entire working career as a pharmacist in Astoria. A graduate of Astoria High School in 1970, she attended Oregon State University while interning at Steinbocks Pharmacy in the summer. She worked there after graduation until 1982, at which point she moved on to Astoria Pharmacy, which she worked for in all its iterations until it closed in January.

My approach is really that I want to provide a service for the community, she said. They like that atmosphere. Its nice to have another choice in the community.

The local pharmacy and the local hospital go hand in hand, said Paul Mitchell, communications director for CMH.