COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Serving 104,000 prescriptions to 18,000 beneficiaries can be a tough and stressful job.
The 14th Medical Support Squadron’s pharmacy at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, has received $110,000 of new electronics and equipment to help with organization and fast customer service.
“The pharmacy’s job is to keep the beneficiaries healthy and getting them the medication they need to maintain or improve their health,” said Lt. Col. Jennifer Baggott, 14th MDSS commander.
The pharmacy’s upgrades have allowed them to work more efficiently and cut down on customer wait times. Their goal is for customers to only wait in line for five minutes and to be out of the pharmacy in 20 minutes.
Along with fast customer care, the pharmacy also has the same medicine for lower prices.
“On average we are about $15 cheaper per prescription than what is filled off base,” said Maj. Jason Bingham, 14th MDSS Diagnostic and Therapeutics Flight Commander.
Another upgrade is a new system to track how many patients are waiting and how long each patient has been waiting. Customers sign in and are put into the computer and are added to a que all the pharmacy technicians can easily reference.
Lastly, a new sorting system organizes the way prescriptions are filled. A machine can now dispense multiple prescriptions at once instead of the traditional way of hand-sorting pills. The upgrade reduces the chance of a customer receiving the wrong medication.
The equipment couldn’t have come at a better time, Baggott said. The current manning in the squadron is at 82 percent and the pharmacy is feeling the impact of less workers. They are even accepting American Red Cross volunteers to work part-time.
Even though the pharmacy has its challenges, they still manage to care for Team BLAZE and all of the Columbus Air Force Base community.