Transforming What Community Pharmacy Offers: Giant Food’s Cancer Screening Initiative

In this interview with Pharmacy Times®, Rosa Lee, pharmacy manager with Giant Food Pharmacy, discusses a new cancer screening initiative offered by the organization. The ultimate goal is to empower patients to manage their health better, integrate technology into community health care, and shift towards preventative care. Lee explained that innovations like Giant’s cancer screening technology can transform what community pharmacy can offer patients.

Pharmacy Times: Can you introduce yourself?

Rosa Lee, PharmD: Hi, my name is Rosa Lee, I'm a pharmacist with Giant Food. I've been a pharmacist for about 10 years now, 4 years with Giant. I'm currently located at the Potomac, Maryland location.

Pharmacy Times: Can you describe Giant's new cancer screening initiative and how it aligns with the organization's mission/goals?

Lee: So, this cancer screening initiative started January 6 of this year. We are a collection site. There are 9 sites total, 8 [of which are] in Maryland and 1 in Virginia. Patients will go online to the onetestforcancer.com/pharmacy-testing, to purchase the kit, and basically, patients will come to us at the pharmacy to get their blood sample taken. It's an initiative that allows patients to get their blood work done by a lab called 20/20 BioLabs. It is a local Maryland-based organization. Once the blood sample is collected at the pharmacy, the patients are able to go on to the portal and look at their results in about 7 to 10 days. At the pharmacy, patients come in at whatever time is best for them, and we use this new red drop device to collect the blood sample from the upper arm of the patient. It's super fast; it takes about a minute or two, and it's a lot less invasive than the traditional venous blood draws. So typically, the courier will come within a couple of hours to pick up the sample, and it's taken to BioLabs to get the results to the patients. This initiative aligns with Giant Food's broader mission of breaking down barriers to quality health care. About 90% of Americans live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy, so for us at a community location to be offering something like cancer screening is really important in empowering patients and giving them tools to kind of take control of their own health.

Pharmacy Times: How might this initiative differ from other institutions or organizations?

Lee: Our pharmacies are inside of grocery stores, so we are kind of like a 1-stop shop. Patients can come in for their groceries, they can also get their medications, and now they can also do this cancer screening. Again, it's a very simple, short process, so while they're doing groceries, they can just quickly stop in, get a cancer screening, and pick up their medications, vaccinations, and other health care screenings that we offer in our pharmacies. So, medications and food [are] kind of all in 1 place.

Pharmacy Times: Are there specific communities that are trying to be reached with this development?

Lee: There [are] no specific communities that we're trying to reach. Cancer affects everyone, whether it be family, friends, or even yourself. I think everyone can say that they know somebody that has had cancer, and so, this is really important for everyone. We don't have any sort of specific group that we're targeting. We just want to be able to provide some valuable insight to anybody that is wondering or curious and wants to get this cancer screening done. Again, this is not a diagnostic tool, but it is something that patients can get done to know a little bit more about what may be going on. And based on their results, they can go to their primary care provider or another physician to kind of expand on those results that they receive.

Pharmacy Times: Alongside this initiative, what else does Giant have to offer (eg, educational resources, additional testing)?

Lee: What I love about Giant Pharmacy is that we do more than just stay inside the pharmacy and dispense medications. We have a whole host of programs. So, we have CPR training, we have BLS-trained pharmacists that can go out to organizations and teach CPR skills, which is a critical life-saving skill. We also offer immunizations outside the pharmacy. We do clinics at churches, local communities, and businesses just so that it's a lot more convenient to be able to receive immunizations that you may need. We also offer point-of-care testing at our pharmacy locations, so flu, strep testing, you can come to the pharmacy get the testing done, and depending on your results, we are also partnered with myphysician360—which is a telemedicine health service—and the providers there can write a prescription based on your results, or a pharmacist can also write a prescription for you. That way, not only do you come into the pharmacy to get tested, but you can also leave the pharmacy with your medications all in 1 visit.

We also have travel consultations, so, with the summer months coming and a lot of people traveling and going on vacation, you can go to your Giant Pharmacy, and they can make a recommendation of what vaccines are needed for the place you're traveling to and also [provide] any sort of recommendations for OTC medications and things to do, things to avoid, eat, drink, things like that, just to make sure that your whole trip is enjoyable and safe.

Pharmacy Times: How might this initiative pave the way for future developments? What else would you like to see Giant accomplish in the future?

Lee: This is really important because we're integrating technology with the health care system in a community-based setting. And again, like I said, this is just really nice because patients are able to get more control of their health. Knowledge is power. And so, this is critical in that patients can get information about their cancer risk and any sort of tools that a patient can get, they can bring to their providers, and just kind of take control and hopefully prevent disease and also help manage [it]. It's a small step, but it's really important in integrating the community pharmacy into long-standing healthcare challenges and systems.

Pharmacy Times: Any final or closing thoughts?

Lee: If you are looking to join a health care team and practice at the top of your license, we are looking for pharmacy technicians, clerks, pharmacists, and interns, and you can always look online at giantfood.careerwithus.com.