Love shack
Editor: As a previous opponent of Emmy Kaplan’s latest venture, Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack, I have to say that I have been won over by Emmy’s since its opening. My fears over loud music, late noise and drunkenness have proven to be unfounded.
Living and working right across the street from the restaurant, I decided to try the menu. The couple of dishes I tried were delicious. Some people have told me they found the place too dark and noisy inside. I wouldn’t know as I chose to dine on the patio.
I did take a tour of the place and was delighted by the bold colors of walls, tables and large art works – original paintings by inspired artists from Oakland. It’s not necessarily everyone’s taste, but having an art background, and by contrast, living in a Victorian house, I can appreciate the young spirit of the place. I came out with the feeling this was still a work in progress.
Pierrette Duriez
Sonoma
The sugar man cometh
Editor: If the adage “you are what you eat” is true, children today are in trouble. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute report the top ten sources of carbohydrates in children’s diets include sugary soft drinks, cakes, cookies, jam and fruit drinks. With youth onset diabetes and childhood obesity on the rise it’s time to put on the brakes! A good place to start is our local schools.
Some sugar-filled and processed foods on the school menu include chips, crackers, brownies, cookies, canned sweetened fruit, corn and potatoes counting as vegetables, “Brunch for Lunch” and chocolate milk. Class birthday parties, reward parties and holiday celebrations almost always include cupcakes and/or cookies and juice boxes. I have seen children bring cupcakes from class and then proceed to eat a “lunch” of waffles with syrup and tater tots.
According to the American Cancer Society, “By promoting obesity and elevating insulin levels, high sugar intake may indirectly increase cancer risk.” Obesity is also linked to metabolic syndrome, diabetes and heart disease. Americans eat four times as much sugar as we did in 1913 – a whopping 156 pounds a year. Children ages 6-11 now get about 18 percent of their calories from sugar!
The District’s Wellness Policy states that fundraisers at school cannot sell nutrient-poor snacks as they compete with more nutritious foods … so why would we want kids to get FREE sweet treats at school? Children love fruit kabobs, veggies with hummus, cheese sticks, trail mix, hard-boiled eggs and tangerines. They also appreciate non-food “treats” on birthdays like stickers or small toys. School lunches can be improved at no cost by dropping the worst nutritional offenders immediately.
Schools can play a vital role in improving student health. I applaud current efforts to increase physical activity despite shrinking budgets. It’s also great that nutrition education seems to be part of the curriculum. Wouldn’t the message on healthful eating be strengthened if junk food wasn’t so common on school grounds?
Sandra Serbicki
Sonoma
Well done, officers
Editor: Your Sept. 11 issue reported on a police (Sonoma?) stop of a suspicious vehicle that resulted in several arrests, including possession of burglary tools. It is reassuring that our police officers have this attention to their jobs, which in this case almost certainly prevented one or more burglaries in this area. Well done, officers!
Roger Bohl
Sonoma
Don’t kill your pharmacist
Editor: Year after year pharmacists rank high on the Gallup polls for having earned the trust of those they serve, but this accolade comes at a cost, especially in these times of economic strife. To cut costs, the quickest result comes from a reduction in labor. Reduction in labor means less hands to fill the mounting pile of prescriptions and longer wait times, but that’s only part of the picture.
Having worked in Sonoma I have witnessed the steady population growth over the years, yet, there are still only four retail pharmacies to handle the sheer volume of prescriptions filled locally.
Depending on the pharmacy, there may be anywhere from two employees at a time, or several more, if it is exceptionally busy as a rule. However, very often there is only one pharmacist on duty, and there are certain tasks only a pharmacist, or intern pharmacist, can do by law. These tasks include taking new prescriptions by phone from a doctor’s office, speaking to patients and other providers about medication-specific issues, filling certain types of narcotic prescriptions, assessing a patient’s profile for drug interactions and other specific medical issues, and offering FREE drug-related advice to anyone who asks. In short, your pharmacist has a lot on his or her plate every single day on the job, and retail pharmacists are on the job seven days a week and most holidays.
In Sonoma, one pharmacy provides immunizations year round, but the fall is the busiest season with the start of flu shots. Only a pharmacist or intern may administer a vaccine. This year will be especially groundbreaking once the swine flu vaccine becomes available, and the demand on all immunizing providers will be unprecedented.
The point is, every pharmacist is there to serve the needs of his or her patrons, and even if he or she is supported with adequate and efficient pharmacy staff, most often the demands of the job are simply overwhelming.
The best advice I can give is, “Be good to your pharmacy and your pharmacy will be good to you,” and “Think ahead.”
Try to order your refills two to three days ahead of when you actually plan or need to pick them up. This will allow time to order your medication if needed, and to contact your doctor for refills if necessary. Before and after major holidays, be extra patient; your doctor’s office will have a backlog of calls and faxes and this will trickle down to your pharmacy.
If you are one of those patients who routinely shows up at the pharmacy first thing in the morning to put in your refills and wait for them to be filled, you are asking your pharmacy to put your refills ahead of all of ones that were waiting to be processed when it opened up that morning. You are important, too, but please keep that in perspective. There may be six of “us” behind the counter, but there are hundreds of you and logic dictates we can’t fill all of your prescriptions at the same time. Phone-in systems often give a time when your order will be ready, but these should be used as a guide, not the gospel truth.
Recognize your insurance is NOT going to cover every drug your doctor could possibly prescribe. Many drugs require prior authorization from your insurance and this may take days or longer to resolve. Your pharmacy can assist with the process, but not the outcome, so don’t shoot the messenger.
If you are going away, think ahead and plan accordingly, and then don’t forget to pack your medications! Put a note in your suitcase and leave it there as a reminder for the next time you pack to go away. You’ll have a better and more relaxed vacation.
In a perfect world, your pharmacy would be able to fill all your prescriptions in a timely manner with no insurance hassles whatsoever, no supply issues, and no “out of refill” issues. Nobody would ever need to get an early refill OK’d by the doctor and/or insurance for vacations or dose changes. Everything would be FREE and nobody would get mad at the pharmacist because the co-pay went up or the drug that was covered last month is no longer covered this month. Your new insurance would cover what your old insurance covered, no questions asked.
In the real world, we all know it’s not so easy. We can all get by with a little help and appreciation for each other’s struggles. In all walks of life there are some people for whom we do so little and they are so appreciative, and then there are those for whom we do so much and it is never enough.
Kathy O’Neill
Sonoma