SuperValu is the parent company for Jewel-Osco, one of the nation’s largest grocery and pharmacy retailers, and operates more than 920 in-store pharmacies, many of which under the Jewel-Osco banner. As a manager for the clinical programs department of SuperValu Pharmacies, Nancy Lyons is leading the charge for diabetes education. “I started off as an Osco pharmacist and I worked my way into providing diabetes education about six years ago,” she shares. “The diabetes care program is one of our advance-practice clinical programs [in] our pharmacy center stores. It was founded 14 years ago, so we’ve been doing it for a little bit of time–pretty much my entire career with the company has been spent in some way with the diabetes care program.”
“Pharmacists in the stores receive extra training to be able to provide education services for people who have diabetes, so in addition to filling prescriptions and doing all the counseling and telling people about what they need to use over the counter, they get to work with doctors and patients to help them get better with their diabetes to make sure they’re doing everything right,” explains Lyons. “The pharmacist services that are provided are similar to things you might see in a hospital program, [and] my pharmacists around the city can teach classes that [are] very similar to that-they’re standardized by the American Diabetes Association criteria.”
Lyons is committed to making sure the public is aware of the program and take full advantage of the services. “With our clinical services, we’ve tried a number of approaches with those who shop our stores and those who take advantage of the service are always very satisfied with it,” she says. “[We’re] reaching out to the community, making [sure they] know there are resources. We’re looking [at] every way to get the word out there.” -todd williams
