ATU602 – Genoa Healthcare with Candist Wheeler

This is Candist Wheeler and I am a business development representative with Genoa Healthcare Pharmacy. And this is your assistive technology update.

Hello and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update. A weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the Indata Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana.

Welcome to episode 602 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on December 9th, 2022. On today’s show, we’re happy to welcome Candist Wheeler on to tell us about Genoa Healthcare. We also have a quick story about Elon Musk getting in your head. So let’s go ahead and get on with the show

Listeners today, our first story comes to us from the New York Times. It’s titled, Elon Musk Hopes to Test a Brain Implant in Humans Next Year. It’s written by Christina Jewett and Cade Metz. And this story talks about something called Neuralink, which is something that Elon Musk, who’s the, well I guess now the owner of Twitter, Tesla, SpaceX and some other things. It’s essentially a brain interface that they’ve been working on for quite a while. So they are actually trying to get FDA approval in order to kind of test this on humans to see how it can work. Now, according to the story here, this has been tested on some sheep, pigs, primates, and some other animals, and actually lets them control the device completely hands free. So essentially, I think of something and the interface kind of goes through and is able to control the computer.

Of course, the benefits of this would be, I don’t have to wear anything. I don’t have to be able to speak or physically access or see what it is that I’m doing. I can just kind of manipulate it by thinking about doing it. The story talks about the device itself looks kind of like a stack of coins and is actually implanted inside the brain. So of course that brings up a lot of kind of questions. How long can this thing last? Does it need to be replaced? Is there issues about maybe it leaking or causing brain damage? Who can do this surgery or this kind of implant? A lot of questions really. And one of those is the risk really worth the reward? And I think that would be something that would be on more of a personal level or kind of a person by person basis.

Now, if have you ever followed Elon Musk in any way, shape or form, his ideas are pretty grandiose. And I mean, some of that’s a good thing, especially in the world of AT, I guess you want to have these grand ideas. And some of his claims are that this device will help people who have never been able to visually access the world to see. And it doesn’t really connect, I think, to that part of the brain. And there may be some challenges with that, but also says it’ll help people cure paralysis. And I suppose if you’re looking at that on an access level, that could perhaps be a true statement depending on how this would actually work. This is not the first time that there’s been a brain computer interface tried to be made. There’s lots of them out there Now, many of them though, either A, don’t intrude into the brain or B, have to be connected to something.

So there’s wires. If you think of head arrays, the kind of hats that you may or may not have ever seen anyone wear that can actually kind of track brain waves from outside and then interpret those into code, into demands, into telling the computer to do something or another device to do something. So this is not a new idea, but maybe a new kind of technology to do it. Personally, if I was going to have anyone implant something in my brain, I’m not sure Elon Musk is the one I want in there, but I don’t think this is him actually being able to control you from afar. But if it works, it’s safe, if it’s something that’s not going to cause new issues or cause new problems, it could be a whole brand-new access method. If we think years and years and years ago, you probably wouldn’t have thought that you could control a computer by head movements or eye movements or by a smile or by your voice or by one switch.

There are so many different access methods, each one kind of tailored to the individual that needs it, but another option is still a great thing. And for individuals with complete paralysis, who can’t control their eye movements or head movements or anything else to be able to use those access methods, this could be a game changer. This could really and truly help individuals be able to access things a little easier. I think of individuals with advanced ALS who maybe have just the tiniest bit of movement left in some part of their body. This could open up the doors to AAC, to computers to work, to communication, and to just plain access to the world around them. So it’s one of those things that I don’t think this is going to be something we’re going to be seeing out in the world anytime soon, but it is still moving forward and that’s always good.

Now, if you read some of the other stories, if you kind of look up what’s going on with Neuralink, I know that there’s also some issues. They’re being sued, I believe for some different things. Testing on animals, maybe some other practices. It doesn’t talk about that much here in this story. So we’ll kind of leave that kind of to itself. The story itself does talk about some other things. Just about, maybe this isn’t as grand as it is, we need some kind of time. And that’s where the FDA kind of comes in to really be able to fully evaluate the risk of surgical implementation and safety of the device. As you go down the story, it actually has a picture of what this looks like and it looks like a small hole is cut on kind of the crown, the very top of the head in the skull that’s removed, and then this device is kind of put in. It kind of fills the hole.

So it does protrude from the head, but it’s actually going down into the brain. Tiny little electrodes in there are bringing all this information, all these brain waves and everything and interpreting that into commands and into controls for the device. Again, not something we’re probably going to see anytime real soon, but something that is moving forward. And as with a lot of AT, a lot of technology, Musk moving these things forward can lead to other innovations, to other things perhaps being moved forward. So of course, when Musk kind of talks about it, again kind of going on a little bit on the grandiose side, he talks about giving people superhuman vision and solving paralysis. And I think that may or may not be a little big, a little more science fiction than science, as it even says here. Whereas most scientists that are trying to do this are trying to restore basic functions like typing, speaking, lifting a fork, and different things like that for individuals with spinal cord injury and other needs.

So I’ll put a link down in the show notes so that you can go check the story out for yourself. It talks about some other devices that are along these lines. But we’ll kind of keep an eye out as they apply for FDA approval in order to be able to test this kind of on humans and think of all the different access methods we’ve talked about here on the show. Everything from a simple switch, to eye gaze systems. Again, using your face, head movements, smiles, facial expressions, other ones that just connect to your body. And even the smallest little muscular impulse can access a switch, proximities. So many different ways to access the world around us, even for those with special needs. One more isn’t technically a bad thing. So we’ll kind of try to keep an eye and see where this ends up going. And who knows, you may be able to control all your technology around you by just thinking about it here sometime in the future.

Listeners, our health and wellbeing is one of the most important things that we can consider. Well our guest today is Candist Wheeler from Genoa Healthcare and she’s here to tell us about their unique pharmacy model services and other things they can do to help us all stay a little bit more healthy. Candist, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Josh. Hi, thanks for having me.

Yeah, I am really excited to get into talking about everything. But before we do, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and your background?

Yeah, of course. So like you said, my name is Candist. I am a technician by trade. I actually worked in one of our pharmacies located in [inaudible 00:09:08], Indiana, where I was a technician for about four years before transferring into my current position of business development representative. So I love our company, had to stay with it, just wanted to advance a little more.

That makes total sense. And you know, I love it whenever the business development hand kind of comes from somebody who’s actually done the work and kind of feels the mission. It always seems like you don’t oversell things as much or you don’t say things that aren’t really possible. It seems like some places like to go out and find, oh, salespeople or folks that kind of work in that profession, but it always seems so much better if you kind of bring them from within. But that’s not why we have you on today. So I probably shouldn’t get into that too much. But Candist, the reason we had you on was to talk about Genoa Healthcare and pharmacy. So let’s just start off with what exactly is it?

So what is Genoa Healthcare? Genoa Healthcare is the best pharmacy in my opinion. So historically we started as a behavioral health pharmacy, really targeting those that had IDD, complex health conditions, behavioral health. But nowadays, we’re realizing our pharmacy does a really good job and we take care of our consumers really well, so why not help others? So now, we’re helping people in assisted living facilities. We’re helping those who may have the struggles of HIV and AIDS in life. We’re helping of course, group homes, substance abuse treatments. We’re helping a large audience of consumers that might just need a little extra hand.

When you kind of talk about the little bit of an extra hand, because some of the populations I know you mentioned definitely do have some kind of challenges to medication, to healthcare and other things. So can you tell us what exactly is your kind of service model and then how does that assist these individuals?

Definitely. So our biggest service model… So we’re a closed door pharmacy. We can’t advertise. So if you were passing by a location, we’re located within community mental health centers. If you’re passing by one of those, you wouldn’t see a Genoa sign outside. That helps us stay kind of smaller so that we can attend to our audience. Now when we’re speaking of our audience and how are we helping them? Like a pharmacy is a pharmacy, right? Wrong. So Genoa does a lot. We go the extra mile. We provide pre-packaging, we call it our dispo package. Which groups medications into morning, afternoon, evening, and bedtime. So instead of you having a seven-day pill minder that you have to fill yourself, we actually will do that in pharmacies free of charge. So it takes away that guessing game of did I take my medicine this morning? Ours dispos are perforated and they also tear.

So you can tell when you’ve opened it, you can tell that you’ve taken your medications. And they come in about seven days worth of medicine is a sheet. So you can look at that at a quick glance and we put days on them. You’re like, “Oh gosh, it’s Tuesday. I didn’t take my meds yesterday.” So we can really take away that guesswork of did I take my medications? When we’re filling medications, we are contacting doctors, we are requesting refills, we’re seeing if things are needing prior authorizations. We’ve found that those things are all kind of holdups to consumers. You call your pharmacy, oh, we don’t have that refill. And then most of the time goes back to the consumer to kind of call the doctor.

I’m pretty good about it, I would say most times, but even my pharmacies help me. They will contact my doctor for me to request my refill. When it’s in, they’ll contact me, “Hey, I’ve got your refill. Do you want to pick it up? We can mail it to you.” I travel a lot so if they can mail me my meds, that’s awesome. And that helps consumers with transportation. That’s not the easiest in this day and age, especially with gas prices and things like that. So if we can help make sure people are getting their medications by mailing them, that has been a golden service.

Oh, I’m sure. And I mean, pandemic that we all just went through withstanding, I’m sure that does make a huge difference and really bring down a barrier. And then talking about the populations that you kind of serve and help, I’m sure that reminder to get a refill on your prescription because yeah, I might be looking at the week and not realize that I’m about to run out or not realize that I only had two refills left. I’ve already used those up and the doctor needs contacted. I’m sure that really kind of helps with maybe folks being able to, well stay on their meds as opposed to having that barrier of, oh I forgot to call and everything else.

It truly does and it really depends. So we fill all kinds of medications, not just behavioral health, but we fill primary care meds too. But if you’re thinking of a behavioral health med in particular, say you need a refill. Your meds are due. Maybe it’s like a Friday, you’re going to a different pharmacy to get these. Maybe they don’t call and request your refills for you or they’re not working ahead to get these. If you go a day, two days without taking that medication, that can really throw some rocks in their path and get them down a path that maybe they just got off of or a path we just simply don’t want them to go on. So with Genoa really helping with refills, we will work kind of a week in advance if. So, me as a technician in the pharmacy, I would run what’s called a refill due report and that report would show me all of my client’s meds that are going to be due next week.

So with that, I could call them to see if they needed them, see if they needed them mailed. I could see if they had refills and if they didn’t, I could contact them and see if they needed to me to request them for them. So it really does help patients stay compliant. It helps them remember to keep taking those medications. And I think personally, it gives a personal feeling. You’ve got someone there that cares for you, you’ve got someone there that cares about your wellbeing, making sure you’re staying on your meds. That makes a big difference in your day.

Oh for sure. And you probably also have somebody you trust that you can actually ask questions when you have them. I mean I know folks with different kind of behavior needs. It’s not something that you like to disclose and talk to with the random person at the pharmacy who’s refilling your meds. So probably having that little bit of, oh more customer service probably is a little easier to ask those questions or concerns whenever you’re picking up medication or maybe even using something that you really haven’t before.

Oh, I fully agree. And our pharmacies are pretty small. So when I say that, we don’t have 20 employees that are being cycled throughout the week. Each pharmacy has the same staff Monday through Friday all day. So you really get to know me, me as a technician. You know, can call and talk to me Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, unless I’m off work. But you really get to know me, you get to know your pharmacy staff who’s taking care of you. You get to develop that communication with the pharmacist.

So yeah, if you do have questions or this is a new medication, I don’t know about it, you know. You get nervous sometimes when you’re talking to someone new. Especially about things that are very sensitive. So when you have that relationship, you see that same pharmacist every day, I think it makes a world of difference in communication and just our comfort level as human beings.

Definitely. Definitely. Now you talked about when it was started and that it was started to assist individuals with different complex behavioral needs and things like that. Can you tell me the why? Why was it started, was there a need there or what motivated the founders to start it?

Yeah, so when we first started, I know you can’t see my room and you don’t know what my closet looks like, but think of it as a closet. Okay.

Okay.

We did lab draws for a medication called Clozapine. Clozapine is a really, it’s an older drug. It works really, really well and it really helps with those suffering like schizophrenia and things like that. So by being able to get that medication, of course it’s allowing someone to stay on there. So you’re asking how we started.

Our founders had a family member that was on this medication getting stigmatized when they would pick it up. You know, get all these terms, all these labels that are given to individuals that have behavioral health conditions. In order to take out that stigma, our founders decided, hey, we can get these blood draws. We’re pharmacists, we can dispense this medication. So by helping a brother, well what’s stopping us from helping others? So that is kind of how we got started and helping in the behavioral health setting and we’ve expanded from there. From starting from a closet type small setting to today we have over 650 full service pharmacies.

Oh wow.

So we’ve really grown. The need is there, we want to meet that need and our goal is to positively impact as many lives as we can.

Oh, that’s awesome. And I got to ask, because I know you kind of expanded into some other groups and especially folks that you know mentioned the stigma and everything else that goes along with that. But kind of what’s next?

What’s next? What’s next is where the world will let us go. There’s always going to be people who need our help. There’s always going to be someone who might need that extra care. So it’s where we can get in, where we can fit in, who will benefit from our services. So as time goes on, conditions change, new conditions are discovered. And I think as that kind of revolves, so we’ll.We’ll be able to see, oh, we can help them or we can provide a service that’ll better assist in this circumstance. So as time goes on, Josh, so will Genoa. We’re just going to continue to grow and assist.

Awesome, awesome. Well kind of talk it about a assisting and everything. Can you tell us a story about someone who’s been assisted by Genoa? Of course without stigmatizing them or identifying them, but maybe just a story or two? You’ve kind of heard of some folks that have really been able to be helped by your services.

I can actually, so I will take you back to my technician day. So we’re going to go back about three years. I was in charge of a lot of things. I ran cycles. So what a cycle is a just say a lot of refills for a lot of different clients at once. We had just started working with a different group home that had came over to our pharmacy. This group home was not accustomed to the general way, I will say. They were used to making a list of patients and the medications needed and sending that list over to me and checking to see where I was in that whole process. And Josh, when I tell you they were surprised by my response on the phone, I really mean it. She called me, she’s like, “I’ve got this big fax coming to you. You know our meds are going to be coming due in two weeks.”

And she didn’t know that I’d started working on them the week before. That was my good quality. Genoa will work on refills before just to take this away, but she wasn’t used to that. So I took so much stress off of her. She didn’t have 25 people’s meds to try to manage because I was managing them for them. And there was a patient who historically did not get one particular medication over and over again every month. And it would leave her in the situation where that med needed to be given that night and she might not have had it. As she got to know me, as she started to trust me more and over time fully trusted me, she realized that I was going to make sure that patient had that medication. So just an example of how our work, how us being proactive helps kind of in a time of panic. I took that panic away from her. She no longer had to panic or worry about requesting refills for more than one person.

And that just sounds incredible because I know whenever myself or my kids seem to have prescriptions, the doctor sends it over. And I don’t even think they started on it until I called four days later to see how it’s going. So that’s a huge weight to be taken off. And I’m sure not just for the individuals, but like you said for the service providers, they’re at the nursing home that has so, or the living facility or wherever has so many other things to worry about. To be able to take one of those things off the plate, especially something as important as medication has to just be a great feeling.

Yes. And medication is really important. Do you mind if I tell a second story?

Yes, please do.

Okay. So this one is just one consumer in particular. Over my course of working at the pharmacy, he got more and more comfortable with me. It got to the point where I was the only one that he would talk to. So him coming in every month made me realize like, oh hey, he’s here for his med check. He’s here to get his medications. Well, he would take a particular medication that was very important, very important. And historically he didn’t always get it. By him knowing me, by him seeing my face in the pharmacy, kind of having a familiar smile, he started to come in every month. And by him coming in every month, it was like his personality changed. He was happier. He was doing things that he said he hadn’t done in years. And that was a big difference. Not only, of course it’s a big difference in his life, but it was a really big moment in mind. Just to know, just me being me, me doing the job that I love, it’s really benefiting him for the better.

It is always great if you can do what you love and actually make a difference and get to see it. Because we don’t always get to see the, I guess the fruits of our labor, kind of the good that our work can do. So that’s great that you actually could see it. And like you kind of said at the beginning, you’re really just removing a whole lot of barriers for individuals because there’s tons of reasons why people don’t keep up on and or take their medication. And getting it, just getting it and having it at the ready has to be one of those major barriers.

It is. I’m so glad you realized that.

You’re talking to somebody who goes to the doctor when he thinks he’s going to die. So I’m not maybe the right person to completely and totally say that but still. Candist, if our listeners want to find out more about Genoa Healthcare and your pharmacies and everything, what’s the best way for them to do that?

We have a fabulous, newly redesigned website. You can find any information about us on genoahealthcare.com.

Perfect. And we will put a link to that down in the show notes just to make sure our listeners can go and check it out. Well, Candist, it’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you today and learning about all the great services that you guys offer and really just… I don’t know, making the whole, oh pharmacy, I mean for the consumer, for the living facility, for the other places, just making that from a hassle into what seems like a pretty enjoyable experience and something that, ah, can really just take some of the weight and work off folks’ shoulders. So thank you so much for coming on and telling us all about it.

Oh, you’re so welcome, Josh. I really appreciate you having me and I really appreciate you letting me share about Genoa’s work, the good things that we’re doing and our mission to impact lives positively.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on an Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at (317)-721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or shoot us a note on Twitter @indataproject. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or Intrac. You can find out more about Intra at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nicole Cretto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule.

Today’s show is produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guest are their own and may or may not reflect those of the Indata Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners or this host. This was your Assistive Technology Update. And I’m Josh Anderson with the Indata Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.