Wyoming pharmacists help homeless manage their medications

A collaboration between the University of Wyoming (UW) Family Medicine Residency Program and the Health Care for the Homeless Clinic (HCH) in Casper is bringing clinical pharmacy services to area homeless patients. The clinic operates 4 days per week as a federally qualified health center, and a pharmacist is onsite for 5 half-days to dispense medications and 1 half-day to operate a pharmacotherapy clinic, said Jaime Hornecker, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice at UW. Hornecker said pharmacy services help patients manage anticoagulation, diabetes, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypertension. The services are provided by Hornecker and a UW pharmacy resident and mirror the pharmaceutical care offered at the UW Family Practice Clinic. “The residents are actually on a rotating schedule, where the family practice resident goes over to Healthcare for the Homeless, and the Healthcare for the Homeless resident comes back over here. So they’re providing the same services at both places,” Hornecker said.