2011 Trek Across Maine

 

Again this year, Seaport Family Practice will send seven of its own on the Trek Across Maine, the principle fund-raising event for the New England chapter of the American Lung Association. The Spin Doctors, as the team is known, consists of David Loxterkamp, Christine Kramer, Jeff Newsom, Megan Britton, Elizabeth Connelly, and James Bradney. Loxterkamp's son, John- a junior at Belfast Area High School- will join the team for the 4th time.

 

 

The Trek travels 160 miles from Sunday River to Belfast. This year, over 2,000 riders have registered to ride, rain or shine. It will occur on Father's Day Weekend, June 17-19, and last 3 days, with stops in Farmington and Waterville. Riders are expected to raise a minimum of $500.00 in donations. This year, Seaport Family Practice will make a $350.00 donation on behalf of each rider in exchange for time volunteered in the office. As an added bonus, Elizabeth Connelly has designed the T-shirt that will be worn this year's Spin Doctors.

 

The Spin Doctors anticipate that they will arrive in Belfast shortly after noon on Sunday. Come down to the Belfast Common (aka Chicken Hill, on the waterfront) to welcome them home!

 

Prescription for Happiness

 

Filling or refilling prescriptions has long been a source of frustration for patients and their providers at Seaport Family Practice. When we started using Surescripts 2 years ago, we thought that this e-mail prescription program would solve our problems. It didn't: prescriptions seemed to get lost or delayed in cyberspace, and patients waited hours or days for their prescriptions. To insure that a prescription arrived, doctors began to issue a written prescription, send a fax, click an e-mail, call the pharmacist- or do all of the above! And this only frustrated the pharmacies, who often filled the same prescription several times.

 

Now we have a plan that will hopefully bring more happiness to filling your prescription. Last week, we ran a test of Surescripts in 4 local pharmacies: Hannaford, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Community Pharmacy in Bucksport. Every day, we sent a fictitious prescription (e.g. for Tootsie Rolls) in the morning and afternoon, with explicit instructions to call us when they arrived. In 3 out of 4 pharmacies, the prescription arrived EVERY TIME, within 20 minutes. One of the 4 pharmacies called us within 5 minutes of sending the prescription EVERY TIME. This confirms that electronic transmission is not the source of the problem.

 

Stay healthy,

 

Seaport Family Practice