Local pharmacist: More medicines available than in years gone

By Greg Miller
STAR STAFF
gmiller@starhq.com

   Many more medicines are available from local pharmacies today than there were many years ago, according to Larry Proffitt, owner of Burgie Drugs.
   Blood pressure medications have improved greatly over the years, according to Proffitt. Many of today's blood pressure medications can reduce blood pressure without making the person feel bad, he said. "It reduces their blood pressure, it's not toxic, and they don't feel bad. If you had to take the medicine that you had to take 30 years ago, you would be so weak that you could hardly get out of the bed and feel so bad and depressed from having to take that medication that would sufficiently reduce your blood pressure. Today, people can take the medications and have so few side effects that they, in essence, don't know that they have taken it.
   "I was just thinking about the medications that we have for the stomach today," Proffitt said. "Years ago, anyone who had stomach problems, there weren't all these things."
   Medications for infections now "are vastly superior" to those available many years ago.
   "I'm encouraged to see the United States moving toward some type of prescription drugs for the elderly," Proffitt said. "I'm a very conservative person in political thought, but I've always contended that as a population, we need to try to take care of the people who have paid into this Social Security for all these years. I think this new Medicare bill for medicine is not, the way it stands right now, the best by any means, but it's a start. I think that's encouraging."
   Cancer research is making progress, according to Proffitt. "In cancer research right now, I'm seeing more and more drugs being developed that's specific for one particular type of cancer," he said.
   Proffitt says his number one goal is "to serve my customers' health needs just like I would want to treat my own family or the people I go to church with. I tell my employees, 'Try to treat each customer like you would your grandma or your grandfather or some of the people that you go to church with. Try to treat each one of them just like that, and you'll succeed. Always know that the customer comes first.'"
   Proffitt says his faith in God is the catalyst for his desire to help people. "Years ago, I said that this business is not ours," he remarked. "My employees will tell you that I say, 'I only work here.' In reality, we're just custodians anyhow of what we have in this life. If we try to act like we really possess something, we're fooling ourselves."
   The business is family oriented, according to Proffitt. "We try to work as a team in this business," he said. "I tell the folks out front, 'You represent Burgie Drugs. If you're sour to somebody or don't try to do everything you can to effectively communicate with them to serve their needs, you make the rest of us look bad.' That goes with any kind of business."
   Proffitt says the concept of Burgie Drugs being a small, home-town pharmacy is very important. "...I'm not constrained by corporate structure mandating how much inventory I can maintain, or what drugs I can put on the shelf. Some things might not be cost effective, but if it's one of my regular customers, I might lose money on that particular bottle of medicine, because these things have short dates today."
   Last year, Burgie Drugs added one full-time pharmacist. The business has seven full-time employees and six part-time employees.
   "This year, I'm looking to be more efficient than last year," Proffitt said. "I'm looking to increase our efficiency and more efficiently use our time with the people that we have."
   Burgie Drugs opened in downtown Elizabethton in 1892. The business moved from 610 E. Elk Ave., to its present location, 1000 W. G St., in 1975. The business is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
   For more information, call 542-4622 or e-mail burgiedrugs@earthlink.net.