NU12 Purple Cow - Pharmacy Cafe by Vinca Rosea

NU 12 # 6

Purple Cow Pharmacy Cafe

by Vinca Rosea

Food is something we take inside our body. It nourishes us and helps us to be at the pink of our health. Medications just like food we take it inside our body either orally or intravenously. Medications are used for one of many reasons: (1) to diagnose (like your contrast agents); (2) to prevent (like the vaccines); (3) to maintain good condition (like vitamins); (4) to correct failures in our system (like blood pressure controlling agents); (5) to alleviate symptoms (like pain relievers). Food and medications are very much alike or even food can be considered a medicine and medicines can be considered as food just like supplements. If that is the case, why do we set-up our pharmacies like commodity stores. Why not look at the food business? Can people enjoy their medicines? Medication adherence is a big challenge and wellness is very important.  But ensuring wellness doesn't have to be something that compels you to do it. Can we medicate like how we enjoy spending hours at a coffee shop with our friends or even like dining out with our family?

Absurd, but worth the try. My goal is to ensure wellness and for those are sick, enjoy complying with their medications.  I imagine offering medicines that are commercially made and complementary and alternative medicines. People can spend time reading health magazines while listening to therapeutic music. The cafe will have good ambiance and like a museum. There could be poetry reading days, live music serenades, since arts and literature are considered therapeutic. They are medicines for the soul and creates a positive attitude.

For chemo patients, they could enjoy having their chemo sessions at the cafe where there are lazy boys they could sit and relax while listening to music serenades. Receiving chemo is a painful experience but we can lighten up the patient's experience. 

If you need a pharmacist to counsel you, you can now sit down with them and gladly talk about your fears about taking the medicines and learn more about the positive benefits of complying to your medicines. You may even discuss some nasty experiences with the medicines and the pharmacist may be able to provide solutions.

For kids, we could have an area where they could have fun while having their medications and learn more about the need to be healthy.

For mommies, we could have a mommy club where they could share notes about making them fit and enjoy their pregnancy. They could also enjoy breastfeeding their babies while at the cafe.

Of course, the cafe would need to have controls in segregating well, infectious and sick patients so as to control spread of disease. 

I would like to call it a Purple Cow Pharmacy Cafe. Why "Purple Cow"? Aside from the fact it means, innovative and out-of-the box, the color purple represents the pharmacy profession.4

Medicines are not limited to the conventional tablets, capsules or pills. Medicines come in other forms also. So why do we have to limit the experience of taking medicines in the conventional way. So why can't we design pharmacies in a non-conventional way?