As an independent community pharmacist, you want to offer products and services relevant to your community.
Knowing what the people in your community need health-wise can help you select the most relevant products and services for your area. And making good choices about what you offer can help boost sales while also helping your patients.
But how do you know what to offer if you don’t know what your community needs?
Asking your own patients can only get you so much information. Keep tabs on your community through organizations and resources that compile relevant local health data. Here are five sources where you can learn more about your community.
1. United Health Foundation
The United Health Foundation, a not-for-profit private foundation dedicated to improving health and health care, collects nationwide statistics, state health profiles, and health measures and indicators.
Look up your state and learn more about the most common health challenges in your community. Use this information to guide your service offerings and promotions.
For example, according to the United Health Foundation, 22.1 percent of Missouri residents are smokers, making it a top health issue for the state and an opportunity for pharmacists to help patients by starting a smoking cessation program.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) track county level health data that can give you a profile of your local community.
Use the CDC’s website to check your county’s immunization rate, diabetes percentage and obesity percentage. Specific disease numbers for your community can help you identify hyper-specific programs to offer, like a class about nutrition for teens recently diagnosed with diabetes.
You can also use these numbers to build partnerships with other health providers in your community. For example, partner with local physicians to work to reduce your county’s ranking in your state’s obesity list.
3. Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does more than monitor the health of the environment—it also tracks the environment’s influence on public health.
For example, the EPA’s website includes a feature that allows you to enter your area code and learn more about air pollutants that can cause asthma attacks or allergens that can trigger allergies. Research your area to learn about what aliments your pharmacy should be ready to help patients address.
4. Health Departments
Sign up for newsletters from your state and county health departments to get the latest information on seasonal ailments or health outbreaks in your area.
Use this information to promote topical products or services that serve patients’ needs during area health outbreaks. For example, if the health department reports that the flu is hitting your community, you can promote your flu shot services or over-the-counter symptom relief products in your front end.
Health departments typically also offer free resources for promoting services like immunizations, such as informational posters about the benefits of flu shots. They also track local and statewide data about specific health metrics, like immunization rates, that you can use to stay up-to-date on the latest health trends.
5. Chamber of Commerce
If you join your local chamber of commerce, you’ll stay up-to-date on community issues and trends. And, membership also adds credibility to your business because most consumers like to do business with a member of their local chamber of commerce.
Other benefits of joining your chamber of commerce include:
- Gain networking opportunities
- Access to chamber events and programs
- Increase attention to your pharmacy
- Make more business connections
Learning about your community’s health information can help you select relevant products and services at your pharmacy to best serve your community.
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