New Pharmacy Service for Lung Transplant Patients: myPennPharmacy

Michelle Plummer, B.S., myPennPharmacy Program Administrator, and Tamara Claridge, PharmD, BCPS, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Cardiothoracic Transplant, tell us about this exciting new service.

Transitioning from hospital to home after a lung transplant requires planning and coordination to ensure the recovery process goes smoothly.

Now, myPennPharmacy is available to assist patients and their caregivers as they leave Penn after lung transplant. myPennPharmacy is a new pharmacy program that provides patients with their prescription medications at the time of discharge along with a pill box, blood pressure cuff, pill cutter, thermometer and scale. This service will allow patients to go home with medications in-hand, without having to stop at a pharmacy. 

In addition to the convenience created by eliminating a stop on the way home, myPennPharmacy helps patients and their caregivers learn how and when to take each medication. This designated time for education allows our team to show the medication as they are sharing instructions – an approach that has been shown to improve the learning process.

Another benefit of the program addresses prescription refills. When it is time for medications to be refilled, medications are delivered directly to the transplant clinic when patients have scheduled appointments with their medical provider.

We are excited to be one of the first programs to offer this service to our patients. If you’d like more information about myPennPharnacy, please call 215-349-5877.

ATS Free Patient Education Events

Save the Date: May 18 - Free Patient Events During Annual American Thoracic Society Meeting in Philadelphia

On Saturday, May 18, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) is hosting its International Conference at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel and will be offering two patient-focused forums, "Breathing Better with the ATS" and "Meet-the-Expert." These events are free and open to the public and attendees will see familiar faces from the Penn Lung Transplant team at each session.

Details for each event are listed below.

Breathing Better with the ATS

The "Breathing Better with the ATS" forum is open to lung disease patients and their families and will feature expert speakers as well as a mix-and-mingle reception to give patients and their families a chance to interact with prominent pulmonologists from around the globe. It is also an opportunity for patients to meet other individuals who share similar experiences with lung disease. This year's forum will focus on innovations in lung health and will cover the latest clinical trials and patient engagement in research, the interplay between diet, exercise, and sleep, expanding the lung transplantation donor pool, and adult immunizations and chronic lung disease.

When: Saturday, May 18, 2013, 1 to 4 pm 
Where: Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
             Meeting room: Millennium 2nd floor
Speakers: Teresa Barnes, Chair, ATS-PAR; Gail Weinmann, MD, NHLBI; Atul Malhotra, MD, Harvard Medical School; Suzanne Schrandt, JD, Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute; Vivek N. Ahya, MD, University of Pennsylvania; Samuel B. Graitcer, MD, CDC

Meet-the-Expert

The "Meet-the-Expert" event offers patients an opportunity to discuss the latest in research, clinical trials and clinical care with experts on a number of different lung diseases, including sleep apnea, pulmonary fibrosis, Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, Alpha-1, ARDS, LAM and COPD. This event will be followed by an expert panel discussion on innovations in lung health. Complimentary parking and lunch will be provided, and an oxygen refill station for those attendees with Portable Oxygen Concentrators will be available.

When: Saturday, May 18, 2013, 10 am to 12 pm (followed by "Innovations in Lung Health" presentations, 1 to 4 pm)
Where: Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
             Meeting rooms: Commonwealth A,B,C,D
Speakers:  Pulmonary Fibrosis: Andrew Tager, MD; Gregory Cosgrove, MD; Pulmonary Hypertension: Paul R. Forfia, MD; Brian D. Hanna, MDCM, PhD; Harold Palevsky, MD; Darren Taichman, MD, PhD; Hermansky Pudlak Syndrome: Bernadette Gochuico, MD; Children's Interstitial Lung Disease: Robin Deterding, MD; Lymphangiomatosis & Gorham's Disease: Debra Boyer, MD; Lung Cancer: Rita S. Axelrod, MD; ARDS: Giora Netzer, MD, James Jackson, PsyD; Sleep Apnea: Michael Coppola, MD; Sarcoidosis: Dan Culver, DO; Lisa Maier, MD; Elliott Crouser, MD; Karen Patterson, MD; Joseph Parambil, MD; COPD: Scott Ceretta, RT; Byron Thomashow, MD; Scleroderma: Aryeh Fischer, MD.

To RSVP, or for more information, please contact Mr. Courtney L. White at cwhite@thoracic.org or (212) 315-8640.

Penn Lung Transplant Support Group: Financial Planning

Please join us for the next meeting of the Penn Lung Transplant Support Group:

Date: Monday, May 13, 2013
Time: 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Location: Penn Tower, 399 South 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104; 4th Floor, Gates Conference Room
Topic: Financial Planning

A sound financial strategy is a critical component of pre and post lung transplant planning.  This month’s lung transplant support group will provide helpful information on important issues for those awaiting lung transplant and those who have received a lung transplant and are currently taking immunosuppressive medications.

To help patients and their caregivers understand these important financial issues, our guest for the Monday, May 13 support group is Penn Transplant Financial Manager, Andrew Haas. Andrew will join lung transplant social worker, Christopher Erickson, MSW, LCSW, and the following topics will be discussed:

• Lung transplant insurance coverage including Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance
• Social security and private long and short term disability
• Financial assistance, including pharmaceutical patient assistance programs, copay coupons, copay assistance grants
• Fundraising

Patients and their caregivers are invited to join us for this informative session. For more information about the session, please contact Christopher Erickson at 215-662-4575. We look forward to seeing you next week.

New Records Set at the 2013 DASH for Organ Donor Awareness

The DASH for Organ Donor Awareness is a special day every year, but this year’s DASH was record breaking for Team Penn Medicine and Gift of Life Donor Program.

On Sunday morning, 10,000 people gathered at the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum to celebrate transplant successes, honor the legacies of organ donors and support those awaiting transplant.  In addition to many individual teams started by Penn patients and their friends and families, Team Penn Medicine set a new record for participants with more than 250 members who raised more than $10,000 – double the $5,000 fund raising goal set by team captain Rebecca Farrell, BSN, RN, CCTN, liver transplant coordinator at the Penn Transplant Institute.

“The success of this year’s DASH is really a testimony to the generosity of our patients, their families and caregivers and our staff,” says Farrell. “Thanks to them, we were able to significantly contribute to funding the important community education work of the Gift of Life Donor Program.”

With hundreds of Penn patients and families participating, we couldn’t possibly include them all but did want to include a few photos of the lung transplant staff and patients who were able to join us for the day. 

Lung transplant recipient John McHale returned to the DASH for the fourth year 

with his team “Breathin’ Easy.”

Lung transplant patient George Alburger celebrated the second year of 

“Team Air George” with Penn Transplant staff member Margaret Leid.

Lou Ann Norton, MS, RRT signed up to share on Facebook her reason for doing the DASH. 

She let all her Facebook friends know that she was doing the DASH for all her pulmonary rehab 

patients who have received lung transplants and for those who are waiting.

Team Penn Medicine on the steps of the Art Museum.

If you were at the DASH send along your photos and let us know in the comments below what made the DASH great for you this year?