Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy, located in the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington, utilizes technology and innovation to care for the underserved tribal communities through education and service.
By positioning themselves as a part of the health care team, providing clinical services, and creating easily accessible quality healthcare, Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy is changing the lives of the tribal members in their community and surrounding tribal communities
Tulalip uses Parata WellSpot™ Prescription Pick-Up Lockers to increase accessibility and convenience to patients who work long hours or just have difficulties getting to the pharmacy. A large percentage of the Tulalip Tribe work long hours at the 24-hour Tulalip Resort Casino so the pharmacy installed WellSpot prescription lockers to ensure everyone, including tribal members working at the Casino, have constant access to their medications.
“With the time they save using automated vial filling technology, Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy dedicates time to really create beneficial programs to serve the tribal community”
Kelvin Lee, pharmacy director of Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy, is passionate about making a difference in the opioid epidemic. American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) face opioid-related fatalities at three times the rate for Blacks and Hispanic Whites (Murphy et al., 2014). Lee’s vision for the WellSpot prescription lockers is to create a program in which he uses kiosks to make naloxone kits easily available for tribal members and to promote the use of emergency kits.
With the time they save by using automated vial filling technology, Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy creates beneficial programs to serve the tribal community. In addition to kiosks, Tulalip was able to design a robust vaccination program which included collaborations with the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, curbside vaccination clinics, and vaccination clinics at local schools. “American Indian and Alaska Native people have suffered a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 illness during the pandemic,” said CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, M.D. Tulalip Clinical Pharmacy administered thousands of vaccines through its various outreach programs and continuously evolves to find more ways to serve the tribal community.
Lee is always looking for innovative ways to support the tribal community. As he says, “The more efficient we are, the more people we can reach on the reservation.”