California-Pharmacist-Winter-2024 - Flipbook - Page 38
diseases can worsen health concerns.
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs, safety is the second need in the
pyramid of the five needs; thus, it is
critical to have safety to live a full life.7
John Rawls established the concept of
justice as fairness in his book A Theory
of Justice. He lays the foundation of
justice as fairness for all individuals in
a society.8 Rawls states that institutions
created by people must be fair to all
individuals.8 Unfortunately, there are
people who fall through the cracks of
this societal arrangement. The individuals who are chronically unhoused do
not receive the standard protections
by society. In the incidence of missing
medications, the basic need of safety
is absent, which creates a disparity
of health by increasing the risk of increased disease burden or death.
Caring for the Most Vulnerable
The most vulnerable in our society
need special consideration for equitable access to healthcare services due
to their socioeconomic situations. For
unhoused individuals, health equity
includes uninterrupted medication
therapy. As healthcare providers,
pharmacists have a duty to serve all
people who need our care. The duty
to care arose from the concept of the
categorical imperative by Immanuel
Kant:9 the categorical imperative states
that individuals ought to abide by maxims that can become universal law.9
Simplistically, do unto others as you
would have them do unto you. Healthcare professionals take this duty one
step further by committing to a career
of service to others. Our duty to care
is outlined in the oath we take when
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vol. 71, no. 4 | California Pharmacist
we put on our white coats. We have a
moral obligation to care for every individual – especially the most vulnerable
in our society. We must ensure that no
one slips through the cracks. Justice for
unhoused individuals is ensuring that
there is safety and security for them;
one aspect of safety and security is
assuring their medications are protected from theft or other loss. Protecting
their medications is one part of the
whole of providing stable access to
healthcare services, but it is a step in
the right direction.
Making a Diference
There are outreach programs established to help the unhoused communities in California. The Symba Center in
Victorville, California, is one example of an organization that ensures
unhoused communities in the surrounding areas have access to quality
healthcare. Organizations such as the
Symba Center make a meaningful contribution to closing the gap of health
disparities the unhoused communities
face. Through connecting the unhoused communities to social services,
healthcare services, and rehabilitation
services, unhoused individuals can
receive the care they need.
Lost, stolen, and discarded medications are a chronic problem people in
the unhoused community face. It can
lead to worsening health concerns and
broaden the gap of health disparities
encountered by this community. What
else can pharmacists do throughout
California to ensure that all individuals
receive the safety and security of their
medications and overall healthcare
required to be healthy?
References
1. Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2009).
Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University Press. Page 241.
2. Barr DA. (2008). Health disparities in the
United States: Social class, race, ethnicity, and
health. Johns Hopkins University Press. Page 73.
3. de Sousa T, Andrichik A, Cuellar M, Marson J,
Prestera E, Rush K. (2022, December). The 2022
Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR)
to Congress. The 2022 Annual Homelessness
Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress: Part 1:
Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness. www.
hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/ahar.
4. Lelyveld N. (2020, February 29). When
homeless people lose their possessions, they
end up further from leaving the streets. Los
Angeles Times. www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-29/homeless-population-stolen-possessions-cleaning-sweep.
5. State of California Health and Human Services
Agency Department of Health Care Services.
(2020, May 13). Fee-for-Service Pharmacy
Benefit Reminders and Clarifications - UPDATED. www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/COVID-19/
Guidance-for-FFS-Pharmacy-BenefitUPDATE-051320.pdf.
6. World Health Organization. Constitution of
the World Health Organization. www.who.int/
about/governance/constitution. Accessed Nov.
17, 2024.
7. Maslow AH. A Theory of Human Motivation
(Hardcover Library Edition). Kindle Edition.
8. Rawls J. (1999). A theory of justice. Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press.
9. Kant I. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of
Morals (Rethinking the Western Tradition) (pp.
41-42). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
