From the Jan. 23 edition of the Register-News
By:
Resident grateful
for kind pharmacist
To the editor:
I am writing this letter to publicly thank Edward Tootell, resident pharmacist, at Boyd’s Pharmacy in Homestead, Mansfield Township.
In this day and age of poor customer service, Mr. Tootell is uniquely customer focused.
Friends of mine, a husband and wife, who are both suffering from metastatic cancer, were in need of a special drug to protect the husband’s thyroid during a surgical procedure involving radiation therapy.
He needed to take it 48 hours prior to his surgery which would be at the University of Pennsylvania on the following Monday.
The pharmacist from an area supermarket guaranteed he would have the drug or that he would call her to give her enough notice to go else where if he was unable to obtain it.
Friday evening, my friend’s wife went to the pharmacy to pick up the drug. It was 6:16 p.m. on a Friday night when she called me in a panic, saying that the pharmacist did not get the drug nor did he call her earlier.
She was hoping that since I work for a hospital, I would be able to help her. Although they had the drug, our hospital does not provide retail directly to the public.
If the supermarket pharmacist or another licensed person was willing to pick it up, the hospital would have dispensed it, but the pharmacist would not go and would not send a tech.
Not knowing where else to turn, I called my old friend from high school, Edward "Don" Tootell, and asked if he could help her out.
He made a few phone calls and called me back and said he would have the drug early Saturday morning. He went out of his way early Saturday morning to pick-up the drug from Virtua-Memorial Hospital and bring it to Boyd’s in Homestead where my friend could easily pick it up and give her husband the first dose.
His caring nature allowed my friend to successfully undergo surgery on Monday morning as planned.
People that go out of their way to help others need to be recognized. I am so tired of hearing about all the awful people in this world when there are still quite a few good ones.
Thanks, Don!
Monica Lozaga
Columbus
War’s not
a good idea
To the editor:
I have attended most of the major peace rallies and anti-war marches in this area since the United States began bombing Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001.
For many reasons, I do not believe that war is the answer to the problems of our new millennium. And while the rally held this past weekend in Washington, D.C. was not the largest, I believe it was the most significant. People came out on a cold winter day, from all walks of life, from many parts of the country, to speak out against war.
I traveled from Princeton to Washington on one of the six buses that left there with over 300 concerned citizens from our area. We were law-abiding, tax-paying, freedom-loving Americans, many of who vote and are concerned with the future of our nation.
When we arrived at the nation’s capital, we met people who came from Mississippi, Maine, Minnesota and many other states. They traveled for long hours to have their voices heard. There were groups from all political persuasions and religious beliefs. There were high school students and senior citizens. There were many veterans including Vietnam Vets Against the War (VVAW) and Veterans for Peace. It was an incredible cross-section of mainstream American populace.
The messages that were conveyed at the rally varied, but the main belief is that the United States should proceed with caution, care, and diplomacy in its relationship with the Middle East. I believe that most Americans do not support the threat of war that the Bush administration has been promoting. I also believe that a war in Iraq will not curb terrorism, but instead have quite the opposite effect. War with Iraq, or anywhere in the world, will only lead to more terrorist actions.
While I do not support Saddam Hussein, I do not agree with our president’s dictate that, "You are either with us or you are with the terrorists." If the United States wages war on Iraq, I will not support it and I know I am not alone.
When I hear other peace activists speak out and when I see anti-war coverage in the media, I am hopeful that war can be avoided. With enough public pressure, perhaps our leaders will get the message that we don’t want war.
One protest sign that I saw at the rally said it very nicely, "It’s just not a good idea."
Jim Downey
Bordentown City

