Custom-Flavored Medicine for Your Child. How cool is that?

Turns out, very cool. At our core, we are devoted to helping children (and you, their parents) avoid that all-too-common struggle to take medicine because it either tastes awful or because it’s just no fun to be sick. Not sure if you came here looking for a new best friend, but you just found one.

Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. Remember what it was like to take medicine when you were a kid? Fond memories, are they? You might be surprised to learn that not much has changed since then. The drugs you were taking to get better as a child are pretty much the same ones your child will be taking to get better now. You know what else hasn’t changed? Kids still really don’t like taking medicine. Except now parents (that would be you) have FLAVORx on their side and the tide has officially turned in the battle to get kids to take their medicine.

“Drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them.” – C. Everett Koop

Getting your child’s medicine custom-flavored is so easy, we thought we’d break it down into these quick steps.

• Step 1:  When you go to the pharmacy to drop-off or pick-up your child’s prescription, simply tell   the pharmacist or pharmacy technician that you’d like the medication custom-flavored with FLAVORx. They should ask you which flavor your child would like or even recommend a few options. 
• Step 2:  Wait a few minutes for the pharmacist to fill and flavor the medication.

Well, that’s it. There really isn’t anything else for you to do. After you’ve picked the best flavor the pharmacist will add the appropriate ingredients to the medications per our detailed instructions and the medicine you take home will now taste like the flavor you or your child selected. How easy was that?

Now in some cases, when you request FLAVORx, the pharmacist may tell you that the medicine is already flavored. This is true. Every liquid medication has a flavor added to it by the drug manufacturer before it gets to the pharmacy. This doesn’t mean it tastes good. It also doesn’t mean it’s a flavor your child likes. Unless you’re happy with the flavor of the medicine as-is, it’s still OK to have FLAVORx added. Our products are designed to override the existing taste of the medicine and make it taste like the flavor you and your child requested.

All of our flavors are sugar free, dye free, gluten free, and casein free.  We also test our flavors to make sure they don’t change how the medicine works. Did we mention FLAVORx has been used in over 50 million medications?

Initially printed in the Pennsylvania Pharmacist Magazine, Sept/Oct 2013 Edition

ALTOBELLI COMMUNITY PHARMACY
Since 1979, Choice Health Services has been centered on one thing: Family.

“Caring For You Like Family” has been Choice’s motto since its beginning days in 1979, when Andrew Altobelli, R.Ph., his wife Susan and children Jennifer and Matthew, bought East Berlin Pharmacy on West King Street in East Berlin. In those days, and for six years after, Andrew was the only pharmacist on staff. His family lived above the pharmacy while he worked 68 hours a week.

“We are a servant to the public,” Andrew said. “We provide what is needed to be helpful.” 

Living upstairs and working in the pharmacy since she was old enough to “wipe a shelf” inspired Andrew’s daughter, Jennifer DeRienzo, to become a pharmacist as well. Today Jennifer is part owner and works at the family’s fourth pharmacy, Choice Family Pharmacy in McSherrystown.

Sitting in with Jennifer and Andrew at the interview is Andrew’s youngest grandson Mario. Jennifer works part time at Choice Family Pharmacy. Jennifer along with her husband Phil, also a full time pharmacist at East Berlin Pharmacy, are carrying on a family tradition by balancing work and raising 6 children. Upon graduating from Duquesne Mylan School of Pharmacy in 2001 Jennifer left for a year residency in Tennessee.

“At that time Tennessee Pharmacies were able to provide services such as Immunizations, which could not be done in Pennsylvania because of state law.” Jennifer said.

After coming back to Pennsylvania, Jennifer brought new ideas to her family’s pharmacy. Today Jennifer and her staff have developed unique services to meet the needs of their community.

When East Berlin Pharmacy first opened it was a struggling pharmacy. “We tried to give it our best efforts,” Andrew said. “We hated to turn someone away.”

Today, East Berlin Pharmacy and the rest of Choice Health Services still focus on providing everything they can for their customers. Andrew likes to call his pharmacies the ‘one stop shop’.