Thank a pharmacist

The following article is dedicated to Jim Barnes who for more than 50 years has worked as a pharmacist.

Let’s thank a pharmacist and pharmacy staff who labor to help all of us when we need prescriptions. Moses no doubt would have said a word that has come to mean RX in English.

The word has its origins in the sign for healing in ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, 1240 AD was good for pharmacy, but bad for Christianity. In Africa the church lost its influence and numbers as Islam continued to spread.

At the same time, 1240 AD found the King of Sicily and the Emperor of Germany separating Pharmacy from medicine to make them two separate disciplines. Even before the Declaration of Independence was signed (1776), 1752 saw the first hospital pharmacy open in Pennsylvania.

Two different pharmacists also created Coca-Cola (1886) in Atlanta and another soda that was to spell like a drug store a year earlier in Waco (Dr. Pepper).

I am also thankful that the profession has advanced beyond it’s first licensed pharmacist Louis Dufilho, Jr. He opened his own pharmacy in New Orleans (1823) to provide Voodoo remedies.

I know with insurance and expense it is easy to forget that the individuals that work in the pharmacies are normal individuals that try very hard to serve their communities and customers. Remember when they help, say these two words, “thank you.”

This Sunday at 10:30 a.m. will be a special service that will have me explain what the Bible says about Heaven- First Baptist Church (1101 N. Main St., Sikeston).

If you have a question you would like answered for future columns email mathewvroman@gmail.com

Article statistics from: Tera Rowland, September 28, 2020, www.soliant.com