Betty Bell in 1978.
Honoring Betty Bell
An advertisement in a magazine led Betty Bell to Wilcox Medical Center.
The rest is history.
BETTY WAS RUNNING A PHARMACY IN
INDIANA WHEN SHE SAW THE JOB LISTING FOR
A PHARMACIST ON KAUA‘I. “Being footloose and
fancy-shirt free, I decided that I would apply and I was
accepted,” Betty said. Two weeks later, she was on a
plane for the Islands.
When Betty arrived in 1966, she did more than fill a
position — she became the first pharmacist on Kaua‘i.
She immediately worked to have the pharmacy licensed
by the state. Betty also hired employees fluent in Filipino
and Japanese to translate the English-only medicine
instructions for non-English speakers.
“It was quite a change of environment,” Betty said. “I
was not accustomed to these medical plans that had
been provided to the population by the plantations. The
doctor’s offices were directly dispensing medicine. I had
to remind the doctors how to write prescriptions again.”
Soon the community adapted. Next, Betty started
to look at the internal workflow. She created a new
procedure, called the unit dose system, to increase
efficiency and reduce medication errors. Physicians were
required to fill out a detailed prescription order that
went to the pharmacy, nurses and the billing office. In
addition, each patient had a personalized drug profile
that outlined what medications they needed.
Another of Betty's innovations was the medicine
cart. It had a small tray for each patient that held his
or her prescriptions, physician orders and any other
important information from the other forms. This new
process saved time and eliminated unnecessary extra
checks and questions. “We had carts on each floor
and the pharmacy only needed to fill those carts about
every three days for the nurse deliveries,” Betty said.
It was so successful that it soon became standard
procedure for the state pharmacy system in the ‘70s
and was even adopted by hospitals across the nation.
From 1975 to 1980, Betty took on a leadership role
as CEO for Wilcox. During her time in charge, she
created an investment opportunity for Wilcox that also
benefitted seniors. “We had a problem with patients
who could no longer be taken care of by their family
and I wanted to find an alternative for the elderly
besides institutionalization,” Betty said. She helped
transform 9.3 acres behind the medical center into a
retirement complex known today as Sun Village.
“It worked out quite well and certainly proved a service
because there really wasn’t anything else available at
that time,” she said.
Wilcox Health Foundation has named Betty the
honorary chair of the 80 th Anniversary Campaign. It’s
an acknowledgement for a woman who came to Kaua‘i
by chance, and fortunately for Wilcox, was driven to
improve things for others.
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