To see Jeff Sherr, one would never suspect that he is a member of what many consider an endangered species; that is, he is a very successful businessman who happens to have a heart of gold. It’s obvious not only when one takes a look at how well Apple Drugs has done under his leadership but also when you see the warm smile and twinkling eyes of an elderly customer as he approaches to greet her as if she were his favorite aunt. It’s also in the voice of one of his 135 employees as it streams through the speaker of his office’s intercom, referring to Apple Drugs’ president and CEO as “hon” after she thanks him for answering her question. But that’s just Jeff Sherr. And that’s his company, Apple Drugs — quite possibly the community’s best friend and ally when it comes to family health care.

In fact, Sherr recently extended Apple’s community outreach to all-new lengths with the debut of his latest initiative: Apple Drugs’ Diabetes Resource Center.

When you examine the statistics, it almost looks as if there were an incipient epidemic on the Eastern Shore. If the rate of diabetes is seven percent nationwide and 6.9 percent in the state of Maryland, why is the rate for the tri-county region of Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset an astonishing 14.3 percent? From heredity and lifestyle to ethnicity and culture, the reasons are too many to easily enumerate. But there’s good news, too.

More than almost any other potentially fatal disease, the impact that diabetes makes on one’s life is influenced, even determined, by the one who has it. And that’s the whole foundation of Sherr’s new pet project.

Operating out of the Fruitland and Berlin locations, Apple Drugs’ Diabetes Resource Center provides classes, screenings, private counseling and equipment instruction at absolutely no charge to the patient. So, whether it’s assisting you in the management of your medication, teaching you how to use your blood-glucose monitor or procuring for you a pair of custom-fitted diabetic shoes and socks, Apple Drugs’ Diabetes Resource Center is there to help without inflicting insult or injury to your wallet.

“The goal of the Apple Drugs’ Diabetes Resource Center,” stated John Motsko, R.Ph., Sherr’s hand-picked program administrator and a professional who has spent 35 of his 40 years in pharmacy working in the diabetes environment, “is to make patients aware of the role they play in the management of their disease by giving them the education and resources necessary to take ownership of it. By partnering with us, their physicians and the community’s certified diabetes educators, people with diabetes will not only wind up reducing the cost of their own health care, they will substantially improve the quality of their lives.”

Actually, a recent study in Australia documented the medical profiles of patients in 60 pharmacies, half of whom had pharmacists participating directly with them in the management of their diseases while the other half did not. The results were that the patients who had participatory pharmacists fared much better than those who didn’t in terms of both disease management and overall quality of health. These results were seen again in the United States, with the North Carolina-based “Asheville Project.”

“It wasn’t a big surprise when I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic,” said Rebecca Meilhammer. “My mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all diabetic… so I saw with my very own eyes what could happen if I didn’t learn how to manage my disease.

“My doctor suggested I go to Apple for the supplies I needed after I was first diagnosed; I ended up getting so much more out of my trip to the drug store,” praised Meilhammer, who also credits Apple Drugs’ DRC with teaching her how to inject herself, read her blood-glucose meter and put on her support hose. “I have lost weight and feel so much better now that I am eating healthier foods and exercising. I actually haven’t had to go back to my doctor for education or questions since I was diagnosed.”

As you might expect, the community so far has taken to the program like moths to a flame. Not only are the monthly classes attended by people from all socioeconomic and educational levels, health care professionals (including at least one M.D.), too, have reaped the benefits of Apple’s Diabetes Resource Center. To Motsko, however, this all makes perfect sense.

“Patients with diabetes see their pharmacists five to seven times more a year than they do their other health care providers,” said Motsko, who is dedicated full-time and exclusively to the Apple DRC. “It is this frequency that lays the groundwork perfectly for the kind of high-quality interaction and disease management between the patient and the pharmacist that results in longer, happier, healthier lives. And since health care professionals care about these issues as much as patients do, of course they want to participate in the process as well.”

Apple Drugs’ Diabetes Resource Center holds an introductory diabetes class on the fourth Wednesday of each month that is facilitated by Motsko, though private counseling is available by appointment. Additionally, there is a carbohydrate-counting class and an insulin-pump-information class provided by Medtronic on the third Wednesday of the month.

Apple also holds diabetes screenings throughout the year and on Nov. 10 will host the HealthMart “Health Across America” bus, a national initiative designed to raise awareness about the role of the pharmacist as health care counselor in the management of diabetes.

For more information, call John Motsko at 410-749-8401 or write to him at john@appledrugs.com. Rt. 13 S. & Cedar Ln., Fruitland, Md., 410-749-8401; Rt. 113 & Franklin Ave., Berlin, Md., 410-641-3130; 1500 Pemberton Dr., Salisbury, Md., 410-543-8401, www.appledrugs.com.