Greg Low
Greg Low
VA Omnicell Administrator, RPhT
Vancouver General Hospital
Profile submitted by:
Amanda Driver, Hans Haag and Ming Chang on behalf of VGH Pharmacy
Brief description of role or responsibilities
Greg Low is a registered pharmacy technician who manages all of the automated dispensing cabinets or “Omnicells” located throughout the Vancouver Acute (VA) sites including Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), UBC Hospital and GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre (GFS).
Description of roles to improve patient care or provide pharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic Greg put in countless hours to ensure all medication dispensing cabinets remained operational despite temporary patient care unit movements and other operational changes that occurred. This included setting up a new cabinet in the ICU COVID isolation unit, as well as in the medicine COVID cohort units. Greg ensured that these new patient care areas were equipped with the appropriate medications, which involved going into COVID “hot zones” that many pharmacy team members were not required to enter. We all witnessed Greg working late into the evenings as he helped ensure that the provision of medications was not disrupted despite the many (and often rapid) changes to patient care units.
In addition to his contributions to the COVID units he completed many pre-existing projects including a refresh project for all VA sites (VGH, UBCH and GFS) which involved the installation of 88 new medication dispensing cabinets. He also worked on the VGH operating room renewal project and the UBC hospital renewal project which involved expansion of the services provided to these areas.
Description of impact to improve patient care or provide pharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic
Greg ensured that there were no interruptions in the provision of pharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic. He helped to guarantee that the teams providing care to COVID-19 positive patients had access to necessary medications by setting up new medication dispensing cabinets in the COVID units. Although much of his work on the front line happened in the healthcare shadows, he was instrumental in setting up the COVID cohort units and ensuring that teams were able to provide optimal care for the patients admitted to these units.