|
|
|
Our Customers: Testimonials
Beau Diab, owner/operator,
Petranek's Pharmacy, Libertyville, IL
|
 |
 Beau Diab, owner/operator
Trust a Kirby Lester
"Kirby Lester, a name you can trust and count on, has brought us the newest generation of pill counting machines! It's the only device that I rely on, in a pharmacy that has been serving the same community for 140 years."
|
Elizabeth Orange, PharmD,
Buffalo Grove, IL
|
|
 Elizabeth Orange, PharmD
KL1 Is Perfect Sized
"The KL1 makes counting so simple. The compact, innovative design fits anywhere and provides an accurate count every time."
|
Marty Hinterlong, Owner/R.Ph.
Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy, St. Clair, MO
|
|
 Marty Hinterlong, R.Ph.,
Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy
KL20 Essential To Prevent Errors, Increase Speed
"It is inexcusable if you are not using something like the KL20 to verify the accuracy of every single medication you are dispensing. Without a visual verification and barcode scan-match, everything is a risk."
Click here to read a case study about Medicine Shoppe.
|
Bob Greenwood
owner/R.Ph., Denver Drug, Denver, IA
|
|
 Pharmacy Technician,
Denver Drug
KL60 Is Right-Sized and Right-Priced
"A $150,000 robot would not have made sense. But the KL60 was perfect. If I hadn't installed the KL60, I would have had to hire at least a half-time to three quarters-time technician."
Click here to read a case study about Denver Drug, where the staff dispenses 40% of all orders through the KL60.
|
Jimmy Yuen, Owner/R.Ph.
Advance Medical Pharmacy, Walnut Creek, CA
|
|
 Pharmacy Technician,
Advance Medical Pharmacy
KL60 Fits Perfectly In California Pharmacy
"Our average daily volume is about 150 prescriptions, with peaks up to 200. But the Monday after the New Year holiday,
we saw that volume spike to 270. Thankfully we had the KL60. When I was looking for ways to improve my pharmacy's operation,
I considered a lot of technology, both robotics and counting machines. However, the KL60 is the only full automation machine with
a small footprint. It turned out to be a no-brainer. I am totally convinced the KL60 is the best value out there."
Read an interview and view an audio slide show with Jimmy Yuen in ComputerTalk, April 2010
|
David Alea, R.Ph.,
former owner/consultant, Dennis Pharmacy, Key West, FL
|
|
 David Alea, R.Ph and Collette Alea-Barroso, Pharm.D.
Dennis Pharmacy
Southernmost U.S. Pharmacy Relies on KL60
"As we grew to 250+ script days, it was more hectic than we wanted. We could feel the tension. A robotic dispenser was logical; the problem was that all robots were overkill for our needs, plus I would have had to remodel... For five years, I was waiting for a pharmacy automation company to design a device that handles about 60 or 70 fast movers. The KL60 was almost exactly my ideal quantity. What’s even more amazing, I've never had down time in two years."
Read a Case Study about the KL60 at Dennis Pharmacy, Key West, FL
|
Eric Lee, Owner/Pharm.D.,
Lee's Total Health, Sevierville, TN
|
|
 Eric Lee, Pharm.D.
Lee's Total Health
"The first thing that caught my eye was the footprint of the KL60 robot. Then I saw it held 60 medications — not 200. Then I saw the price. It was an easy choice to go with Kirby Lester for my pharmacy."
|
Chris Kaiser, VP of Operations,
USA Drug (regarding their Drug Warehouse pharmacy, Broken Arrow, OK)
|
|
 Bill Baldwin, R.Ph.
Drug Warehouse
Faster Dispensing with KL30 Enables Better Service
"If I can improve the pharmacy staff's quality of life and enhance customer service and escalate speed and accuracy for the cost of a KL30 versus the cost of a large robot, that makes perfect sense financially. We aren't afraid of using robotics when the volume warrants it. But there was no possible way to put one in our Broken Arrow, OK pharmacy. We needed to find a solution for our stores that warrant automation but just don't have the space. And the KL30 was the right solution at Broken Arrow."
|
Dr. Michael Kim, Owner,
Grubb's CARE Pharmacy, Washington, DC
|
|
 Justin Ortique, Technician
Grubb's CARE Pharmacy
KL20 and KL30 Don't Make Human Errors
"I looked at all the big pharmacy robots out there, but nothing would fit in my pharmacy. After seeing a demo of the KL20 and KL30, I knew that Kirby Lester had exactly what I was looking for: compact, reliable counting technology and workflow software all-in-one. They've already been worth the investment. Two weeks ago, we had a prescription for an extended-release medication that got filled with the standard formulation. The customer realized the difference and called me, saying we dispensed the wrong medication. I was furious that the Kirby Lester software didn't catch something so simple. I thought, 'Why in the world did I invest this money in technology?' As it turns out, it was our fault. The technician admitted she bypassed the Kirby Lester to save a few seconds, and she counted that order by hand. After that, I made a new staff policy: every order must go through the Kirby Lester. Our 12 staff technicians quickly understood that using it may seem like a few extra seconds per script, but it helps avoid errors. We know the Kirby Lester doesn't make human errors."
|
Greg Mitchell, Owner/Pharm.D.,
Medicine Shoppe, Lexington, MO
|
|
 Greg Mitchell, Owner/Pharm.D.,
Medicine Shoppe
Accuracy Needs Are Met With The Affordable KL20
"Like everyone else, I was facing lower margins and I was concerned about paying for such a huge investment (as a big robotic dispenser). I can't read the future, so I didn't want to be stuck with a $200,000 dinosaur after five years.
"With a KL20, my peace of mind comes from knowing that no pharmacist or tech can grab the wrong drug and get it bottled without the device beeping at them and demanding a 'why'."
|
Bill Mattson and Jason Mattson, R.Ph., Owners,
Ballin Pharmacy and Stone Medical Center Pharmacy, Chicago, IL
|
|
 Jason Mattson, R.Ph.
Ballin Pharmacy and Stone Medical Center
KL20 and KL30 Make The Difference
"The KL20 and KL30 give us control over our workflow — we've never had this level of checks and balances before. A pharmacy is one of the few places in our society where we need exact accuracy, every single time. We are using the devices to make sure we are always accurate.
"If you've used a Kirby Lester counter before, you're going to be thrilled. This is totally redesigned. At its heart, the KL20 and KL30 are still simple, compact, Kirby Lester counters — but with a ton of new functions. It is a big technology jump. And yet it's not intimidating at all. If you can navigate your way around a computer, you can easily handle this. The genius of any Kirby Lester counter is that it's tiny. With the KL20 and KL30, you get that same compact design, plus so much more. I have checks and balances, workflow software, interfacing, reports, and a counter — all in the same space I'd need to count with a plastic tray.
"The ability to interface with our pharmacy management system is a huge advantage. I love how every order from dispensing to verification is tied together. We used to spend a good chunk of every day hunting around for the status of this or that order. The KL20 and KL30 have all that information right at our fingertips. Knowing our techs are using the KL20 and KL30 makes my job as a pharmacist more reassuring. I have a sense of confidence that every order has been scanned and checked properly."
|
Sam Brian, Owner/R.Ph.
, Court House Pharmacy, Winnfield, LA
|
|
Can't do without a Kirby Lester for 20+ years
"I don't see how any pharmacy can operate without a Kirby Lester. It's indispensable - so simple, so accurate, and in my opinion — so necessary. I have used a Kirby Lester for more than 20 years, and when I retire, I'm taking it with me.
"I estimate my Kirby Lester equals about a fifth of a person in saved time. We do 80 to 100 scripts per day, and our Kirby Lester proves its value every single day. I tell every pharmacy owner I meet to buy one, and they won't ever regret it. In fact, every relief pharmacist I have ever employed wants to take it home."
|
Robert Polley, DVM,
Meadowbrook Veterinary Clinic, Peoria, IL
|
|
 Tracy Wehmeier
Certified Veterinary Technician
Meadowbrook Veterinary Clinic
Veterinary clinic saves time and labor during inventory counts
"As a member of the AAHA (American Animal Hospital Association), we have to follow very strict regulatory requirements, one of them being the accuracy of our controlled medications inventory. We watch our controlled meds like a hawk, and we have our technicians perform a monthly count. But it's inevitable to be off from time to time, and it's also a dull, dreaded task. The day the KL15e arrived, the technicians fell in love with it in about 10 minutes. This Kirby Lester really helps us save time and stay accurate."
|
Bill Shinkle, Operations Manager,
Low Cost Pharmacy, Indianapolis, IN
|
|
 Staff members at Low Cost Pharmacy
KL30 Fosters A Less Stressful Environment
"Our techs were just counting or recounting all the time, always churning. Now, the KL30 has freed up time to talk to customers. It's not as stressful of an environment. (By early afternoon today) we were already at 191 prescriptions, and it feels like a really easy day."
|
Bill Hnatyk, Owner/R.Ph.,
Medicine Shoppe, Punta Gorda, FL
|
|
Can't Dispense The Wrong Medication
"I feel like I've sold more Kirby Lesters than your own company. I am always telling other pharmacy owners who are thinking of investing in technology to take the step and buy one. They will wonder why they waited so long. I am up to four KL16 devices in my pharmacy, one for each of my dispensing stations. What I like the most is that the device speeds up our dispensing process, and it absolutely won't let you count the wrong product — it'll even flag it if you have the wrong pack size."
|
Shawn Parsons, R.Ph.
, U.S. Army
|
|
Supporting U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
"When I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, the pharmacy I took over had two KL15e pill counters. I don't know how long they had been there, but both ran without any trouble throughout my entire deployment. This was in a dusty environment of a wooden hut with a cement floor. Through dust storms, blizzards, summer heat, and repeated use, the Kirby Lesters continued to work. On top of dispensing routine prescriptions, we used them to count thousands of doses of doxycycline that we pre-packed for malaria prophylaxis. We even transported them in the back of a truck on a monthly basis to another pharmacy to perform inventories, with never a problem. The Kirby Lesters were an immeasurable asset for the pharmacy."
|
Mary Pergiovanni, Founder of Little Friends Intl. Humanitarian Group, Cromwell, CT
|
|
Maureen Romano, R.N.
Little Friends Intl. Volunteer
KL15e was a godsend in Honduras
"Thank you, Kirby Lester, for your kindness! Your donation of a tablet counter made our work so much easier. It was, without exaggeration, a godsend to us! We counted and dispensed more than 100,000 vitamins and another 3,700 filled prescriptions in less than five days for flood victims in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Even with 95 percent humidity and rain, the Kirby Lester kept counting and counting. Having the counter freed up our volunteers to work directly with the 3,000 patients who needed medical and dental aid. There is only a tiny window of time where we can open the thousands of bottles of vitamins and dose them the day before the clinic opens, and then be ready to start seeing patients and filling new prescriptions early the next morning. We also were able to quickly assemble large boxes of counted medicines for our team to take to the flood-stricken areas. We were able to handle this because the Kirby Lester made it a breeze."
|
Ted Vigeant, President, Reliance Vitamin Co., Somerset, NJ
|
|
The Perfect QC Tool In A Manufacturing Plant
"For more than 15 years, we have used both KL15 and KL50ic devices for quality checks on our packaging lines. They are small, compact and take up a minimal amount of space. They are economical, easy to use and take just a couple minutes to clean between runs. And just as advertised, they accurately count any shape or size tablet, capsule, even softgels. Compared to hand-counting, this saves us a lot of time and work.
"Several times a year we also use a Kirby Lester to finish off partial orders where we may have half a box of product left over from a bottling run. We call that a "Kirby Run". It helps us maximize the value of the product without setting up a whole line for a small run."
|
Nicole Hachmann, R.Ph., Hartig USA Drug Stores,
Dubuque, IA
|
|
Nicole Hachmann, R.Ph.
Hartig USA Drug Store
Simple To Learn!
"How long did it take our staff to learn the KL15e? About 15 minutes. There's really nothing to it. I've used other automated systems and it takes longer to clean them than it does to learn how to operate a Kirby Lester.
"Store management considered robotics, but the ROI didn't seem to be there. Hartig elected to go with Kirby Lester and invest in additional technicians instead. For us, Kirby Lester is a tool that enables us to have more face-to-face contact with the customer. Better service means better business."
|
Bruce Gingrich, Owner/R.Ph.
LifeChek Pharmacy,
Rosenberg, TX
|
|
 Tronoun Thomas, R.Ph.
LifeChek Pharmacy
KL16 for 100% Verification
"You can't do enough to ward off errors. It wasn't good
enough to just use technology to verify the accuracy and safety of only
the highest moving orders (in our robotic dispensers). What about all
the other orders? Should we short-cut our safety processes just because
a medication isn't in our top-100 list? Of course not. And what about
our stores that just don't have the volume to justify a robot? Should
we rely on counting trays only? The KL16 has been the perfect
complement to our robots in some of our pharmacies, and the perfect,
inexpensive alternative to robotics in our lower-volume stores.
"Operating a robotic device averages $12 per hour; a KL16 costs LifeChek
about $8-10 per day."
|
Dennis Olsen, IT Director,, MedVantx, Sioux Falls, SD
|
|
Old 'Kirby' was good, but new 'Kirby' is great
"Our mail order pharmacy fills 2,000 orders per day. Recently during one very busy period, we were using our new KL15e tablet counter, plus we were using our older Kirby Lester models at different dispensing stations. In essence we were running a head-to-head comparison. And we thought the newer KL15e was great. We were really impressed by how well it counts, The new tray with the clear lid is a huge improvement over the old tray. It is much easier to pour tablets into a vial without worrying about spilling them — especially with higher counts like 90s and 120s. We plan to order more KL15e devices for our other dispensing stations. They're the best way to count pills that are dusty or fragile, and they handle medications that just don't count accurately through other types of pharmacy machines."
|
John Nord, Owner/R.Ph.
Nord's Pharmacy & Gifts,
Fosston, MN
|
|
 John Nord, R.Ph.
Nord's Pharmacy & Gifts
Money and Inventory Time Savings
"I bought a KL15e to have in time for our inventory, hoping that it would just fine-tune our count accuracy here or there. Within a half hour of taking it out of the box, we found with Nexium we were 410 tablets longer than what our pharmacy management system was showing to reorder. That was a $2,000 discovery! Half of the machine's cost just paid for itself immediately. And it got better. We then conducted our monthly C-II inventory. Using the Kirby Lester, we completed it in about half the time. So a $2,000 restock avoidance plus cutting our labor in half — I definitely think this machine was worth it."
|
Brian Bobrovicz, Owner/R.Ph.
Star Medical Center Pharmacy, Duncan, OK
|
|
Jenny Head, Technician
Star Medical Center
Essential Tool for the Pharmacy
"I'm the type that agonizes over any capital expenditure. I want to guarantee that I absolutely need it. After having my Kirby Lester for just a couple months, I had to admit that this thing is an essential. I can't imagine being without it.
"It's never off on a count - never! Plus it's a huge time-saver, especially since we do a lot of 120- and 180-counts. Years ago we had one of the old Kirby Lesters with the light bulb. That's ancient technology compared to this KL15. This thing is pretty cleverly designed!'"
|
Police Captain Bob Kolenda,
Kansas
|
|
Helpful Tool for Police Investigation
"After a pharmacy robbery seizure, we had to photograph, count and package 20,500 medications. One of our detectives was able to complete the job in 7 hours, versus days. We did spot-checks, and every time, the (Kirby Lester KL15) tally was exactly accurate. That saved the detective a tremendous amount of time, not to mention anxiety about keeping an active count."
|
Anne Barr, Owner/R.Ph.
Countryside Pharmacy, Savannah, MO
|
|
 Anne Barr, R.Ph.
Countryside Pharmacy
Improved Workflow
"I love the Kirby Lester. Our techs love it. They wouldn't go back to a counting tray for anything. Our Kirby Lester really streamlines our workflow. Filling a prescription is just a matter of fingerprinting, scanning and pouring. It's fast. It's easy to set up and learn. And talk about simplicity, Kirby Lester counts any size and shape of oral solid without having to stop and think about it. You never have to calibrate — which is one less time-consuming step in your hectic day.
"Customer complaints are definitely down because of the accuracy and tracking features of our KL16. When I do get a customer call, our Kirby enables me to quickly verify if and when the prescription was filled, and the number of meds dispensed. I then ask the customer to go back and double check. They usually call me back explaining they were the ones who made the mistake.
"I chose the KL16 because it didn't make sense to spend more money on some other system that did less. I could spend $150,000 on an automated system. But then I'd have to spend $100,000 on inventory to fill that system — even then, I still couldn't process all my prescriptions through it. Plus, I'd have to track lot numbers and expiration dates. With my Kirby, I don't have those issues. I can keep a minimum inventory. I can count all my tablets and capsules. And I can barcode scan everything through my Kirby — even liquids and contraceptives. That's a lot of device for the price."
|
READ ADDITIONAL TESTIMONIALS >>>
|
