Elephant Pharmacy Launches In-Store Education Programs to Help Fill the Void in Healthcare; New Berkeley Pharmacy Hosting 200 Free Classes during the Month of March

Business Wire,  Feb 20, 2003  

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Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2003

Elephant Pharmacy announces the official launch of its in-store education programs. The classes are taught by a diverse group of East Bay health practitioners, from herbalists to MDs, who will present a variety of approaches to health and wellness from around the world. The store is celebrating with a month-long giveaway of 200 free events, including classes, workshops, book signings, and health screenings.

"We believe that our customers are busy people who struggle with an unresponsive healthcare system, and therefore are not getting all of the answers they need," said Stuart Skorman, chairman and CEO of Elephant Pharmacy. "We're offering customers easy access to friendly, trained health and wellness experts as part of their daily shopping experience."

Classes are free and typically last about an hour, while hands-on workshops usually run 90 to 120 minutes. Some of the topics for March include massage workshops, techniques for quitting smoking and other negative habits, creative exercises for pregnant mothers, homeopathy for common childhood complaints, bone density and body fat screenings, wrinkle cures, tips on how to make visits to your doctor more efficient, and flower arranging. A sampling of some of the program's highlights includes the following (a complete schedule is available at http://www.elephantpharmacy.com/calendar/index.html):

-- Meditation (Not Medication) Prescribed by the Doctor with Naras Bhat, M.D., F.A.C.P. Bhat is a professor of behavioral medicine at Cybernetix Medical Institute who teaches meditation and integrative medicine at the University of California, Berkeley. Saturday, March 22 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. (at Cafe de la Paz, across the street from Elephant Pharmacy)

-- Menopause & PMS: A Workshop with Lani Simpson, D.C. Simpson is a consultant for women in menopause and other hormone-related conditions and teaches seminars across the country for health care providers. Sunday, March 9 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. (at Cafe de la Paz, across the street from Elephant Pharmacy)

-- Herb Safety: What You Need to Know with Christopher Hobbs, L.Ac., A.H.G., Hobbs is a world-renowned, fourth-generation clinical herbalist and licensed acupuncturist. Saturday, March 1 at 4 p.m. and Saturday, March 22 at 3 p.m.

The free classes are one of four customer education programs created by Elephant Pharmacy. The pharmacy also offers free access to its staff of trained advice practitioners, who are in the store daily between 3 and 7 p.m. The practitioner staff includes registered nurses, a nutritionist, a homeopath, and an Ayurvedic herbalist, among others. In addition, Elephant educates and informs customers with its editorial content, which is built into store fixtures and thus integrated into the consumer shopping experience. Elephant Pharmacy also educates customers with thousands of health and wellness books. The books are being placed on the top shelf throughout the store so they can be merchandised near relevant products and provide handy information for customers and employees.

About Elephant Pharmacy

Elephant Pharmacy is a new 13,000-square-foot pharmacy located in the heart of Berkeley at 1607 Shattuck Avenue. The store is transforming the pharmacy industry with its high-service model and its focus on bringing together under one roof a complete selection of over-the-counter drugs, and prescription medicines, as well as the a huge selection of complementary and alternative remedies from around the world.

Elephant Pharmacy, which opened in November 2002, includes the largest selections of vitamins in the East Bay, plus a full-service herb pharmacy with an unprecedented assortment of high-quality Chinese, Ayurvedic, and Western herbs. It offers customers a state-of-the-art one-hour photo lab, a fresh flower store, and a variety of health and wellness products, from yoga products to candles, meditation tapes, and health snacks. The store also specializes in natural cosmetics, toys, stationery, lifestyle products, and an unrivaled selection of greeting cards. Elephant Pharmacy's Web site is located at www.elephantpharmacy.com.

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