Pharmacy

Beacon Home Care Pharmacy is the former Mar-Main Pharmacy.  Mar–Main was established in 1923 and got its name from its location on the corner of Marian Avenue and Main Street.  Mar-Main started out as a typical pharmacy of its time which included a soda fountain that soon became the place for doctors and staff from Memorial Hospital to take their breaks.  As chain pharmacies started becoming more and more common, Mar-Main evolved into a compounding and specialty pharmacy.  In 1974, Mar-Main moved to their Michigan Street location, which was literally across the street from its original location.   Memorial Hospital eventually purchased Mar-Main and merged it with their home infusion pharmacy at their current location of 3355 Douglas Road in South Bend.

The pharmacists at Beacon Home Care Pharmacy specialize in compounding medications into forms that people of all ages (and animals) can take, all the while ensuring that they are compounding pharmaceutically elegant and stable drugs.  Another interesting fact is that they are, for lack of a better word, a helpline for local physicians, dentists and veterinarians who have questions about virtually any medication.

Beacon Home Care Pharmacy is affiliated with PCCA, Professional Compounding Centers of America.  PCCA is the complete resource for independent compounding pharmacies, providing high-quality products, next-level education and above-and-beyond support.  We compound capsules, topical creams, suppositories, injections, troches, suspensions, sublingual drops, intrathecals, medication lollipops, mouthwashes and eye drops.  We have a beautiful retail location that features Pure and Now brand vitamins as well as the natural skin care product line Derma E.

Beacon Home Care Pharmacy is Joint Commission accredited.   This means that we are in compliance with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) standards. The program recognizes organizations that demonstrate excellence in medication compounding, focusing on the following topics:
• People: training, proper use of personal protective equipment, aseptic technique
• Product: sterility of base products, beyond use dates, labeling
• Environment: airflow, buffer areas, guidelines for cleaning and documentation, storage.

To contact Beacon Home Care Compounding call 574-647-8550.

To contact Beacon Home Care Home Infusion call 574-647-8675.

Most commercially available medications can treat most of the people most of the time, but not all the people all of the time. The solution to this is custom medication through compounding. What this means for you is a more personal, tailored way to manage your health.

Beacon Home Care is a PCCA (Professional Compounding Centers of America) affiliated compounding pharmacy. Compounding is the traditional method of creating “custom” medications to meet the unique needs of the patient.   Some conditions are best treated with medications that are not available in standard commercial formulations. With a compounded prescription, you get the most effective treatment, delivered in the most appropriate and convenient dosage form. Examples of when compounded prescriptions are useful include:

• To create customized medications for patients who cannot tolerate inactive ingredients such as gluten, lactose, preservatives, and dyes found in manufactured medicines or has sensitivities or allergies to any ingredients of a commercially available medication.
• To treat hormonal imbalances by providing hormone replacement therapy tailored to a patient’s unique hormone profile.
• To help a child who cannot take a pill, is sensitive to additives found in mass-manufactured medications, needs a liquid version of a medication, or requires a smaller dose than what is available through mass manufactured medicines.
• To adjust the strength of a medication.
• To change the dosage form of a medication for patients who, for example, have difficulty swallowing pills. We can create liquids, troche/lollipop, transdermal/topical creams, suppositories, or other dosage forms suitable for patients’ unique needs.
• To make a pet’s medication easier to administer by dosage form and flavoring.
• Capsule/tablet size of a commercially available drug is too large to swallow
• Individualized strengths are required
• Preservative free formulations are required
• Palatable flavors and dosage forms to increase patient compliance
• Combining multiple medications into one preparation to increase patient compliance
• Drug shortage or discontinuation of a commercially available drug
• Avoid unwanted systemic side effects of oral administration

What We Do

Compounding medicine plays a unique and crucial role in healthcare, allowing providers to custom-tailor a patient’s medication. Customized medications offer therapeutic alternatives and improve compliance. Compounding is the traditional, but sometimes forgotten work of the pharmacist. From the1800’s to the mid1900’s, prescriptions were compounded by the pharmacist and customized for each individual patient. Prior to the 1850’s, all prescriptions in the United States had to be made from scratch or compounded by the apothecary (or now known as the pharmacist). Once manufactured medications became widely available, pharmacists stopped compounding until recently. Why the need for compounding now, you might ask? There are many commercially available medicines today, but because of the fierce competition in our market and the standardization of mass produced medications, there is a void… Most mass produced medicines have limited strengths and dosage forms, which do not quite fit the needs of many patients. Other good medications are discontinued simply because of lack of profit to the manufacturer. Many physicians seek customized and unique formulations for their patients.

Today, pharmacy compounding conveniently fills in the gaps that are left open by the pharmaceutical industry. Most retail pharmacies dispense pre-measured and pre-mixed dosages of medications. Medications that are mass-manufactured may not meet the needs of every patient. Compounding allows physicians to customize medications to fit YOUR specific, individual needs.

Contact Beacon Home Care Pharmacy today at 574-647-8550 to ask about a pharmaceutical solution best suited for you!

Hormone imbalance in women can affect more than your mood.  It can be responsible for a number of related health concerns including:

• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• PMS
• Weight gain
• Post-partum depression
• Irregular menstrual cycle
• Infertility
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Decreased libido
• Painful intercourse
• Vaginal dryness

These conditions affect millions of women.  As the number of women seeking hormone-related treatment has grown, so has the mass production of pills, patches and creams by the drug industry.  Each woman’s body is different and has its own unique needs, but commercially manufactured products tend to be “one size fits all,” and they do not always account for the difference between individuals. We recognize that every person requires a regimen that is specifically designed to address the needs of each individual.

Hormone replacement therapy is a viable solution for symptomatic relief by exogenously replenishing what the body no longer regularly produces. Compounded hormone medications utilize hormones that are naturally occurring in our environment – estrogens are extracted from soy and progesterone is extracted from yams. These hormones are chemically structured exactly like the ones naturally produced by your body and therefore mimic the same functions intended by nature.

Compounded hormones are made available by our pharmacy in a wide variety of combinations, strengths, and dosage forms. Capsules, troches, sublingual drops, topical creams, and vaginal creams are some of the dosage forms that are offered. Hormones have a powerful effect on your health, including your mood, your metabolism and your sexual and reproductive function.  Unbalanced hormones can make you feel like a stranger in your own skin.   We will work hand in hand with you and your physician to find the most balanced treatment course to have you feeling like you again.

HRT is not only for women, the production of hormones, particularly testosterone, declines in men as they enter middle age. Testosterone is the trigger for the development of secondary sexual characteristics, and has profound effects throughout the body. Testosterone receptors are found in virtually all body tissues, so testosterone levels affect the function of most organ systems.

This decrease of testosterone triggers an onslaught of other hormonal imbalances that might be mild, but in many cases, can be severe and debilitating. Some of the problems that can arise from hormonal imbalances include:

• Depression
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Fatigue
• Gynecomastia
• Hair Loss
• Irritability
• Low sex drive
• Memory loss
• Night sweats
• Urinary problems
• Weight gain

The good news is that hormone deficiencies and imbalances are often correctable using hormone replacement therapy. HRT for men is a safe and effective way to combat andropause, also called male menopause, symptoms.

Call Beacon Home Care Pharmacy at 574-647-8550 and we can recommend a hormone consultant that can work with your physician to help us meet your individual needs.

Compounding is the preparation of customized medications.  It provides valuable benefits to many patients, including those for whom dealing with chronic pain has become a way of life. The current opioid crisis has physicians looking for alternative methods to treat chronic pain.    Because it’s personalized to the specific patient, Beacon Home Care Pharmacy’s compounded pain medications are specifically designed to target and treat the site of pain while avoiding the use of opioids and many of the complications common to other pain treatment methods. Pain creams provides a flexible, convenient, and effective solution for a variety of pain-related conditions. Our goal is to achieve a more positive pain-free therapeutic outcome.

Patients vary in size, symptoms and pain tolerance. Commercially available medications sometimes may not provide the appropriate dosage strength for an individual patient.  Our pain creams are designed to administer high concentrations of pain medication directly onto the site of pain for targeted relief. Furthermore, our pharmacists can work with your doctor to create a custom formulation, designed to meet your unique needs. As a result, you get the combined benefits of precise dosing, personalized treatment, and the combined effect of multiple ingredients working together for optimal pain relief.

Because our pain formulations are applied topically, they do not circulate throughout the entire body avoiding the GI tract and hepatic first-pass metabolism. This means you have powerful pain medication where you need it and less where you don’t.  As a result, pain creams are less likely to interact with other medications being taken and result in fewer side effects than other pain medications. Finally, since your custom pain cream is not absorbed throughout the entire body, the risk of dependence and addiction is virtually eliminated.

Topical formulations can be made to treat patients suffering from the following types of pain:

• Neuropathic Pain (Nerve pain, Shingles pain)
• Inflammatory Pain
• Deep Muscle Pain

Pain is the most common symptom for which people see medical help.  It can be debilitating, whether it is acute muscle or nerve pain resulting from an accident, or a chronic condition such as arthritis or fibromyalgia.  A compounded pain cream may help improve a patient’s quality of life by providing relief with potentially fewer side effects and less overall medication.  Contact Beacon Home Care Pharmacy at 574-647-8550 for more information.

Sterile compounding is the preparation of custom medications for patients in a sterile environment to prevent contamination and maintain patient safety.  Beacon Home Care Pharmacy received the Medication Compounding Certification Gold Seal from The Joint Commission. This means that we participated in a voluntary certification program for pharmacies seeking an independent evaluation and recognition of compliance with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) standards.  This enables us to custom compound medications that need to be sterile such as eye drops and injectable medications. Many area practices rely on us and our expertise in taking care of their patient needs.

Preparing sterile products is the most critical and difficult type of compounding. Beacon Home Care Pharmacy is compliant with applicable USP standards. We are equipped with a USP<797> compliant sterile clean room.  Some of the critical requirements of USP 797 that we follow include:

• Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement practices appropriate to each Risk Level of medications prepared.
• Verification of compounding accuracy and sterilization.
• Personnel training and evaluation in aseptic techniques.
• Environmental quality control.
• Finished product release tests and checks.

Beacon Home Care Pharmacy is dedicated to absolute quality and uncompromising sterile preparation for the safety of our patients. Personnel follow very specific guidelines to keep the environment clean and safe. The compounding staff undergoes extensive training and evaluation to maintain the needed skills to provide the safest possible product to our patients.

Call us at 574-647-8550 to learn more.

Home Infusion Therapy allows patients to continue with their daily activities while receiving care in the comfort of their home, outside of the hospital or clinical setting.  Infusion therapy is the delivery of medicines intravenously (IV) or subcutaneously (SQ).  Sometimes, receiving antibiotics or other medicine by infusion is a more effective way to treat your infection. Often, your infusion therapy is started in the hospital, and then transitioned to home where you will continue the infusion treatment.  We offer a wide array of IV therapy and our experienced team of pharmacists is available 24/7 to meet every requirement of your treatment plan. We will customize a Plan of Care to the physician’s specifications and the patient’s individual needs.   Examples of some of the therapies we offer are:

• Anti-infective medications (Antibiotics, Antifungals, Antiviral Agents)
• Chemotherapy
• Hydration
• Immunoglobulins
• IV line/PORT management
• Pain Management
• Parenteral Nutrition (TPN)

Home IV therapy is an excellent option for many patients.  It can be a safe and cost-effective alternative to long hospital stays or nursing home placement.   Patients can return to their regular daily activities and recover in the comfort of their own home.

Our infusion services are available by calling us at 574.647.8675