Living the Grace Health Mission

Living the Grace Health Mission

To show the love and share the truth of Jesus Christ to southeastern Kentucky, through access to compassionate, high-quality, primary health care for the whole person.

with Dr. Ben Vice

Dr. Ben Vice

Pharmacist at the Grace Health Levi Center Pharmacy

At Grace Health, we strive every day to live out our mission to share the love of Jesus Christ with southeastern Kentucky. In this edition, we invite you to sit down with Dr. Ben Vice as he shares how providing faith-centered, compassionate health care led to a patient impacting his life as well.

Dr. Ben Vice has been a pharmacist with Grace Health for almost two years. He recently moved from the Mt View Pharmacy to the new Levi Center Pharmacy in London, Kentucky. He is married to Dr. Hazelee Vice who started working for Grace Health in February 2022 at the Grace Health Mountain View Pharmacy.

Recently, Ben shared an account of a gentleman referred to the pharmacy for diabetes management by Grace Health Mountain View Clinic. We will call this patient John Doe or "JD" for short to protect his privacy. When JD was referred to the pharmacy, Ben learned that he was an insulin-dependent diabetic and also using a GLP1 agonist medication, a medicine given by an injection under the skin. GLP1 medication increases the insulin released from the pancreas, reduces glucose made in the liver, and slows the digestion of food. The specific role of this drug is to help lower blood glucose levels — largely focused on hemoglobin A1C — and to aid in weight loss. While a patient must check their blood glucose levels frequently to ensure that levels are not too low or too high (as both can have severe health consequences), Ben soon learned that JD did not check his blood sugar level at all.

Ben reached out to the Patient Care Coordinator at Mountain View Clinic who was able to get a prior authorization approved with a $0 copay for a Freestyle Libre. The Freestyle Libre, a continuous glucose monitoring system that checks glucose levels with a painless one-second scan, will provide JD with real-time glucose alarms if his levels go too low or too high.

The pharmacists at Mountain View Pharmacy educated JD about how to use the glucose monitor and placed the sensor on his arm in the clinic. The patient was so appreciative that he broke down in tears and shared that he had never received care like that before.

JD has since visited multiple times to share a testimony of his efforts to reach the lost and people who have accepted Jesus into their hearts. Ben shares that it was a joy to help JD with his medical care but the greatest joy came from allowing him to make a difference in the lives of the clinic and pharmacy team.

2022 Q2: PEOPLE