Six years ago my mother was near the end of her battle with cancer. She was well attended by Hospice nurses who were dedicated to making her as comfortable as they could with the tools that were available to them.

My mother was experiencing reasonable pain relief from oral medications, but toward the end she could not ingest the medications and her nurse said that it would be beneficial for her to have a “compounded morphine solution” to keep her pain under control. She was referring to a cream compound that only a pharmacy licensed for compounding could produce.

The nurse told me that there was no pharmacy in Lake County that could compound that cream. I informed her that I believed Bill Kearney was a compounding pharmacist and she should contact him.

It was late at night and the pharmacy was closed, but she called his after-hours number and informed him of the need. He left his house, drove to his pharmacy and compounded the medication that my mother needed. Then he personally delivered it to her caregiver who was attending her that night in her home.

My mother passed the next morning, Christmas Eve, peacefully and pain-free.

The extra effort that Bill took in this instance was not an experience unique to my family. He displayed that kind of professional compassion throughout his career as a pharmacist.

That is one of many reasons that I support Bill Kearney for District 5 supervisor. I hope you will, too.

Tom Lincoln lives in Lakeport, California.