Edith Okolo, PharmD, RPh, Director of Pharmacy at Cedar Crest Hospital

Summary

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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: Edith Okolo, PharmD, RPh, Director of Pharmacy at Cedar Crest Hospital

Date: January 23, 2026
Host: Ella Jeffries (A)
Guest: Dr. Edith Okolo (B), Director of Pharmacy at Cedar Crest Hospital

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Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Edith Okolo, Director of Pharmacy at Cedar Crest Hospital, discussing pivotal pharmacy initiatives from the past year, the primary priorities and challenges as she plans for 2026, and the emerging opportunities for both patient care and organizational growth in the psychiatric health sector. Dr. Okolo offers insights into technology upgrades, ongoing medication safety efforts, addressing medication shortages, and the broader role of pharmacy in mental health care.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Introduction & Facility Context

• [00:30] Edith Okolo’s Role and Cedar Crest Overview
  • Cedar Crest Hospital (Belton, Texas) is an inpatient psychiatric facility with 158 beds for both children/adolescents (including residential treatment) and adults.
  • Pharmacy department provides medication management for both acute and residential units.
  • Facility is part of Acadia Healthcare’s national network.

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Major Pharmacy Initiative of the Past Year

• [02:06] Technology Upgrade – Omnicell Med Machines
  • Upgraded from older MedDispense machines to Omnicell automated medication management systems in all seven medication rooms.
  • Implementation included:
    • Procuring, staging, and programming new machines.
    • Staff training and role/permission assignments.
    • Interfacing with pharmacy order-entry software.
    • Benefits cited:
      • Real-time monitoring for potential medication diversion.
      • Error reduction and tracking.
      • Barcode scanning for every medication: improved medication safety, traceability, and delivery accuracy.
      • Enhanced operational workflow and regulatory compliance.
  • Quote:

    “Having to walk every employee through it and having to assign roles and permissions and all that, you know, that took a lot of our time. But... I was really grateful to have those machines in because the ones we had were kind of older.” – Edith Okolo [06:39]

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Priorities & Headwinds for 2026

• [07:46] Focus on Patient Safety
  • Safe medication practices to ensure no delays, errors, and appropriate treatment.
  • Emphasis on giving the right drug to the right patient at the right time.
  • Ongoing drive to eliminate errors and keep patients safe during care.
  • Workflow Efficiency
    • Staff productivity and workflow management to facilitate patient care and avoid obstacles.
  • Quote:

    "My biggest thing is patient safety because at the end of the day, when we have patients, we expect them to be safe. We don't want patients getting worse under our care." – Edith Okolo [07:50]

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Planned Initiatives for 2026

• [09:35] Improving Access to Long-Acting Injectables
  • Focused effort to stock and monitor expensive psychiatric medications (long-acting injectables) for patients unable to afford them.
  • In-hospital trial and monitoring prior to discharge to optimize treatment efficacy and safety.
  • Coordination to secure ongoing access after discharge.
  • Quote:

    “We see if there are side effects, if this medication is working for them, if it's something they need to be on, and then we'll work out how to get them on this medication so that they can have a life outside the facility.” – Edith Okolo [10:28]

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Main Challenges for the Coming Year

• [11:01] Medication Shortages
  • Regular shortages require creative alternatives and collaboration with other healthcare professionals.
  • Example: Recent shortages of lorazepam injectable, critical for seizure, agitation, and emergency management.
  • Budgetary Pressures
    • Need to maintain financial balance amid rising drug costs and manage resources carefully.
  • Quote:

    “When we have medication shortage... patients are on these medications, they need it on a day-to-day basis and trying to either switch them to something else or find alternatives to these medications is a big, a big deal.” – Edith Okolo [11:02]

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Opportunities for Organizational Growth

• [13:13] Community Education and Early Intervention
  • Expanding efforts to educate society about mental health signs and symptoms to promote early intervention.
  • Quote:

    "Educating the community, you know, about signs of mental health and how you can handle it, how you can find help. You know, those are areas for growth." – Edith Okolo [14:08]

• Adolescent Residential Treatment Expansion
  • Growth in residential programs (RTC) for children/adolescents, especially those affected by family dysfunction, providing therapeutic housing and education.
  • Facilities Expansion
    • With additional funding and staffing, potential to broaden capacity and services for more youth in need.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Staff Engagement with Technology:

  “It sounds easy saying it, but it wasn't like that when it was happening. Because a whole brand new machine, having to walk every employee through it and having to assign roles and permissions and all that, you know, that took a lot of our time.” – Edith Okolo [06:39]

• On the Impact of Medication Shortages:

  “If patient is having a seizure, what can I do immediately to bring this situation? So we had to collaborate and kind of come up with alternatives that... are also going to be efficient for the patient.” – Edith Okolo [12:05]

• On the Need for Societal Change:

  "One out of five Americans is affected in one way or the other by mental health condition... there's so much opportunity for growth." – Edith Okolo [13:26]

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Key Timestamps for Reference

| Time | Segment/Event | |----------|-------------------------------------------------| | 00:30 | Introduction of Edith Okolo & Facility Overview | | 02:06 | Omnicell Med Machine Initiative | | 07:46 | Priorities for 2026: Patient Safety, Workflow | | 09:35 | Long-Acting Injectables Access Initiative | | 11:01 | Managing Medication Shortages & Budgeting | | 13:13 | Growth Opportunities: Education & Residential |

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Conclusion

Dr. Edith Okolo’s insights illuminate the continuous evolution within pharmacy leadership in psychiatric care—from leveraging technology to safeguard and streamline medication management, to ensuring patient access, and responding to real-time challenges like shortages. Her focus remains on patient safety, operational efficiency, and expanding Cedar Crest’s capacity to serve its community’s mental health needs.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Beckers Pharmacy Leadership Podcast. I'm Ella Jeffries, pharmacy reporter with Beckers Healthcare. Today I'm joined by Edith Okolow, director of pharmacy at Cedar Crest Hospital. In this episode, we'll be talking about key pharmacy initiatives from the past year. The priorities and headwinds leaders are navigating as they plan for 2026 and where opportunities for organizational growth are emerging. Edith, thank you so much for joining me today. To start us off, can you please introduce yourself and share a bit about your role in Cedar Cross Hospital's pharmacy?

[B]

Thank you for having me. My name is Dr. Edith Okolo. I am the pharmacy director here at CedarCrest Hospital and RTC, located at Belton, Texas. And Cedarcrest is part of Acadia Healthcare, which operates a network of about 200 facilities across the US and we are an inpatient psychiatric hospital and we have about 158 beds. And we cater to both child adolescents units and as well as adults. For our child adolescent units, we do have what we call the rtc, which is the residential units where they stay longer and they're able to go to school while they receive care. And then we have the acute units where they come in in cris and they are stabilized in that unit. And then we do have acutes for adults, just one unit for acutes for adults that take care of issues and try to stabilize them when they come in. So this is what we do. We help provide pharmacy services for this psychiatric hospital. Thank you.

[A]

Great. Thank you so much for that context. Now, looking back over the past year, what was the most important initiative that you led? What did you focus on and what results did you see?

[B]

So last year was a big year for us here, not just for me, but for the entire facility here at Cedarcrest. We were able to upgrade our technology, you know, knowing that technology is the big thing now. So last year we actually had a new system of automated medication machines, management systems. We had about seven machines in here because we do have what we call the med rooms, the medication rooms. And we have med machines in there to help us, you know, so those seven med rooms had. We had to replace the old machines, which we used to have what we call the med dispense in those seven bedrooms. And now we were able to upgrade to an omnicell med machine, which is a more top of the, you know, top of the line machine that is used by most big hospitals around the nation. So we had the budget approved for us to get those machines and that was the big thing we did because that Was a lot of work in place because it's involved both deploying the machines and having them coming from the company. And then we had to have a staging area for those machines. And in that staging area was the area for also training of the staff as well, well as programming those med machines for the facility. And then we had technicians coming to help us with the programming of the machines. And then of course, we had to get trainers too. And it's involved a lot. So we went from having the machines in and then setting them up and then having the employees, all the employees trained on how to use those machines. And then of course, and then the next part was having to prepare those machines to be switched up with the old ones that we had to deal with othering medications for several machines. That was a lot. Having to other medications that went into those seven machines and getting the manpower needed to load the seven machines. And then of course, after loading them, those machines are kind of an upgrade from the old one. Because those machines, they, they help. They kind of help us do more of, you know, more of the work that we used to do. Like with those machine, you have a real life tracking of monitoring diversion potentials in case there is any diversion going on. You can monitor that real life. And then they also reduce errors so we could track errors and reduce errors. And then it also helped us track the medications. And those machines also helped a lot with safety because with those machines we're able to actually have barcodes for every medication that goes into the machine. And with that, that's. We have a scanning system that scans the every medication that goes to the machine and then scans the medication to make sure that at all times we have the right drug going into the right spots and from the right spot on the machine. We also have the right drug going into the right patient at the right time. And they all involve technology. Scanning, scanning, scanning all the way. So that was the big thing that we got done. I mean, it sounds easy saying it, but it wasn't like that when it was happening. Because a whole brand new machine, having to walk every employee through it and having to assign roles and permissions and all that, you know, that took a lot of our time. But we were personally, I was really grateful to have those machines in because the ones we had were kind of older. And then of course, we had to also interface this new system with our software that we used to enter orders as pharmacists. And hopefully in the near future, we are also hoping to upgrade to a new AMASS system. So that was one of my big things last year and the results are awesome because right now we're enjoying it. We haven't gone through the deployment phase, the go live phase, and the post go live phase. And now we are reaping the rewards of having that system now because things are running a lot smoother.

[A]

That was a great example. Thank you so much for sharing and looking forward to when you can reap those benefits. Like you were saying, now, looking ahead, what are the big priorities or headwinds that you're focused on as you plan for 2026?

[B]

So my biggest thing is patient safety because at the end of the day, when we have patients, we expect them to be safe. We don't want patients getting worse under our care. So the biggest thing is focusing on making sure my patients are safe while under our care and our patients are getting better under our care and not getting worse. So we focus on medication safety and we also focus on, you know, making sure that these patients are taken care of appropriately, you know, making sure they get the right medications to the right patient at the right time. And there's no delay, delay in patient care and there's no errors in doing that. So that's my biggest thing for this year. As long as I can get my patients safe, well taken care of, then the next thing I think is my top priority is workflow efficiency and productivity of the staff. So with that being said, we also focus on the staff to make sure that the workflow is efficient, that everyone is doing what they have to do at every time appropriately, and to make workflow efficient so that there's no obstacles and hindrances to providing care to the patients at any time?

[A]

Gotcha. Thank you for sharing that. Do you have any specific examples of initiatives you plan to implement in 2026 in order to enhance patient safety or to make that workflow more efficient?

[B]

Well, one of the things we're also doing is helping our patients that cannot afford medications. We have what they call the long acting injectables. These long acting injectables are mostly psychiatric medications. Like they are antipsychotic meds and they are very expensive. So one of the things initiatives we have taken is to make sure that we can get these medications in house for the patients and the providers so that while the patient is in house, they can have these medications. And then the providers and the nurses will monitor this patient, the health, the staff will monitor the patients while they are with us to see the effect of these medications on these patients before they are discharged. So we see if there are side effects, if this medication is working for them, if it's something they need to be on, and then we'll work out how to get them on this medication so that they can have a life outside the facility.

[A]

Gotcha. Thank you for sharing that example. Now what do you think is the hardest thing that you'll have to tackle in the coming year as a pharmacy leader?

[B]

So one of the big things that, you know, we always kind of look at is, you know, medication shortages, you know, because most times when we have medication shortage is a big thing because, you know, patients are on these medications, they need it on a day to day basis and trying to either switch them to something else or find alternatives to these medications is a big, a big deal. You know, it takes a lot because now you have to collaborate with the other healthcare professionals to see what can be done for these patients if we cannot obtain these medications. For example, there was a shortage of lorazepam injectables. And we know this medication is indispensable in a psychiatric hospital setting where we need it for seizures, we need it for emergency medications like agitation and aggression and all that stuff. So when we are shot, it's a crisis issue because if patient is having a seizure, what can I do immediately to bring this situation? So we had to collaborate and kind of come up with alternatives that is also going to be efficient for the patient. So it's a big thing. So, but luckily for us, we're able to get some lorazepam in just a couple of weeks ago. So that helps with that shortage. So handling medication shortages is a big thing. And of course also being able to maintain the budgets, you know, with the rising drug costs, it's a big thing too, you know, to maintain the budget and keep the hospital, you know, positively balanced financially.

[A]

Definitely. But even with those challenges, there are still areas for growth. Where do you see the best opportunities for organizational growth moving forward?

[B]

So for growth? There are so many opportunities for growth. You know, as, you know, mental health or mental health is a big thing in America. And we know that, you know, statistically it's been said that one of one out of five Americans is affected in one way or the other by mental health condition. And so there are so much opportunities for growth. One is being able to educate the society about, you know, the, the signs and symptoms of mental health so that they don't tend to get to it when it's already late, you know, because the, the simple signs that you get that tells you, oh, I have depression or I have anxiety, maybe I need to see a doctor for this or that. So that's a place for growth. Educating the community, you know, about science of mental health and how you can handle it, how you can find help. You know, those are areas for growth. Another area for growth is, you know, with the society also having so much issues with dysfunctional family units where you have a, you know, either child abandonment and family disintegration. And we do have a residential unit called RTC where the kids come in and they can have a home or a place to stay. Instead of staying in an environment that is toxic or in an environment that is, you know, is, you know, is behind the trauma or the issues they are having, they can come in. And we have opportunity for expansion, and with funds and with staffing, we have opportunity to expand the units and then have this child adolescent unit expanded for. For the patients. For this patients. That. That's the child adolescent to have a place to stay and also go to school and be able to acquire the skills that they will need in order to function as, you know, part of the society without being segregated out of the society because of issues of mental health.

[A]

Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Well, Edith, this has been such a great conversation. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective and insights with us. That's all for the time we have for today's episode of the Becker's Pharmacy Leadership Podcast. A big thank you again to Edith Okolow for joining us to discuss pharmacy priorities, challenges and opportunities at Cedar Crest Hospital. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.

[B]

Thank you so much for having me.