metro Assistance in Living... Spunky CEO bove and Beyon Toy frien old neighbor oo and make new friends at the Fleischman ResidenceAM Blumberg Plaza Pho tos by A l len Eins te in NoviXus CEO Ann Newman and her son, V.P. Gene Newman Ann Newman gets ready to grow jobs, one mail-order prescription at a time. Alison Schwartz Special to the Jewish News F • Personal Care Assistance • Laundry, • Medication Administration Housekeeping and • Health Clinic Transportation Safe, Secure Environment • Beauty/Barber Shop • Complete Kosher Meal Service • Nosh Nook/ • Respite and Guest Rooms Gift Shop Daily, Shabbat and Holiday Services in our Synagogue, Recreational, Educational, Cultural & Spiritual Programs Fleischman Residence/ Blumberg Plaza 6710 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus For more information, contact: Tracey Proghovnick, LivisW Director of Information and Referral 248-661-1836 www.islmi.org a residence of JEWISH SENIOR LIFE 18 August 4 • 2011 t Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit WE'RE PART OF THE TEAM or the founders of NoviXus Pharmacy Services, it just didn't make sense: a law preventing the sale of mail-order prescriptions from pharmacies based in Michigan meant billions of dollars were being sent out of state. Local com- panies had no other option if they were going to offer money-saving, 90-day prescriptions to their employees. In 2004, a study concluded that $1.5 billion was lost to out-of-state mail- order providers the previous year. And it appeared this number would increase with estimates of $2 billion to $3 billion being lost in recent years. Something had to change, and Ann Newman, CEO of Frank W. Kerr Co., an almost 100-year-old wholesale drug distribution company in Novi, was the woman to do it. Newman, owner of a pharmacy distribution and retail dynasty, and her three sons are all involved in Frank W. Kerr Co., Sav-Mor Pharmacies and Say-On Pharmacies. According to her eldest son, Gene, she's "a visionary." That perspective took her and her company to Lansing. Along with retail pharmacies and the Michigan Pharmacists Association, Frank W. Kerr Co. lobbied to educate legislators about the disadvantages of the current law: stifled job growth, lost revenue and the inability to compete nationally with other mail-order pharmacies. In 2007, the law was eventually changed and the seeds of NoviXus were planted. Newman explained how she put in a call to the late Bill Davidson, former CEO of Frank W. Kerr Co., and her first employer in the United States when she emigrated here in 1952 from Israel. Oscar Feldman, then general manager of the company, hired her as a janitor earning $1.05 an hour. "I told Bill that I was either going to be a bum or a hero with the new business, and I asked him what he thought. He said, `You have my bless- ing: I just felt very passionate about this:' said Newman, 83, an active member of the Jewish community. Two years later, NoviXus was born, a state-of-the-art mail-order and central-fill pharmacy that uses the latest advances in robotic technology, advanced software, highly trained staff and a patient call center, located with- in the Frank W. Kerr Co. facility. The company is able to accurately dispense 500 prescriptions in an hour, with prescriptions checked and tracked at multiple points in the process to ensure the correct prescription is always dispensed. Currently set up to dispense 4,000 prescriptions per shift, NoviXus has the ability to expand to 20,000 pre- scriptions per day, something that could become necessary as major local employers increasingly take notice of the new company. Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson toured the plant on July 19. "The future for Oakland County will be businesses that are high-tech and have knowledge-based jobs:' Patterson said. "This is one of the most high- tech businesses I have seen. It is very impressive."