By now, you probably have noticed a pattern developing with each issue of Pharmacy Tech News. If not, I bring your attention to the photo on the cover of this issue—it really does say it all.
Denise Waller is a pharmacy technician at a CVS store in Galax, Va. And like so many of you reading this, everyday Denise gives a little bit of herself, not so much to her job, per se, as much as to the people all around her that define the role of the pharmacy technician—the patients she serves and the pharmacy team she helps support. Except Denise defines “giving of yourself” a little bit differently than most people.
Rob Eder Editor in Chief
If you ask Waller’s long-time friend, assistant store manager Jennifer Utt, she’ll tell you that Denise just might be the most caring person she has ever known. “The reason I know this is because [Denise Waller] saved my life,” Utt told Pharmacy Tech News for the story that appears on page 7.
You see, when Waller found out that Utt, her colleague and friend of some 14 years, who has battled type 1 diabetes since childhood, needed a life-saving kidney transplant, she hardly even batted an eyelash before asking what Utt’s blood type was.
To be sure, Denise Waller’s unique act of heroism goes above and beyond
anything that even remotely resembles a typical job description for a pharmacy technician. But her story serves as another reminder—albeit, a truly unique one—of the special role and important impact that all of you reading this now have in the lives of the people with whom you come into contact every day.
It also strikes right at the heart of a big part of what Pharmacy Tech News is all about. Sure, anchored each issue by ACPE-accredited continuing education that has been specially tailored to the needs of a pharmacy technician working in a retail pharmacy environment—and not those techs who work at the hospital up the street—and timely articles that give you the tools and information you need to be at the top of your game, Pharmacy Tech News is clearly about education. But it’s also about you and your community, the people whose amazing stories come together to tell a much bigger and more important story, namely, the critical role of the retail pharmacy technician.
So, it’s about Denise Waller.
But it’s also about David Bol (see Pharmacy Tech News winter 2007), the Sudanese “Lost Boy,” who literally had been running for his life all the way from the age of 9 until he found the U.S. Job
Corps’ pharmacy tech training program, and a job at a Seattle-area Rite Aid. Today he is studying to be a pharmacist.
It’s also about CVS’ Amanda Szopinski, the first graduate of the U.S. Job Corps pharmacy tech program to become a licensed pharmacist. We featured Amanda in our Spring 2006 issue.
And it’s about Selena Mathis, the Walgreens pharmacy technician, who, before she found the technician training program at the Urban League of Greater Hartford (Conn.), had been living in her car with her then 7-year- old daughter. Today, she has a career that enables her to pay her bills, have a home and make a life for herself and her family.
It’s also about Walgreens vice president of government affairs, Debbie Garza, whose career in pharmacy began about 20 years ago as a tech in a Walgreens store in Austin, Texas.
And it’s about you. By now, you probably have noticed a pattern developing in Pharmacy Tech News. If you haven’t been on the cover of Pharmacy Tech News, it’s because we haven’t heard your amazing story yet. So what are you waiting for? Clearly, you know how to find me…
Enjoy the issue. ●
7
Drug store hero CVS’ Denise Waller redefines ‘give of yourself’
12
Certification Nation? Why there’s a push for a nationwide tech standard
23
Summer diabetes relief Help patients with diabetes prep for the heat
17
ne w s
Allergy Report:
High pollen counts hit kids hardest
19
Women’s Wellness:
TechEd lesson
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