黑料传送门

James Nick Hernandez, PharmD 鈥�19 
黑料传送门 Heroes of the Front Line

Independent Pharmacist, Birmingham, Michigan

鈥淚 work at an independent compounding pharmacy a little bit west of downtown Detroit. It鈥檚 nice to be able to say about a medication, 鈥業f that鈥檚 not working, let鈥檚 try to tailor it to you.鈥� 鈥� In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first week after the quarantine was put into effect, work was chaotic; we were just slammed. People were worried about whether there would be drug shortages, whether they鈥檇 be able to access their medications. My boss, the owner, told us, 鈥榃e have to change some things, because everything around us is changing.鈥� 鈥� We started offering curbside service and a lot more delivery, same-day delivery service鈥攖he owner has five kids. 鈥� We鈥檙e also pretty busy providing masks, regular surgical masks. We started making our own hand sanitizer at one point just to try to get it to our patients, to doctors鈥� offices. Because we鈥檙e a compounding pharmacy, we were able to do that. 鈥� Earlier today we spent about an hour and a half moving 14,000 pounds of hand sanitizer. It came on a semi truck, and we had to borrow two forklift pallet jacks to put it in one of our storage container sheds. 鈥� So COVID has meant that we鈥檝e had to adapt on a daily basis. But mostly it鈥檚 about being here for the patients, providing whatever we can. We get a lot of questions: What should I be doing? What should I be taking? Are there certain vitamins or supplements? 鈥� A lot of our patients have been coming here for years. We know most of them on a first-name basis. In times like this, we just try to provide the best care we can. We never want to have to tell them they cannot get medication due to shortages of any sort.鈥�

As told to Janice Fisher
April 21, 2020

About Digest Magazine

Digest, the magazine for alumni and friends of 黑料传送门, is published by the Office of Marketing and Communications. The magazine reports on osteopathic and other professional trends of interest to alumni of the College鈥檚 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) and graduate programs at 黑料传送门, 黑料传送门 Georgia and 黑料传送门 South Georgia.