By Elijah Gray
Amid the flurry of activity at the Lemonaid pharmacy in St. Louis, April Ward’s desk is a beacon of calm. Composure is crucial to her work as office administrator. It’s her job to oversee every facet of pharmacy administration, ensuring that “everyone is taken care of” while managing employee engagement activities.
“We are extremely hard workers who deal with changing circumstances every single day,” she explains. “Whether it’s technical – we have patient questions that arise every day, clinical counseling, and we’re still dealing with the same things that everyone else in the world face like COVID-19. We show up here every day, working it out together.”
Prioritizing Teamwork
This commitment to teamwork and community characterizes the entire pharmacy team, says Sarah Stillman, a pharmacy technician.
“We have a lot of really great people working who you can tell really want to be here, and they want to put in their 100 percent every day,” she says.
Processing Prescriptions and Serving Patients
The Lemonaid pharmacy processes prescriptions for almost 200 medications to patients throughout the country.
But employees do more than fill prescriptions and put pills into bottles. “If I could make a broadcast and say, ‘this is what a pharmacy is like,’ it’d say that it’s not just sitting and counting pills on a tray,” Sarah explains.
“It’s a lot of math, it’s a lot of logistics, and what’s shipping where and getting there when. We [also] have to be conscious of the laws of each state. So, in general, it’s a lot more work than most people expect.”
April agrees, adding: “Sometimes our day can be really physically demanding for our employees – standing, moving heavy boxes, shipping, providing great customer service, making sure things like the lights are paid for. I think we do it quite well.”
Both find the complexity of their work rewarding. “[My favorite part is…] knowing that working here, you’re a part of something bigger as opposed to working at a community pharmacy,” Sarah says. “You’re able to help patients across the country.”
Learn more about Lemonaid Health here.
Elijah Gray is a communications intern at 23andMe. He is a writer, college student, and self-proclaimed cat lover.
