What do you do?
Jim Butler
Where do you work and what is your title? The Medicine Shoppe pharmacy. I am the manager and pharmacist. What do you do there and/or what are you responsible for? I fill prescriptions, compound prescriptions and counsel patients. I also manage all the aspects of running a small business: paying bills, managing employees and changing light bulbs. How long have you been doing this kind of work (total)? How long on the Westside? I’ve been a pharmacist for more than 30 years, nearly a year at this store. The store has been here more than 20 years. What do you like best about it (other than quitting time)? Counseling patients and giving everyone personal attention. Chronic diseases account for 75 percent of the costs of health care, not just prescription costs. I have been trained to counsel patients about their chronic disease states and offer free information booklets to help them understand more. If you could change one thing (other than pay), what would it be? Better reimbursement from insurance companies and the government-sponsored prescription programs! What part of your work did your training/education never prepare you for? I spent 13 years as a pharmaceutical sales representative and received extensive training in many chronic disease states. This background has allowed me to converse with patients and their providers on a broader scale. I wasn’t prepared for the business side of the profession, so I went back to graduate school and received my masters degree in business administration. What makes working on the Westside special? The people that have been customers here a long time are like family. As the only pharmacy on the Westside that specializes in compounding prescriptions, we are making new friends all the time. “What do you do?” is a regular feature in the Westside Pioneer. If you know someone who has an interesting job on the Westside (but doesn’t live here), he/she might be a candidate for this column! If you know someone who might qualify, give us a call at 471-6776. |