Independent Insights, a Health Mart Podcast

Episode 12: The Power of Partnerships

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Join us for an inspiring episode of the Independent Insights series by McKesson / Health Mart, where we delve into the transformative power of partnerships in the world of independent pharmacies. Hosted by Suzanne Feeney, this episode features insightful conversations with Helen Ianniello and Ellie Geise, two remarkable women who share their journeys and the pivotal role partnerships have played in success.

Episode Highlights
Independent Pharmacies provide personalized care in the communities they serve. This episode dives into how partnerships can enhance services and impact community health and well-being.

In this episode you’ll hear from Helen Ianniello and Ellie Giese about the power of partnerships within pharmacy. Growing up in a small town in Nebraska, Ellie was inspired by her mother's independent pharmacy. Now a Pharmacy Sales Consultant, she shares her passion for small-town pharmacies and their vital role in community health.

Helen's story is one of resilience and determination. From a nurse to a successful pharmacy owner, she discusses the challenges and triumphs of taking over Stockmen's Drug and the essential partnerships that helped her turn the business around.

Tune in to hear these compelling stories and gain valuable insights on how partnerships can drive success in independent pharmacies. 

Host
Suzanne Feeney, PharmD
VP, Pharmacy Retail Operations
McKesson, Health Mart

Guests
Helen Ianniello, RN
Pharmacy Owner
Stockmen’s Drug

Ellie Geise
Pharmacy Sales Consultant
McKesson

Resources
Health Mart Pharmacies can learn more about APhA Project Impact opportunities by reaching out to their McKesson Pharmacy Sales Consultant (PSC) or Vice President, Pharmacy Retail Operations.

 
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of Health Mart, McKesson or its affiliates or subsidiaries ("McKesson”). The information provided herein is for informational purposes only and does not constitute the rendering of clinical, legal or other professional advice by McKesson.

[00:00:00] Are you looking for ideas to grow independent pharmacy and make a greater impact in your community? Look no further. Welcome to Independent Insights, the podcast brought to you by Health Mart. Episodes delve into a wide range of topics to provide you with the practical strategies, expert insights, and inspiring stories to help you and your pharmacy excel.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Health Mart, McKesson, or its affiliates and subsidiaries (“McKesson”). The information provided is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, or any other type of professional advice from McKesson.

Pharmacists are expected to exercise reasonable care as dictated by legal and professional standards and are ultimately responsible for decisions related to patient care and medication management. It is your responsibility to review and comply with all applicable state and federal laws, rules, and [00:01:00] regulations governing your business operations. This includes laws applicable to businesses in general, those pertinent to employers, and those specifically regulating the practice of pharmacy.

Suzanne: Welcome to another episode of Independent Insights, a McKesson Health Mart podcast. In today's episode, we are going to uncover some stories of inspiration and the transformative power through partnerships.

I'm your host, McKesson Health Mart, VP Pro and Pharmacist. Suzanne Feeney. And today I have with me two guests, Health Mart Pharmacy owner Helen Ianniello with Stockmen’s Drug in Nebraska and McKesson Pharmacy Sales Consultant Ellie Geis.

So welcome to both of you. Thanks so much for being here today. 

Ellie: Thanks for having me. 

Helen: Yeah, thank you very much for having me. 

Suzanne: I can't wait for our audience to get to know you both. And I wanna get to introductions here in just a second. Have an opening question where you can introduce a little bit about your unique backgrounds.

And you both really have such amazing stories within independent pharmacy communities that I think will be just great to showcase [00:02:00] today and personally why. I wanna have you here for everyone to meet and talk with you. As I love how you've really partnered together to make a difference in professional pharmacy, which is near and dear to my heart and our rural communities.

So two things that are so important, I think to a lot of our Health Mart pharmacies. And I think you'll be able to just showcase amazing benefits. With that, we will just jump right in and talk a little bit about your career. Ellie, I'll start with you. Talk to us a little bit about what inspired you to work as a pharmacy sales consultant.

What do you do in your day to day and what keeps you motivated? I. 

Ellie: Yeah, absolutely. A little bit of background about me. I am from a small town, Nebraska, Louisville, Nebraska. It's about 1200 people. Born and raised there, K through 12 school, the whole shebang.

And actually, growing up in this small town of Lewisville, my mom is a pharmacist. And she owned a pharmacy, a small independent pharmacy in my hometown. And she bought her pharmacy when I was. [00:03:00] Probably about five or six years old. So it was really truly a deep part of my life and something that I completely just grew up around.

And it was really, all I knew. I go to school where my dad was the teacher, and then after school we would walk over to my mom's store. And growing up, we went to the conventions every summer. ideaShare. I grew up around that. That was our family vacation. That was my mom's favorite part of the summer.

And I always remember when we would go on those trips, she would point out the employees to me and say, I think you should do that someday. And it's a funny story. She was a McKesson customer at the time. And she had gotten a message from my now boss who was being promoted at the time.

He sent out a message saying I, I'm being promoted, and I'm. Hiring to replace for my role. I'll keep you all posted and basically I'm just here in the meantime. And [00:04:00] so she called me up pretty much immediately Yeah. And said, McKesson's hiring, and I really think you should look into this.

 I was nervous, I had just graduated from college about a year and a half prior. And so I thought, all I know is just what I grew up around, and I would say at the core of that, of course I wasn't keen to all of the ins and outs of pharmacy in the way that I am now.

But at the time, what I knew pharmacy to be. What it was to me in my life was it was really the core of our small town. Every single person in town knew my mom personally had a relationship with her. She was their pharmacist. She was a trusted advisor for them, and she was their friend.

And it was just such a core part of our community and a true small town community. And you [00:05:00] drive through so many small towns now that no longer have a pharmacy. And this is something that, I feel like a lot of people have heard me say at this point, but I really, truly do think that these small rural towns, here in the Midwest once the pharmacy goes, or, once a primary business goes in town, the next are to follow.

Small towns are really going through a hard time. And honestly, fortunately my town wasn't too far from Omaha, but regardless, it was people would've had to go over 30 minutes out of their way to, to get, what they needed. And so I just think small town communities and small businesses that's what helps these communities thrive in every single way.

So what I knew pharmacy to be was, just part of the community and essential. 

Suzanne: And I see that even in some of the urban settings I have, the pharmacies are so embedded in the community and reflect members of the community that to go outside of that, you're just not [00:06:00] getting that same holistic care.

So I think you're spot on with that value of independent pharmacy within the community setting and. And I've had the chance, Ellie, to travel with you all around Nebraska. And Helen, visiting your pharmacy was one of the highlights of my, I think it was 17 hours we had in the car, Ellie visiting.

But it was awesome, Helen, to get to see your pharmacy and, I've known your story for a little bit and seeing the transition that you've been on and the journey you've been on, and how you're still able to remain that pillar of community. And, I know just like Ellie, it's what motivates me in my day job is to be able to work and to support and offer suggestions and be a thought partner with you. And so I'd love if you just share a little bit about your story and how you came to be at Stockmen's and the journey that you've been on, and I know for both of you the motivation, the day-to-day is taking care of the communities.

I think that's very clear. So you and Ellie are so aligned in that. But I'd love for you to share your journey with our listeners. 

Ellie: I love this story. 

Helen: My journey, my background growing up [00:07:00] is quite different than Ellie's. I grew up in the county just above Miami. So my high school had about 4,000 students in it.

And there were so many that riding the bus usually wasn't an option, 'cause we were sit, there were three people to a seat and we were sitting on each other's laps in the floor. So we always just took the city bus. That's how populated it was. And I didn't even know that independent pharmacies existed.

I knew about the chain pharmacies and that's it. My mom was a registered nurse and the earliest memory of a pharmacy was the one inside of her hospital, and it was down in the basement. And I would go down there and they would give me the little linden cough drops and then go back up and hang out with my mom in the break room until she got off of work.

So that's my experience with pharmacies, I really didn't have much. I turned, I grew up got married, was a stay at home mom [00:08:00] for almost 20 years, homeschooled my kids and I love being able to help and support other people and watching them grow. That's if I could find anything to do in life that would be it. This just feeds right into it. I became a nurse during Covid. I started travel nursing and ended up in Gordon, Nebraska.

And I was there for a couple of years working as a nurse and decided to start a real estate company. There's not enough housing out here for nurses and healthcare workers just to be able to provide the healthcare that these communities need. So I had bought two properties and we're furnishing them and that's how I met the pharmacist here in town Mike.

He asked me to take a look at the apartments that were above the pharmacy and give him some advice on how he could get those rented out and add some [00:09:00] additional revenue to his business. And when I went up there and looked at it, the ceiling was collapsing, and it wasn't in good shape.

And I was like hey, before you could do anything, you need to get the roof done and that's gonna, that's gonna leak down into your pharmacy and you're gonna have problems. And so anyways, long story short, he ended up hiring a business consultant to come in.

The business consultant took a look at the books found some things going wrong and just let him know that she ran projections and said, you're closing down in six to eight weeks. You are not gonna be open. You have more money going out than will ever come in and you are gonna be shut down.

And Stockmen's Drug has been around, officially since the 1950s, but prior to that it was known it had other names. So it's been there since the [00:10:00] community started, in the late 18 hundreds. So it was really sad to consider that this pharmacy might be gone. We could not get it evaluated because of some of the things that the business consultant had found.

And Mike came to me and said. I need a new general manager. Will you run the store for me? And I said, heck no. I said, I don't know anything about running a business like that or running a pharmacy. I don't have that experience. And he said you have more business experience than anybody that I know, and all I need you to do is keep the lights on and keep the employees paid till I can figure something out.

So that's what I did. I came in, I had no idea what A PBM was. I had no idea what reconciliation meant. I think I was on the phone with Ellie and FDS and everybody else 50 million times asking them over and over again. Okay. I know [00:11:00] you explained to me who you are and what you do. But I don't understand it and I need you to explain it to me again. Mike ended up putting his entire life savings and mortgaging his home to keep the Stockmen’s Drug open long enough for me to close on the property, and that's the only reason that Stockmen’s Drug is still around.

We went from doing 150 scripts a day on his busiest day to 450 scripts, on our busiest day, not every day. Yesterday was Monday. It was a very slow Monday. We had a lot of time to do extra things that needed to be done around the pharmacy. We did 270 scripts. 

Yeah, it's a lot. It's crazy how much we've grown, but really I did it because I knew that this. Local, this community and the surrounding [00:12:00] communities. If there's no pharmacy here there, there's already such a lack in healthcare resources and this just would've hurt them so much more.

It's an hour away to the nearest pharmacy, and with the winters here and the way that the weather is. That's an impossible drive. 

Suzanne: Yeah. If you need an antibiotic and there's four feet of snow what do you do? Yeah. 

Ellie: Especially for older members of the community as well, 

Helen: right?

We deal with a lot of Medicaid and Medicare is the majority of our patients, and so they're home bound. They're elderly. They don't have the money to drive out here that, to reach us. They don't have the capability to drive anymore and have to rely on others. So we just really wanted to close the gap in rural healthcare.

So right now our goal is not to just be a pharmacy, but to become a healthcare advocacy center for our communities. And we serve about 200 miles worth of rural communities right now. 

Suzanne: That's [00:13:00] incredible. And Helen, just alone taking, you and Mike partnering together.

A lot of personal sacrifice for both of you and taking the business to something that was six to eight weeks away from closing to now really thriving and not only in prescription volume but being a healthcare destination for the community is just amazing. And some of the things I wrote down as you were talking that really resonated is and I know your story but facing that can feel daunting. And I know members of our audience are sitting in a position like that today looking at how do I stay relevant and alive and in this business? And when you look at people who are doing so much already, it's easy to say, I don't know how I could get from where I am to there.

And one of the things that always stands out to me with your journey is that you really you were so focused in partnerships and solving the next problem. And if you look at, okay, how do I go from losing my business in 150 scripts to 450, and then being able to layer on other [00:14:00] services, that feels like crushing amount of pressure and overwhelming.

But to me you were just like, I'm just gonna solve the next problem and the next problem. And it's not that you were not concerned about it or aware of it or looking at what was in front of you, but so focused and just doing that. So I, that really resonates to me and also plans change and shift, and you've been incredibly adaptable.

And I think, to expect the unexpected and just even you take these themes and weave them into action has been awesome to witness. I guess for us, if you could share a little bit with how partnerships. Have played of success in the pharmacy. 'cause you said, and I think of this and myself, like we, we don't have all the answers, so how do we go find them and try them and fail fast and put things in place.

You're listening to Independent Insights, a McKesson Health Mart podcast with host Suzanne Feeney, VP Pharmacy Retail Operations for McKesson/Health Mart. And guests, McKesson Pharmacy Sales Consultant, Ellie Geis and Helen Ianello, Pharmay Owner with Stockmen’s [00:15:00] Drug. 

Let's continue. 

Suzanne: So talk to us a little bit about how partnerships have played a role in your success. 

Helen: Yeah. There's no way that Stockmen's Drug would have had a quarter of the success that it has had if it weren't for partnerships. You have to be honest with yourself and set aside your ego and understand and come to terms with the fact that you don't know what you don't know, and that's okay.

So, I feel like my being a registered nurse in an emergency room for so long. That makes sense. Especially the one that I was in. Before travel nursing, I was in a level two trauma center with a comprehensive stroke center. It was a cardiac center, so it was door A PCI within 90 minutes.

 You have to be able to think short term and long term. And when it comes to partnering with other people, [00:16:00] like I said, you have to set your ego aside. You have to be able to admit that you don't know what you don't know.

And so I knew going in that I was going to rely on. As many people in as many different areas that had already been there, done that. 

If I want to be successful at something, then I'm going to reach out to the person who's already successful in that area, right? RxOwnership, was so instrumental in helping me and guiding me. Gave me advice on what to do. Looked over numbers and said, you're doing well in this. You're not doing so well in this. This is where you need to, maybe go this path. These are the people that you need to speak with.

Gave me resources to reach out to. Legal wise, accounting wise. Everything that you could think of. 

Suzanne: It connects you to people and then those people can [00:17:00] connect you to people and it just becomes this domino effect. 

Helen: And that was with pharmacy ownership? Then I also reached out to, I'm a big believer in utilizing the small business administration and all of their resources. They have amazing resources. And so one of them is score, which is a subsidiary of SBA and they sign you up with a mentor. They don't have any pharmacy mentors, but they've like retail stores and other marketing and everything else. And so I reached out to them and I got a mentor. To help me with policies and procedures and time management and leaving at, six o'clock at night instead of one o'clock in the morning. 

Suzanne: Setting boundaries. Yep. 

Helen: Setting boundaries, how to work with my team policies and procedures and enforcing them and, what's really important and what can be set aside. 

Suzanne: Helen, not to interrupt, when you're talking like prioritization, I think that's like a common [00:18:00] theme where, how do you prioritize? And I see that across pharmacies I visit, there's so much going on.

And I had a flashback to when Ellie and I were in your pharmacy, and I remember the whiteboard with everything on it. And did that come out of some of the business mentoring and development You did? 

Helen: It did. It did. So there's graph that you can do and it's major minor delegate and I always forget the last category.

And so you know, everything that is like a dumpster fire that needs to be done right now that is an emergency that goes under major minor stuff is just, different ideas, different things that need to get done. Maybe I need to just follow up on something. anything that I can delegate, that's important as a business owner, you have to be comfortable with delegating.

Suzanne: Yeah. 

Helen: And you have to be able to trust but verify. You wanna trust that your staff that know they know what they're doing and they have the company's best interest at heart. And so you have to trust them, but you still have to [00:19:00] take the time to verify that they're doing it correctly.

Because usually if a team member is not doing something correctly. Then it's not a them problem. It's an us problem as an owner. There's a problem with the process or the policy. Yeah. And so you gotta evaluate it and say, okay, this isn't what my expectation is. It's not being reached.

So can you walk me through your process and let's see where the breakdown is, and maybe that's something that we need to work on and improve. Do we have a broken piece of equipment? Do we not have a good utilization of space? Is the process just not clearly written or the expectation just isn't clear?

It's very rarely that a team member is doing something incorrectly or not doing things not meeting expectations because they're being spiteful. 

Suzanne: Yeah. And I can see as you were talking and saying trust, but verify, I think that relates to partnerships as well. Going in with everyone has best intentions.

We're gonna trust this, but help hold each other [00:20:00] accountable and make sure that it's good along the way. And maybe you could talk a little bit about how you ensure that partnerships. Remain mutually beneficial over time. And I know you, you enter into a lot of different partnerships.

And I use that word broadly, maybe some of that is business resources and tools and different vendors that you work with. Certainly, the partnership you and Ellie have. It might not always be a good fit for whatever reason. But how do you just make sure that they're mutually beneficial or say, Hey, you know what, this wasn't, this didn't work for me, that's okay. I learned a little bit or maybe I learned what doesn't work for our pharmacy and then can move along. 

Helen: That's a slightly difficult conversation for me because I don't like conflict. 

Suzanne: Yeah, I don't think any of us do. 

Yeah. No one does that. No. Thank you. 

Helen: Yeah. Overwhelmed.

Overwhelming anxiety and I've cried quite a lot. It's all a journey of growth and you have to just be respectful and remember that the [00:21:00] person on the other side, you don't know what they're dealing with or what they're going through. And to just be able to say very clearly the these are my expectations; these are my needs.

I'm sorry, but you're not meeting these, or this just isn't a good fit for my pharmacy. And you have to be honest with people. While you want to be kind, they're not your friends. And that, business line has to be drawn where you are not going to worry so much about hurting somebody else's feelings that you put your own business at risk.

And I think for us women especially that. Really difficult. 

Suzanne: I always put in my mind like being clear is kind I'm being kind to this person by giving that clear, transparent information. And always leaving the door open obviously, unless it's something egregious.

But that's atypical yeah, that's, I think that's a great approach and flexing that skill of how to give direct [00:22:00] feedback or give feedback that is helping overcome conflict and I know for me, I tend to work it up more in my head and than what it is in reality, and then it's fine.

We're all adults, we're having good conversations.

Helen: And I think Ellie can maybe agree that, my growth. In being able to set the boundaries and communicate clearly and stuff has definitely grown and changed even from when I first met her.

Suzanne: Yeah. And Ellie's role, I don't know if we said clearly, but Ellie is a Pharmacy Sales Consultant with McKesson. Your role is really consulting and working with all of your pharmacies in your region across Nebraska and creating connections for them working as a trusted advisor and a partner.

And I think you two have done an amazing job of being able to have those conversations where hey, this isn't working, this isn't working. How can we move things forward together? And maybe Ellie could talk a little bit about, specifically with Helen and Stockmen’s, how the partnership has contributed to innovation and growth.

Not just through the tools and [00:23:00] resources, Helen, that you've used but just, through that relationship. 

Ellie: So I was actually only probably about six or seven months into this role when Mike first called me and started making the initial introductions with Helen.

So, I met Helen within my first year on the job and, honestly, I think that working with Helen really, truly helped bring me up to speed so much faster with my job because, and I've said this million times to her, her and I would talk and it would always, we're learning together and we're growing together here.

And obviously, I had a little bit of background in the pharmacy world, but not so much so on the business side. Just more of a personal, it was a part of my life. And so, I really do think that working with Helen and just the fact that she asks so many great questions and it's [00:24:00] so important to ask questions and I don't think that's one thing that Helen has always done that is such a good characteristic to have is just not being afraid to ask questions. 

Suzanne: Absolutely. 

Ellie: And so truly, I really felt like I learned so much through Helen's learning and working with other resources in, within McKesson like you and the RxOwnership team and just so many different teams bringing them all together.

It was, it was a fantastic learning experience for everyone involved. I really do think that. 

Helen: Yeah. And Suzanne, I've learned so much from you. Just the way you communicate. Getting us started with Project Impact Diabetes just always being able to be available whenever I have something that I need to ask you about.

And I think that you even have such a good outlook on things and your advice is so spot on and helpful just. You're included in that partnership. 

Suzanne: I appreciate that. But [00:25:00] mostly Helen, it, when there's things that come up that are gonna move the profession forward, like that's what inspires me to share that with you.

And you're always so open to just, yeah, let's try that or tell me more, or learn. And so it makes it really easy to come to you with new things as they pop up and, oh, Helen will try this and even give us feedback as we're piloting and working through different, different solutions out there, but so I have to hear do you wanna talk a little bit about APhA Project Impact?

'Cause I'm so excited about that. Where are you guys at in the application process? 

Helen: We, oh my gosh, we're training so, yay. 

Suzanne: Oh, you mean my day? I didn't realize that. Yes. That's awesome. 

Helen: Yes. Oh my gosh. We applied, I think it was November, December of 23. Was it that far back? 

Suzanne: I know I lose track of time.

Yeah. And just for our listeners with APhA Project Impact, we have the ability to have Health Mart pharmacies fill out a, an application process, I guess is the best way to describe it, and then go into this reservoir. So when paid patient care opportunities pop up, [00:26:00] if they're a match based on the information that Helen, you've put in.

Then APhA foundation will work directly with you and be able to help support training. And for your case, it's really around diabetes prevention program that happened to be a match. And that's a really nice turnkey kind of umbrella service with their credentialing and their APhA partnership to have the pharmacy teams be able to get off the ground.

It definitely is something that you apply for and sit and wait for an opportunity. But I think I love that. You weren't discouraged. You're like, yep, we're ready to go when the time is right and. Here we are now. Where you're being trained. 

Helen: Yeah. I was really excited when you told me about Project Impact Diabetes. 

 And they reached out and said that they would love to have us part of the program, but they did not have anything set up for Nebraska and they would reach out when they did. And so I reached out to them a couple of months ago and they had just, they were like, we're just at the final stages of getting something for Nebraska.

We'll let you know. And [00:27:00] a couple, about two months ago, we finally got the approval, the email that we had been approved to participate in the program. And we were all very excited. And we're doing it in stages. We are the first pharmacy in Nebraska to be a part of this program.

Suzanne: Oh, wow. So that's exciting. Yes. 

Helen: And we are doing it in stages. So our two technicians over in our telepharmacy just completed their training. And I'm going to do the training this month coming up in May. Then one of our employees, whom Ellie, and Suzanne, I think you know her too. Yeah. She was my manager. She was my right-hand man. And we've transitioned her to our community health worker role. That, I think that's going to really play on her strengths and her love for the community, and I think she's gonna really enjoy and love that position.

So she's gonna take the training in June. [00:28:00] So we're excited about that. 

Suzanne: Another partnership, that we were able to connect you with and then partner with APhA foundation to bring diabetes prevention to your community members who can now get that at your pharmacy. Yeah. And you're all able to be reimbursed for that. Another success.

That's great. 

Helen: We partnered with CPESN one of the programs. We just recently partnered with them. So they're not implemented yet. But one of the programs that we're really excited about is dose packs. They have a program right now in Nebraska where they'll be able to reimburse us for dose packs and it will be free to the community.

So that's really exciting. 

Suzanne: And I love, through all these partnerships, you can find those niche services that work best in your community. So for everybody out there you may not have a population that's the same as Helen's. But there are, I think a lot of different opportunities like that, that you find out about, even through just different partnerships that you talk to.

So that's awesome. Last question. I'd love to get thoughts from both of [00:29:00] you but just maybe some. 30 seconds or less advice that you have for other independent pharmacies who are looking to do more with strategic partnerships. What do you think, what advice or pearls or words of wisdom do you have for them?

And Ellie, we'll start with you. 

Ellie: Totally. I will say that I think that, what has worked so fabulously for Helen, and I think really what is just is sounds like a blanket statement, but I think it's just being open to change. I really do.

The pharmacy world is extremely volatile. It's constantly changing. And I really truly think that the owners, the business owners, the pharmacists that are the most successful are the ones who adapt and they change with it. 

Helen: I was definitely gonna say be flexible.

If you want your pharmacy to succeed, you want it to do well and you want to meet the needs of your community, find the things that you and your staff, your team [00:30:00] love. Find things in the community that bother you guys. And fix them. And be flexible. Understand that things are not going to follow a deadline.

They're not going to follow a schedule. And be willing to step outside of the box. Don't be afraid to fail. Failure isn't actually failure giving up and quitting. Maybe that is depending on the situation. But if you try something and it doesn't work, that does not mean that it failed.

It does not mean you failed. It just means it didn't work for your pharmacy, that's it. And you don't take it personally. You don't. Let emotions get in the way. You just go by numbers, run the numbers, see what works and what doesn't, and move on to the next opportunity and give it a shot.

Make sure that you [00:31:00] are communicating clearly with your team. Make sure they understand who is going to be responsible for what, why you guys are doing it. Your team has to know. That they have a purpose. And that this, whatever you are implementing has a purpose. And that will increase the buy-in of the team.

The willingness to give it a shot and make sure your foundation is strong and then evaluate and see if it's working or it's not. 

Suzanne: Yeah, because even when you fail, you learn something from that. And if I had to sum up what I'm hearing and just, the famous Ted lasso quote comes to mind for me be curious, not judgmental.

Because if you pre-judge something, it's not working in your pharmacy, you're not able to help, then you limit the opportunity. You have to learn about that. And maybe that partnership or. That solution isn't what's best for the pharmacy, but you may be introduced to somebody else or a different concept or learn something from [00:32:00] that.

So I think we can all learn from every interaction we have and then bring that back to our pharmacies and implement. 

Helen: If you are on the verge of buying a pharmacy for the first time you're considering it. You haven't taken that step yet and you're afraid or you wanna implement services and you wanna do things differently, but you are afraid.

Put that fear down, squash it, stick it in a box somewhere and just leave it alone. And let it fester in that box and ignore it, and don't let it grow, and don't let it conquer you. I don't, I say this all the time. I don't have an accounting background, so I hired some really great accountants.

I don't know, pharmacy law, so I've got a really great lawyer who used to own pharmacies, right? I don't have any pharmacy background at all whatsoever, and I don't have any business background. I shouldn't even be a business owner. If you look at the [00:33:00] statistics of my life, if I followed the statistics out there I wouldn't be able to help all these rural communities.

And so I just wanna say as vulnerable as I am right now at putting this out there, if I can do it. You can. Anybody can. There, there's nothing in the way. You can start a business without the money. You can start a business without the knowledge and learn, but you have to be willing to learn.

You have to be responsible, and you have to set aside your ego and you've gotta squash that fear. 

Suzanne: Helen, so inspiring every time I talk to you. And I always appreciate how vulnerable you are and how much you share because it helps all of us to be better and to not be afraid to take that next right step.

I think that's what you always show me, is that no matter how hard life is, 'cause life is hard, right? Being a pharmacy owner is hard but doing it and having the passion to serve the communities that you've been in over your career [00:34:00] and just taking that next right step has clearly been so impactful.

Not just for you, but for your employees and your communities and your patients. So thank you for sharing your story with our listeners and being so open today. I really appreciate that. 

Ellie: I love hearing your story every single time, Helen. It gets better every time. And one thing I just wanted to say that we've glazed over this whole time is while she was going through all of this and doing all of these things, she also opened a second location 

Suzanne: Just because why not?

Helen: And I own a real estate company too. 

Suzanne: Oh my goodness. 

I love it. The power of partnerships, I think there's so much that we learned from you. So thank you for sharing today. 

Helen: Absolutely. Anything I can do to help.

Suzanne: And to our listeners out there, we hope you'll join us each week as this podcast delves into all the topics out there for clinical support on Mondays and then monthly for episodes like these. And I invite all of our listeners to plug in, to hear more innovative ways to strengthen your health of your [00:35:00] pharmacy business and take care of your patients in your communities. So we hope you'll listen in wherever you listen to podcasts. 

I'm Suzanne Feeney, Health Mart Pharmacist, signing off. Stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep making a difference in your communities.

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