Pharmacists Annalisa Thomas (PharmD) and Roland Lopez (PharmD) at work at Kelley-Ross Pharmacy Group.

Imagine you had a very young child with a critical medical condition that caused seizures. Suppose the medicine to stop it was available, but your daughter couldn’t take it because of its taste. What would you do then? Who would you turn to for help?

This is the request that Roland Lopez, PharmD, a compounding Pharmacist and Teamster at Kelley-Ross Pharmacy Group received. “We created the special flavor for her and she has been successfully on the same tasty medication for 2 years,” he said. “Now every Christmas her family stops by to say thank you.”

"At other places where I have worked you are just a number, whereas at Kelley-Ross you are treated like a person. You’re family here."

Everyone within Kelley-Ross Pharmacy Group, including their popular mail order pharmacy, are members of Teamsters Local 117. They serve all members covered by Teamsters medical plan. It is unique in the services that it provide to its patients ranging from compounding medication tailored to the patient and in-home coaching to a travel clinic which helps people get set up with vaccines and medication for travel. It helps those who may have limited to no access to healthcare through its pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) clinic that gives access to HIV preventative medication.

“A lot of our One-Step PrEP clinic patients break down at their first appointment. It is very rewarding to get them connected with more medical services and resources,” mentions Annalisa Thomas, PharmD, a pharmacist at Kelley-Ross Pharmacy at the Polyclinic location.

"We are Teamsters helping thousands of other Teamsters, many of whom are retired, stay on their medication. We get to know our patients."

Yet the most essential part of a pharmacy is its workers. Trina Wayman, a technician at Kelley-Ross Long-Term Care Pharmacy and a Shop Steward who has been a Teamster for 21 years, weighs in on the work environment. “At other places where I have worked you are just a number, whereas at Kelley-Ross you are treated like a person. You’re family here. It made a huge difference in my life.” Trina has been going through difficult time dealing with serious illness and loss of dear family members in the past few weeks. She was able to take time off without hassle during this troubling time.

When the workers are happy and thriving in a positive environment everybody wins — patients most of all. “I can tell you every single person I work with is very quick. We all go an extra mile,” shares Lynette Flynn, a technician with almost 32 years of experience at Kelley-Ross Union Center Pharmacy. Wayman echoes her sentiments. “We are Teamsters helping thousands of other Teamsters, many of whom are retired, stay on their medication. We get to know our patients. They call us all the time and they know our names. This is the most special thing to me.”

So what was the magical ingredient in the anti-seizure medication? Cherry syrup and a whole lot of care.

Check out Geoffrey Meer explaining In-Home Coaching program at Kelley-Ross.