EL PASO, Texas — Providing preventive care through immunizations is one of Cindy Perez’ passions. The Walmart pharmacy clinical services manager believes pharmacies are able to keep communities healthy by both directly immunizing patients and indirectly improving herd immunity.

Cindy Perez, Walmart, El Paso, Texas, walmart.com

“As a pharmacy team, we are able to keep the less-vulnerable populations protected from infections and complications, and in doing so, are able to conserve resources such as hospital beds and emergency departments for those who need it the most,” she says.

Perez is a huge advocate of vaccinations and preventive health, and she has had the privilege of teaching and training pharmacists when vaccinations were first beginning in the community pharmacy setting. She was also able to teach and train pharmacy technicians how to administer vaccinations at the height of the pandemic.

In her own pharmacy, she worked to streamline the vaccination process with technicians so that it was seamless for patients. “From reviewing their consent forms to identifying gaps in their vaccine history, having a good conversation with patients around what they are missing and what they can get usually means that they are going to get their vaccine that day,” she says. “I have also always been a proponent of ensuring that if I am going to give a patient their first vaccine in a series of vaccines, then I am also equally responsible for ensuring that they are educated about when to come back to see us for their second or third doses. And when patients see how simple it can be for us to prep their immunizations and get their immunizations to go through insurance, they usually leave pleased and promise to tell their family members about our service.”

Outside of this, she enjoys giving back to communities through local and national organizations that allow her to mentor the next generation of technicians and pharmacy interns. “I believe that we are the most accessible health care providers and that we can truly make a difference in patient lives and outcomes when we all contribute as a team.”

She collaborated with Walmart pharmacy teams to participate in the local Pride parade, serving as an ambassador by speaking to the community about health and preventive care, and introducing people to the services that Walmart provides as a company.

She works with the local diabetes organization, which has always included Walmart in conversation with other health care providers regarding its excellent pharmacy service.

She completed Walmart’s Culture, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training. She was a panelist at the company’s Women in Supply Chain & Volunteerism event this year and was recognized for her volunteer efforts.

She is the El Paso Pharmacists Association president-elect (Pharmacist of the Year); a LatinX Mentoring Circle participant; a regional director, mentor and speaker for the National Hispanic Pharmacy Association; and a Walmart Health Action Equity award recipient.

Walmart allows Perez’ pharmacy team members to work at the top their licenses. The company enables pharmacists, pharmacy interns, technicians and sales associates to have defined roles so that the pharmacist can focus on the clinical aspect of community pharmacy. It provides support personnel that focus on the operational details of prescription fulfillment, which allows the pharmacists to use their clinical knowledge to focus on preventive health through vaccine administration, medication therapy management and adherence, which improves the clinical outcomes for patients.

Pharmacists partner with other health care professionals in many ways. Perez adds. She partners with offices and hospitals daily to clarify prescriptions, find a therapeutic alternative when an insurance co-pay is too expensive or a medication is not covered, when there is an allergy, when the medication is on national back order, and the list goes on and on.

“Our role is to keep our patients healthy and to prevent any gaps in medication therapy. Over time, I have been able to create and foster relationships in my area as many other pharmacists have done before me. The ability to work on the health care team and gain the trust of physicians and nurse practitioners when you make a recommendation usually means that the issue gets resolved much faster and the patient is able to get medications without gaps in therapy.”

Her pharmacy has completed Medication Therapy Management programs through comprehensive medication reviews as well as therapeutic interventions for some time. It is able to conduct blood pressure screenings, blood glucose screenings and clinics to support expanded clinical services. “In general, patients are very happy with the services we provide,” Perez notes.

She practices in an area where it can take some patients up to six months to see a practitioner or require them to cross the border to Mexico to see a doctor. “When we are able to provide clinics or free screenings, we typically have many patients come to our events. The most gratifying and rewarding is knowing that we were able to provide a service for them when they are not always able to get the services they need.”

Education is critical for patients, and pharmacists take an oath to care for patients and counsel them on their medication and their health, she adds. “The best education is usually provided in the interest of the patient and is usually provided verbally over time and several visits. Once a relationship exists between the pharmacist and the patient, education about medications and disease states becomes easier as the trust from our patients grows.”

Her favorite part of the job by far is teaching and training. “This can be teaching a new mom about her child’s medications, or a pharmacy intern on therapeutics, or a newer physician about uncommon drug interactions. It can also mean teaching and training your pharmacy technicians and elevating your team to practice at the top of their license so that everyone on the team wins, which ultimately means that the patient wins as well.”

When she was working on the bench, she once came across a therapeutic duplication that transferred in a patient’s profile for diabetes medications. The medications were from two different prescribers, and the patient was taking both. When she called to clarify the prescriptions, it was determined that the patient was to stop one of the medications and initiate a new therapy — but the patient never did and continued to take both. She spoke to the patient, who communicated how poorly she had been feeling and that many times she felt like just completely stopping her medications because of how bad she felt. Perez explained that she was supposed to have discontinued one medication. The patient came back a couple of weeks later with her daughter and husband to thank Perez and tell her how grateful she was. “It was one of the most memorable times for me as a pharmacist to see that it meant so much to someone that they brought their family into the pharmacy for me to meet them.”

Perez’ love of pharmacy started at a very young age. Her grandmother, who was her sole caretaker while her parents were out working, used to take Perez as a young child with her on the bus to appointments and for errands. “We used to always visit with the pharmacist at the grocery she frequented. I did not know it at the time, but the interaction the pharmacist had with my grandmother and the counseling he gave her kept her healthy. I recognized later that the pharmacist is the most accessible person on the health care team, especially in an area that is a medical desert without many physicians. I aspired to use my love of science and people to serve my community in the same capacity. As a community pharmacist, I am proud to work for a company that allows pharmacists and technicians to practice at the top of our license in so many locations throughout the country that also enables us to be easily accessible to patients that are also in a medical desert like my family was.