Twin brothers Joseph and Jesse Pena are this year’s Best Pharmacy Duo.

How long have you been pharmacy technicians?

Jesse: I’ve been a pharmacy technician at H-E-B Grocery for about five years now. Before that, I was a bagger and then a cashier with the company. 

Joseph: I’ve been a pharmacy technician for about five years now. All of those years have been with H-E-B Grocery.

Why did you become pharmacy technicians?

Jesse: After high school, I wanted to go to pharmacy school. I already worked at H-E-B, so I approached the pharmacy about a job. Once I turned 18, I became a pharmacy care representative (PCR) and helped ring up customer prescriptions for six months. Then, I became a tech-in-training. I learned tons of valuable information and felt ready to take my pharmacy technician certification exam after six months. I passed and have worked as a pharmacy technician since.

Joseph: We both started working for H-E-B when we were 16. When Jesse started working in the pharmacy, they knew he had a twin brother. They approached me about a job, thinking I might have a similar work ethic. I decided to give it a shot, and I liked it. We have a synergy working together that the pharmacy staff and the customers liked. In the state of Texas, you have to get a certificate for that through the Texas State Board of Pharmacy. After learning on the job for about half the year, I took the certification exam and passed.

It’s rewarding to make patients feel like they’re not just another number, they’re part of a community.

Do you have a mentor in the profession?

Jesse: I have met many amazing pharmacists throughout my career, each one teaching me how to be a better version of myself. However, it’s my current manager—James Werline—who took a chance on me. He hired me at the age of 18, without any pharmacy experience, and for that I’m truly grateful to this day. He’s mentored me throughout my entire career in pharmacy, in caring for patients and in growing into a young adult. His advice has gotten me to where I am today.

Joseph: It would be my supervising pharmacist, James Werline. James taught me and Jesse to treat our customers like our family, always saying, “If you take care of your patients, they will take care of you.” It’s that golden rule that has helped me live my passion of serving my customers. 

What does a day at work look like for you?

Jesse: Joseph and I work together about half the time. Every day we get an order, and we divide up who is packaging prescriptions and who is helping customers. It’s always nice to know when I’m working with Joseph that his side will be taken care of—we’re the best partners working together. If Joseph’s not working, customers always ask, “Where’s your brother? So, why are you not working together?” I swear they’ll ask every time. 

Joseph: Our customers can tell us apart, too. We each have our own customers that we talk to and work with more. So if I know it’s a customer who Jesse talks to a lot, I’ll go over and say hi. And then let Jesse finish it up because they have more of a connection and vice versa.

It’s incredible how valuable the pharmacy is to our community. H-E-B typically offers health screenings every second Saturday. We’re certified testers, so we test patients’ blood sugar, blood pressure, and total cholesterol lipid panel. Then, we give them their results and talk to them about it.

Jesse: In the fall each year, we go around to schools in San Antonio. Pharmacists will give out flu shots, and we test the teachers if they haven’t had a blood pressure screening or total cholesterol lipid panel.

Joseph: Being a pharmacist can be a stressful job. Anything that technicians can do is something that the pharmacist doesn’t have to, and it takes a lot of pressure off of them. It helps them make sure that the patient is receiving the safest medication. I never knew how important pharmacy was to the community until I worked in one.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

Jesse: As a pharmacy technician, you have to be able to adapt to circumstances. We don’t always have a certain medication in stock. Or, it’s too expensive. But, that patient needs the medication to treat a condition, like a seizure disorder. I like being able to help customers like I would help my own family member, going through whatever hoops I need to in order to make it accessible. 

One of the best parts is having customers pick up a medication because you’re able to build connections. I like to stop and ask, “How is your day going?” Or even to make it a little more personal than that, “How are the flowers you planted doing?” “How was the graduation party?” Then patients feel like they can really open up to you.

When people come to the pharmacy, they don’t feel good. They have the flu and want to go home and go to bed. Joseph and I are very comical at work—we do our best to leave whatever’s happening in our lives at home and make sure our customers have a positive experience. They can relate to that joking between siblings.

Joseph: I think it’s important to remember that when you’re sick, or when you’re going in for a physical, your medical appointment doesn’t stop at your doctor. When you leave, you might be prescribed something. I view the pharmacy as an extension of that medical appointment. 

If a patient can’t afford a medication, I’ll try to work with the doctor to switch it, or I’ll look up a coupon. It’s rewarding to initially be able to help the patients, then to be able to see them progress in their therapy—and to make connections with them. Some patients even bring their kids, and you get to know them, too. It’s rewarding to make patients feel like they’re not just another number, they’re part of a community.

What does this award mean to you?

Jesse: I always remember the Martin Luther King, Jr. quote about a street sweeper. “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ ” No matter what I’m doing in life, I want to be the best I can possibly be. I want to go into work, and be happy, and express positivity—to hopefully create a ripple effect, so that kindness is contagious. We do a lot, and we don’t expect a lot in return. Knowing that people nominated us means that they see that; they recognize our work.

Joseph: It means a lot. There are days when you wonder, “Am I doing the right thing?” It helps validate that you’re doing something good. I want my customers to feel like, “Yes, I do care.” I try to step back and put myself in their shoes, to empathize with them without judging. Being compassionate and positive not only rubs off on patients, but it hopefully rubs off on the people we work with. I try to prioritize patient care. The other work will be there whether I take 30 seconds to have a personal interaction or five minutes. I want the customers to have a positive experience and to feel great when they leave. It’s nice to know the patients appreciate that.