Jasmine Walia won the Best Intern for Education for the way she’s turning her personal experiences with pharmacy care into a lifelong career, all while serving her customers with compassion and empathy. She embraces the opportunity to sit down with customers and review their medication histories: making sure their drugs are correct and up-to-date. Her own love of learning motivates her to go beyond simply educating her customers: She empowers them with information so they can take better care of themselves.

Why did you decide to go into this field? 

To be honest, I never liked pharmacy. When I was younger, I thought that a pharmacist just sat behind the counter and counted pills. I didn’t want to be that person, but I’ve always been interested in medicine and had a passion for patient care. 

My family’s health literacy wasn’t the best when we were growing up, and my grandma doesn’t speak English at all. My entire family used to rely on the pharmacist after a long doctor’s appointment for information, like “Why am I taking this medication? What are some side effects I might have?”

One day, my dad and I were sitting down together and he said, “Why don’t you consider pharmacy? You like medicine, and a pharmacist makes a big impact on patient care.” I’ve been told my personality is very welcoming, and my dad said I would probably be perfect.

I always try my best to make sure [patients] feel welcomed and that they know that I care about them. 

In my last year of high school, I had to get serious about what I wanted to do. There’s a Walgreens right down my street and I just went in one day; I wasn’t 18, so they hired me as a “designated hitter” for when they needed help in the pharmacy. I started out in the front, then after graduation came around, I started undergraduate school, and working and training more in the pharmacy. Walgreens offered some technician classes, which I took, and I became a tech in 2017.

I learned so much throughout that time. I learned so much about pharmacy. Then I applied to pharmacy school and got in, and now I’m in my third year.

What does your typical day look like? 

Monday through Thursday I have class from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday I either have class in the morning or exams (or both). And then on Saturdays I go to work at Walgreens. I really try to help out at Walgreens during the summer and during winter break. Or whenever they need me—even if it’s after school, I can go in for two hours and they’ll appreciate any help. 

Thankfully, I have the best coworkers ever, and if I can’t go to work because I have a busy week, they understand if I have to cancel because of school. They’re amazing, and they adjust so well, and I’m so thankful for them.

What was your favorite moment as a pharmacy tech? 

In December of 2020, I was helping Walgreens with the Medication Management Therapy (MTM) Intern program. They had me for a set of assigned hours where I would just do MTM calls: It would be either checking up and seeing how patients are doing, adherence calls, seeing if they needed refills, or doing medication history.

There was this one lady I was trying to get in contact with for the longest time, and then finally she came to refill the medication, and I stopped her. I said, “Hey, I need to go over your medication history; there’s a lot going on on your profile, and we just need to make sure all your medications are current.”

She actually asked if she could come back in person to do it, rather than call me, and we worked on her medication history for two or three hours. It was the coolest thing because she told me, “No one’s ever done this with me, and I appreciate it.” There were so many medications on her list that she didn’t need. The appreciation made me feel so good: I felt like I actually made a difference.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the field?

I feel like COVID has helped pharmacists advance in many ways. With certain COVID laws around vaccines, we’re able to reach out to so many more populations, which has obviously been a benefit for the pharmacy. 

I wish it was in better circumstances, but we’ve also been one of the most accessible healthcare providers, because basically all the doctor’s offices were closed initially during COVID. They all went virtual, which is very hard for people with low socioeconomic status: What if they don’t have access to WiFi, or what if they don’t have access to a phone that they can download Zoom or Skype on it to contact their doctor?

We got a lot of people in the pharmacy at that time, I remember. On a daily basis, we would have so many people come in and say, “Well, my doctor’s office was closed. I don’t know what to take.” We had a lot more people come to us for help, and they were so grateful that we were there to help them. I feel like a lot of people have started appreciating pharmacy a lot more than they used to; they know we’ll be there for them whenever their doctors are closed.  

What drives you to go above and beyond for your customers?

Most of the time, retail pharmacists are the last stop of your day—the very last people you see before heading home. So I always try my best to make sure they feel welcomed and that they know that I care about them. 

When I counsel patients, they’ll really express themselves and say things like, “I’m on so many different medications, and I don’t even know how to differentiate the side effects of them.” When I’m able to go over it, and they’re able to tell me that they actually understand me, it makes me feel good about myself because I’m actually learning in school and I can help them learn, too.