Giant Food Pharmacy #0363 at 1400 Merritt Boulevard in Dundalk, Maryland, is the Best Pharmacy for Service in 2021. The career longevity of several of the staff members at this location (some have been there for more than 10 years!) has led to a deep trust with their customers, aided by the pharmacy’s customer-first culture. 

Having a staff with such tenure “builds trust with the patients,” says Susan Stabler, R.Ph. “A lot of them will ask each one of us personally for health information knowing they’ll get an honest answer—just because we’ve been here for so long.”

In business for 30 years, this Giant pharmacy location is run by three pharmacists: Aliaksandr Hrytsyshyn, Pharm.D., who also serves as pharmacy manager, Stabler, and Mary Jankowiak, R.Ph. They are assisted by pharmacy technicians Jennifer Joyner, Keith Lehew, Nya Taylor, Naomi Atandi, and Morgan Fitzpatrick and clerks Maryanne Swontek and Alicia Vaughn. Together, they help hundreds of customers per day.

Here, we speak with Dr. Hrytsyshyn and Stabler about their team’s dynamic and how they’re so customer driven.

What does an average day look like at your pharmacy?

Aliaksandr Hrytsyshyn (pharmacy manager): We have about 400 prescriptions come in per day; we focus on production in the morning, filling prescriptions and talking to doctors, and then in the evening people come in to pick up their medications and receive counseling.

Susan Stabler (pharmacist): There’s no average day; it’s different from day to day. Monday is our busy day, and we usually have all three pharmacists working and several technicians—maybe four technicians—and a couple people out at our counters. That usually keeps everything moving pretty well.

We all work together to help our customers.

What do you think your team does to go above and beyond for customers?

Hrytsyshyn: At the core, customer service is our mantra. The majority of customers want to be in and out, so we make sure we have a tight control on inventory and that what we have in the system agrees with what we have on the shelf. We don’t want to run out of medications that the customers need.  

When people come to get a shot, our pharmacists go over the whole immunization profile, review records for the patient, counsel them on other vaccines they may need at the same time, and we’ll look through inventory at our sister stores and transfer drugs if needed. We do anything we need to do to take care of the customer. 

Stabler: I think it helps when you get to know the customers and they trust you with their information. We know our jobs and everybody’s pretty efficient at getting their prescriptions out correctly and quickly. 

What’s your team dynamic like? 

Stabler: I’ve been working for this company for 32 years. I have one technician who’s been with me 16 years, and another who’s been with us here about 10 years. We all work together to help our customers—and we know our customers. When they come up to the counter, we address them by name because we’ve gotten to know them over the years. We deliver medications to customers on occasion if they have an issue and they can’t come out. We get their medicine to them as quickly as possible, recommend vaccinations that they need, and help them understand how to take their medications. 

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your pharmacy?

Hrytsyshyn: This store was one of the pilot stores for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout for the public. Giant had a contract with the Maryland government and this store was one of the few chosen. That was an extremely challenging time for all of us; the demand for the vaccine was very high, and just to answer the sheer amount of phone calls initially and use a new-to-us online scheduling system, we all worked crazy hours trying to take care of customers. 

If you care about every transaction with the customer, then everybody picks up that attitude and everybody tries to do the same.

Stabler: During COVID, we had people who were affected and we picked up extra work for our fellow employees who weren’t able to be here and kept everything running for customers. I think they all got just as good service, even though we weren’t all here. We usually try to do that for each other; everybody pitches in.

How does your pharmacy go the extra mile for your community?

Hrytsyshyn: We have several flu clinics we do, and a whole bunch of them were at treatment centers in methadone clinics. This is a very underprivileged community with glaring gaps in health care, especially when it comes to providing medical services and vaccinations like tetanus and hepatitis. They just don’t go to doctor offices or pharmacists that much.

We go out to those clinics and see every single patient who walks through the door that day; the whole time we’re there, from 5:30 in the morning until 5 at night, we talk to those folks and give them everything they need when it comes to vaccinations. 

What do you do to create such a customer-focused team?

Hrytsyshyn: As a manager and pharmacist, it’s my job to be constantly aware about everything that’s happening in the pharmacy. Sometimes you get stuck in the task of filling prescriptions, but my job is to hear every interaction that’s happening in the pharmacy. Anytime I hear staff not conducting themselves professionally or taking care of the customer, I take that as a “coachable moment,” immediately on the spot. 

If the pharmacist or pharmacy manager doesn’t care, then nobody really cares. But if you do care about every transaction with the customer, then everybody picks up that attitude and everybody tries to do the same. So I lead by example; being a manager, I’m not just your corporate boss telling people what to do, but doing everything right next to them, and staying professional and customer-oriented.