Timothy M. Orcutt, Pharm.D., who is based at Harris Teeter #498 in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, has been a pharmacist for a decade now, but it took time to find his passion. After acquiring a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and a Master’s Degree in Microbiology, Dr. Orcutt craved a more person-centered career. “I knew I wanted to do something in health care because I wanted to be able to help people,” he explains.

Over a two-year period, Dr. Orcutt shadowed a number of professionals in the healthcare field. After taking on a part-time job as a pharmacy technician, he realized that becoming a pharmacist would give him the best chance of connecting with patients on a daily basis. As a result, Dr. Orcutt went back to school to train for his Pharm.D. at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

“It’s a second career for me,” Dr. Orcutt says of his decision to train as a pharmacist. “I decided to go back to school, a little bit later, but I think it was a great choice for me.” His choice clearly paid off, and a decade later, his customers have nominated him for a Best of the Best Pharmacy Award.

When it comes to serving his customers and delivering excellent patient care, Dr. Orcutt always puts them first. “You really have to genuinely care about people and their lives and their health,” he explains, crediting the rest of his team for making patient care the top priority at all times. “Making sure that the patient gets taken care of is our main focus.”

Customers have taken notice of this hard work, praising “the above and beyond practices” of the team and their personal approach to patient care. Dr. Orcutt has been named this year’s Best Pharmacist for Service for his dedication to providing impeccable customer service to every single patient.

What’s your typical day like in the pharmacy?

We’re a retail pharmacy within a grocery store, so it’s a little bit different than some of the other pharmacies. We’re actually the highest volume pharmacy of all Harris Teeters in the country. We have been growing like crazy. We’re a little bit busier and have a larger staff than most, and we’re really fortunate for that. My day is pretty evenly split between normal pharmacist duties—such as checking prescriptions, verifying orders, checking for allergies, talking to doctors—and helping patients. Because we have such a great team and I have really great partners, we all get to spend some time talking to patients and answering their questions, helping them out, educating them.

What drives you to provide exceptional service for your patients?

I’ve been at this location for eight years now. I’m here to take care of my patients and that’s my main focus. I had a great mentor when I was a technician and an intern, who taught me that you really have to make a connection with your patients. 

I’m here to take care of my patients and that’s my main focus.

The biggest asset that I have is patient trust. They trust me with their life basically every single day. I genuinely care about my patients and I want to know about their lives and how things are going with their health. Making those little connections really helps build the relationship. I think that’s what our team does a great job with. 

Do you have any standout moments from your time as a pharmacist?

One story that I always tell my students is, there was somebody in the grocery store, and they were causing a lot of problems and customer service was going to call the police. I thought something wasn’t right, so I asked the guy to come over and sit by the pharmacy. We were about to close, and I talked to him, and it turns out that he wasn’t drunk or on drugs like the team thought. He actually had schizophrenia. He didn’t really communicate that well with me, but he had a pill bottle out. 

I called the pharmacy listed on his pill bottle and got a phone number that was on file for him. I called and asked, “Do you happen to know this person?” It was his aunt who lived in the area and she said, “We’ve been looking all over for him.” He lived in a group home about an hour and a half from here. He was getting picked on there and didn’t like it, so he left, but nobody knew where he was. He had hitchhiked all the way to get closer to his aunt who was his original caretaker. 

She came up and met him, and she was very thankful that somebody took the time to actually listen to him and talk to him. They were my patients after that for years. I use that as a teaching moment for my students. I tell them to not just go by face value. You’ve really got to learn the situation and understand what’s going on. I think that was a moment where I made a decision that really helped somebody out. He was going to spend a few nights in jail and he didn’t have any identification. I was happy that I took the extra step.

I tell [pharmacy students] to not just go by face value. You’ve really got to learn the situation and understand what’s going on.

How do you help your patients save on prescriptions?

We do whatever we can. If it’s a really expensive brand-name medication, we can talk to the doctor to try to find a less expensive alternative. Our patients see the commercials for coupon cards and they ask if it will help, and it does a lot of times. We’re absolutely happy to do whatever we can to save patients money because I want them to take their medication and I want them to take it how they’re supposed to take it and not skip it. If that means that we need to get them a better cost on it, we’re going to do what we can to help them out.

What does this award mean to you?

First of all, it honored me that somebody, whoever it was, thought that I would go “above and beyond” and nominate me. I’m completely honored.

I would not be the pharmacist I am today without the people I work with and without my other staff pharmacists, Ben Williman and Katie Lord. We’re a team and I really couldn’t be doing this without them. I hope people see that it’s not just me. We’re a great team and that’s what really makes us be able to do what we actually do there.