When customers enter Weis #129 in Damascus, Maryland, they’re immediately treated like family. Debbie Watkins, CPhT, a pharmacy technican, sings the praises of the branch’s pharmacy manager Jayesh Patel, R.Ph., saying, “He has built this pharmacy. He’s been here 31 years, and he knows everybody. He knows his people.” 

The Weis pharmacy in Damascus has been in operation since its grand opening on Memorial Day weekend in 1991. The team is led by two pharmacists, Patel and Kelly Piedrahita, Pharm.D., who are supported by five pharmacy technicians: Watkins, Margaret Blaine, CPhT, Aditi Charan, CPhT, Donna Pascali, CPhT, and Tashnuva Zaman.

Under Patel’s steady guidance, the entire team works together to provide impeccable service to the nearby population on a daily basis. “It’s a sweet town pharmacy within the grocery store,” Watkins says. “The people love us. They’re always complimenting our little team. We’re trying to go above and beyond to help people, especially the older folks.” 

On account of their unwavering commitment to customer service, Weis #129 has been named this year’s Best Pharmacy for Service. In fact, the team banded together during the pandemic to administer as many vaccinations as possible on a daily basis. As a result, they quickly caught the attention of Weis corporate and were regularly recognized as the branch delivering the most number of vaccinations each week. 

As well as keeping the community safe during the pandemic, the team at Weis #129 delivers excellent customer service on a daily basis to all of their customers. “We see people in pain, people undergoing cancer treatments, people with immunocompromised conditions, and people wanting vaccinations, and they all rely on us as a team to fulfill their prescription order,” Pascali says. “I have seen this team work under intense stress and treat each person with compassion. They all work diligently day in and day out to meet the needs of each of their customers.” 

Here, we speak with Pascala, Watkins, and Dr. Piedrahita about what makes their team work together so well.

Tell us about the community you serve.

Donna Pascali, CPhT (pharmacy technician): Damascus has historically been a dairy farming community. We have a little over 10,000 people here. So we’re in the D.C. suburbs, but it’s a small town that still has farms and orchards. We all choose to live here because it’s such a beautiful community. It’s just a very welcoming, warm place where people look out for each other. 

Kelly Piedrahita, Pharm.D. (pharmacist): Damascus is a small town. My kids go to Damascus High School, which has fewer than 300 students. Everybody knows everybody. Many customers stay in Damascus and live here for 40 or 50 years. When people show up at the pharmacy, I would say 90% of the time, I know who they are.

What makes your team work so well together? 

Debbie Watkins, CPhT (pharmacy technician): Our team is close. The pharmacists keep a text thread going to tell us what’s coming up, what’s got to be done, if something needs to change. We all work together very, very well. There is a deep sense of purpose, of getting the job done, and maintaining excellent working relationships. 

Pascali: Jay has been our pharmacist since this store opened 31 years ago, which is rare in today’s world. Kelly has been a pharmacist in our store for five and a half years, but before that, she was 10 minutes away at another store for 11 years. People in this community love them, they trust them, they rely on them, they seek their guidance, and they love their families. It’s more than just a job. 

There is a deep sense of purpose, of getting the job done, and maintaining excellent working relationships.

Jayesh Patel, R.Ph. (pharmacist): It’s a very close knit group. If anybody has questions, they put it on our chat group where we solve problems throughout the day. We finish projects with each other’s help, and work as a team rather than as individuals. We celebrate our successes and we win together.

How did the team serve the community during the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Watkins: Our pharmacist, Kelly, would announce our COVID clinics on Facebook. It was amazing, and we were busy. We wouldn’t have survived if we all didn’t work together during that time. We all knew what we had to do. We’d come in and pick right up. There are no bad attitudes. None. You can’t have that in a pharmacy. You’ve got to work well together, like a little oil can of grease.

Pascali: People were driving to us because all the other pharmacies were saying, “We’re only doing appointments for two hours a day.” People were driving for miles and they were willing to wait. We were doing 60 to 70 shots a day. Jay saw it as a real act of community service to do what we could so that people could be healthy. The team rose to the challenge. 

We all work together very, very well. There is a deep sense of purpose, of getting the job done, and maintaining excellent working relationships. 

We handled this extra volume along with our normal workload and it was an intense time. I started when the vaccinations were in high demand, and it was fast-paced and intense. Our staff handled each customer’s request patiently and accurately. 

Dr. Piedrahita: People would travel from an hour away all the way to Damascus. Every week, there would be an email from corporate listing how many vaccinations each store had done. We were consistently number one, not just for the district, but the entire chain of Weis. 

What does your team do to provide exceptional service?

Patel: We try to train our people to the highest efficiency level when dealing with any customer. At the same time, filling orders in a timely manner, increasing efficiency on the computers, making sure they learn all our new company policies, rules, and regulations.  

Pascali: We provide COVID test kits, whether it’s through a patient’s insurance or through Medicare. We have a lot of teachers who come to us, and they’re always mindful and want to have COVID tests on hand. We all work together. 

If a patient needs a particular medication, Jay or Kelly will text one of the other pharmacies or call over and ask if they have it in stock, even if it’s outside our chain. We’re in a small town, and I think that goes to the overall feeling of Damascus. 

This team really knows and loves their customers and their families. I couldn’t work in a place that didn’t care.