As the manager at Harris Teeter #341 in High Point, North Carolina, William Sajnacki, Pharm.D., has a lot of responsibilities. But one thing he’s not worried about is his pharmacy team. 

As well as regularly surpassing the expectations of their customers, the close-knit group is a constant support system for one another. “One of our technicians got in a car accident this morning,” Dr. Sajnacki says. “She called us, and the other two technicians are already working out the schedule to keep everything rolling. As a manager, you can’t ask for a team like that.”

The store’s customers most definitely agree, with one saying that Harris Teeter’s High Point branch is “not just a pharmacy, but a part of my family.” While this satisfaction is almost certainly achieved through consummate teamwork, pharmacy technician Robin Lee, CPhT, suggests that their manager is the glue that holds everything together. “I wish Will could write a manual on how people should run their pharmacy because he does an amazing job,” Lee says. 

The busy team has two pharmacists, Dr. Sajnacki and Kent Parker, Pharm.D. They work alongside five technicians: Robin Lee, Roena Terrell, Lyndia Honeycutt, Anlli Villatoro, and Patricia Artes.

With the store helping as many as 200 patients a day, the team often has their work cut out for them. But their professional approach makes their pharmacy extremely popular, with the team focused on ensuring all customers have a positive experience at their location. “We’re all human and everybody’s going through something,” Lee says. “If I can make a patient’s day a little better, it helps.”

Thanks to their unwavering commitment to teamwork, Harris Teeter in High Point, North Carolina, has been named this year’s Best Pharmacy Team. Drs. Sajnacki and Parker, along with Honeycutt and Terrell talked to us about what makes their team excel.

Can you tell us about the community that you serve?

William Sajnacki, Pharm.D. (pharmacy manager): We are a fairly large store in a very metropolitan area in High Point, North Carolina. We probably process anywhere between 1,000 to 1,500 prescriptions a week, depending upon the week.

Kent Parker, Pharm.D. (staff pharmacist): It’s a very diverse population. For instance, if you look at the parking lot, you’ll see quite old cars from the 1990s, and next to that, you’ll see a brand new Rolls-Royce or Bentley. This socioeconomic dynamic means there are patients on the state assistance health plan and people who don’t have insurance and just pay cash for everything. We’re very close to High Point University, so there are a lot of students as well.

Video by Deep Dive Films

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

Dr. Sajnacki: I love my team. I’ve always told them they’re the best of the best, even before we got this nomination. And I constantly get compliments about our floating and temporary pharmacists who occasionally work in our store, too. It’s cliché to say, but these are people who know their customers, they know their names, and they know what’s going on in their lives. And that, to me, has always been what patient care sometimes lacks. 

I love my team. I’ve always told them they’re the best of the best, even before we got this nomination.

Roena Terrell, CPhT (pharmacy technician): We talk to our customers about other things besides pharmacy. And when it comes to prescriptions, we help them try to find the cheapest prices on medications that are not covered. Insurance copays can be high, and we have discount cards that really help them out. A lot of people don’t have insurance in this area, so we try to help them save money and give them prescriptions for 90 days so that they don’t have to make as many trips to the pharmacy.

What’s the dynamic like between your team members?

Dr. Parker: This really is one of the best teams that I have worked with over the 19 years I’ve been in retail. It’s just the care that they have for each other and for our customers. They care like I do. Everybody pulls their weight, everybody’s very knowledgeable, there’s no room for laziness. We’re like a big family, so we take care of each other. It’s nice to work with people who care as much as you do. 

Terrell: I’ve been here for almost eight years. We all get along and treat each other like family. If something ever goes wrong, someone else steps in. I have a two year old son, so when he’s sick, they all take care of my shifts; everything gets covered. That’s why I still love working here.

We’re like a big family, so we take care of each other. It’s nice to work with people who care as much as you do.

Robin Lee, CPhT (pharmacy technician): We’ve all had some rough patches in our lives and we’ve all leaned on each other to get through. I’m 59, and I went back to school last year to get my pharmacy technician certification. This team just took me under their wing. I’m going through a lot right now with my dad fighting cancer, and they’ve all been there for me. To be taken in like that is just amazing.

How does your team help customers to save money on prescriptions?

Dr. Sajnacki: We are in a lower income area, and a lot of people lost their jobs throughout the pandemic. Many are uninsured, so we use discount cards to move them off of higher out-of-pocket payments. The staff know that many of our customers are on fixed incomes, and any savings for them is money back in their pocket for the other things in their lives. It’s an every transaction thing for us.

Lyndia Honeycutt, CPhT (pharmacy technician): We have a lot of patients who are trying to pinch and pull a dollar as far as it’ll go, so it is nice to be able to help them save—even if it is just a couple dollars. That couple dollars could be a little bit of gas or something for them.

How did the COVID-19 change your work in the pharmacy?

Dr. Sajnacki: We had a lot of people come in with questions, and they already trusted us implicitly. There was a lot of misinformation about vaccines going around, and any hesitancy was washed away because they knew us. 

They’d say, “Well, if Will said the shots have been looked at, it’s good. I’m going to get it.” 

That was very rewarding for us, but also very good for our patients that they had a safe spot to come in for education and trust.

This really is one of the best teams that I have worked with over the 19 years I’ve been in retail.

Honeycutt: It was a big learning curve for all of us to figure out how to keep our regular workflow while also incorporating the vaccines and antibody testing. However, it was a nice challenge to figure out how we needed to work together to assist patients as quickly and as effectively as possible.

Do you have any favorite memories from working in the pharmacy? 

Dr. Sajnacki: I had one customer who had gotten bitten by a brown recluse spider, which causes a lot of necrosis in the tissue if it’s not taken care of. She was diabetic, and she came in on a Sunday night with the bite. I said, “I hate to do this to you. Let’s go to the ER tonight. You need to have that looked at,” and she trusted me. 

She went to the hospital and they had to remove about four inches of her skin, and she was in rehab for six weeks. The doctor told her, “That pharmacist saved your leg.” She comes in and reminds me all the time. She’s been my patient for 15 years now.

Terrell: My child’s father was killed two months before my baby was born. My pharmacy manager, Will, made sure I was taking care of myself and that I had as much time off as I needed. The team came to my house and brought me food. They just took care of me. That’s how I know they really care about me. I know whenever I need anything, they’re always there for me.

What does this award mean to your team?

Dr. Sajnacki: It means a lot to have them recognized. I know what they’re doing every day, and a lot of our patients know what they’re doing every day. But it’s nice to see them get some recognition. I love seeing the team smiling, knowing they’re being recognized for their hard work.