Before any customer picks up a prescription from Delaney Santon, who works as a pharmacy technician at Safeway #1687 in Washougal, Washington, she has already scanned drug discount cards to make sure the patient is receiving the lowest possible price. 

Why the extra step, especially in a busy pharmacy that’s doubled in size in the past few years? Santon says many people her store serves are on a fixed income and saving them money is “just the right thing to do.” She adds, “It’s something I’m really passionate about.”

Another thing Santon is passionate about is her pharmacy team, who actually nominated her for the Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards. Her colleagues praise her for her long hours, willingness to take on early-morning, late-night, and weekend shifts and train new staff. She’s also spent countless hours at a mass COVID vaccination site, helping to process some 50,000 COVID shots. 

Given her dedication to her customers and her team, perhaps no one but Santon herself was surprised when she was recently awarded Technician of the Month for her district—an honor she was nominated for while working at a neighboring store that was short staffed.

What inspires her to go above and beyond—for customers and co-workers alike? “Just having people’s best interests at heart,” she humbly says.

For all these reasons, she’s been named the 2022 Best Pharmacy Technician. Here, we talk to her about her dedication to patients and work in the pharmacy.

How do you put yourself in your patients’ shoes?

I work in such a small town. I know a lot of our customers, and I know their situations. When you know someone on a personal level, it’s pretty easy to put yourself in their shoes and to realize that everybody needs a little bit of help now and again. I like to be able to offer that. A lot of our customers have been loyal customers for years. To be able to help them when you know that they’re at a really low place, it’s pretty easy.

I know a lot of our customers and I know their situations. When you know someone on a personal level, it’s pretty easy to put yourself in their shoes.

What do you think are the attributes of a top pharmacy tech and what makes you great at your job?

I think understanding that people go through different phases of life—some are good and some are bad—and being able to adapt with the customer is really important to be a good technician. Also, it’s important to know that you don’t know everybody’s circumstances, either. Making sure that you take the time to talk to people and see what you can do to help them and help alleviate a little bit of their stress is a good skill as a tech. I try to do all of those things.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

Watching the customers’ faces when you are able to save them money and they know they don’t have to choose between their groceries or their medication. It’s also rewarding when you can something like a problem with insurance or a misunderstanding about how to take the medicine. If I can relieve just one stressor in a customer’s life, that’s extremely, extremely rewarding.

How do you go above and beyond for customers?

Every single day, I check the prices on everyone’s prescriptions between insurance and coupons or discount cards to see if they are getting the best deal and paying the lowest price. A lot of people have lower incomes in our area, so making sure that they can afford their medication is something that’s important to me. I’m really passionate about it. 

It’s really rewarding to be able to help a person who comes in here saying, “I just can’t afford this, what do I do?” I always tell them, it’s going to take me a few minutes to bill this under a discount card, but I’m more than happy to do it—just give me two minutes. Seeing the look on their face when they know they can afford their medications, it’s very rewarding.

What’s one of your favorite customer stories?

There was a customer who needed a certain medication for their special needs child, and insurance wasn’t budging on covering it. 

I sat on the phone, being transferred from department to department, for an hour. Honestly, it was probably an hour and a half. I just wasn’t taking no for an answer. When I finally got the prescription to go through, to be able to call the mom and say we’ve taken care of it, you can come pick up your medication, it was really rewarding. 

Every single day, I check the prices on everyone’s prescriptions between insurance and coupons or discount cards to see if they are getting the best deal and paying the lowest price.

The mom started crying because it had been such a long process for her, and to finally have her pick up her daughter’s medication–well, that was very cool. 

What do you wish people knew about your job?

I wish that people knew that if they communicated with us about problems that they’re experiencing, whether it’s with their medication or their finances, that we’re able to offer a lot more support than they’re aware of. There are a lot of programs and discounts and coupons for medications that we can utilize. Or, we can work with their doctors’ offices for alternative medications to get them in a better place.

Can you share a time you made a particularly positive impact?

We had a patient who was prescribed an antibiotic that wasn’t covered by her insurance. Her doctor’s office called us and said she was going to have to go into the hospital and get IV antibiotics if she couldn’t get this prescription covered. Between the doctor’s office calling and us calling and the patient calling, we were able to get the medication covered by insurance. So that was pretty impactful to know that we saved her time, money, and a hospital admission.

What should customers know about saving money on prescriptions?

They should know that there are options when it comes to saving money. I think a lot of people assume that just because a drug has a $600 price tag, that’s what you pay. There are ways to get around that or to help you with that. It never hurts to ask if there’s something the pharmacy can do. 

How does it feel to be nominated for this award?

I feel really proud to be recognized for helping other people. In pharmacy—and in the medical field in general—you go unrecognized a lot of the time. To be thanked is a really great feeling.