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Our first recipient this month is Zach Plachinski! Zach is the managing pharmacist at Rio Hometown Pharmacy in Rio, Wisconsin. Zach was nominated by a patient that said, 

"My husband was discharged from the nursing home...by the time I got to the pharmacy it was about 4 p.m. We found out neither the nursing home or the Dr. had sent any new prescription. Zach had to make multiple phone calls and an hour later he was able to get it sent over.

 All this took about 2+ hours to get complete. Zach was very effective and very controlled in temperament while all these calls were going on. He also had several other customers while he was doing these calls. 5 STARS for Zachery Plachinski!"

Zach is a beloved pharmacist for many in the small town. As a thank you for his hard work and customer care, we presented Zach with a Hometown Tip The Scale award including a certificate, commemorative pin to wear proudly at the pharmacy, and a Visa gift card.

"I am very honored to be the recipient of this award," Zach told us, " I wanted to work in community pharmacy in the first place because I looked forward to the opportunity to be an advocate for patients at the pharmacy, whether it be with their providers or insurance companies.  Health care can be a very tricky environment for patients to navigate, and I want to do everything I can to make that process a little easier for them and to ensure that they are getting the medications they need in a safe and appropriate manner! This award is a reminder that our efforts are making a difference!:

Thank you, Zach, for all you do!

 Our second recipient this month is Matt McGowan. Matt works at the Pinnow Hometown Pharmacy in Brodhead, Wisconsin. He was nominated by a fellow staff member for his service. 

She said, "While Matt is now a float at our pharmacy and only works a few days a week, he still takes the time to speak to our customers. Many of them he still knows by name and asks them how they are doing. If we have a patient that we are delivering a new medication to, he will call that person and go over the medication. Patients still come in looking for Matt when they want a recommendation."

When we presented Matt with is award, he was very grateful. "I am honored to receive this recognition from my co-workers.  I think it is all of our passion, as community Pharmacists, to provide high quality, compassionate care to our patients.  It is nice when that passion shows through to those around you, just by doing the things we do every day.  This year has been more challenging than any other to provide the care we aim to provide our patients with COVID wreaking havoc on our day-to-day lives and workflows.  I feel it is our responsibility to do what we can to make our patient's trip to the pharmacy as normal and enjoyable as ever, so we need to keep answering the call and going above and beyond in order to do just that."

We asked him why he loves working at Hometown Pharmacy and as a pharmacist and he went into detail saying "Working with Hometown allows me to practice the way I believe all Pharmacists should practice - at the highest level of our license, with the ability to spend time actually talking to, educating and understanding our patients on a personal level.  It has been enjoyable floating to various stores over the past year, visiting small communities, and seeing first hand the quality relationships and trust our Pharmacists are able to establish with our patients.  The last four years as a Hometowner have been great, but what we are doing now is even better, and I think the best is yet to come!"

Thank you, Matt, for your dedication to your patients and being a great teammember!

Who will we feature next month? Help us decide! Nominate an employee that has helped you and your loved ones by submitting a Tip The Scale Nomination on our website. Click the button below!