Angela Puim is a community pharmacist and co-owner of Preston Medical Pharmacy which she runs with her sister Gina Hummel (also a Waterloo Pharmacy alumni).
Where they’re working:
Owning your own pharmacy is a hefty responsibility, but for Angela the hard work and long hours are both familiar and rewarding. Angela and her sister Gina grew up in and out of Preston Medical Pharmacy (pictured below); the pharmacy, founded in 1985, was owned by their father, who retired around the same time that Angela was graduating from Waterloo Pharmacy.
With an existing patient base, many of whom had known Angela and Gina for years, and a community pharmacy in need of new ownership, the choice was obvious. Preston Medical stayed in the family, and Angela and her sister are co-owners today. Angela says:
One of the biggest rewards of owning our own pharmacy is being able to practice pharmacy the way we want to practice.
Reflections
on
the
Program
IPFC, specifically the case presentations and research involved in these cases, really helped teach me the basics of approaching drug-therapy problems and how to solve these problems with good research skills.
She explains that she and Gina "have started a variety of clinical services that center around our areas of interest. We don’t need to get permission from anyone - we just need to make sure there is a patient need and the service is financially feasible."
For example, Angela is a Certified Diabetes Educator, meaning that she’s prepared for the medical complexity often seen in patients with diabetes. With the increasing prevalence of diabetes, patient support and education for this condition is just one of the many ways that Angela and her sister have broadened their pharmacy’s scope of clinical services to best meet patient needs.
Given the other services offered at Preston Medical, like an INR clinic, smoking cessation, home visits and specialty compounding, it’s no surprise that patients keep coming back.
In our case, there are many patients that are second and third generation patients with our pharmacy and they remember how we treated their parents and grandparents and are thankful for the excellent service.
Alumni Answers
UW: You also work part time on a family health team. What are some of the biggest differences between community and family health team practice?
AP: Working at a FHT is truly a privilege and a rare opportunity. I really enjoy my time working in prescribers’ offices because it makes it much easier to solve drug therapy problems. It also allows me more time to work on complex patients since generally the pace is slower than in community pharmacy. In the FHT I generally do more chart work and continuing education for prescribers, and at the community pharmacy I see more patients.
UW: What are the benefits of working in community practice?
AP: Community practice is so rewarding because of the relationships you build with patients and their families. We see these patients in the community, out for dinner, at church, which makes working in community in the small area of Preston so unique.
UW: You hire pharmacy co-op! Why?
AP: We absolutely love getting pharmacy co-op students every semester. Thank you to everyone who has been to Preston Medical Pharmacy! Co-op students keep us updated and on our best behavior as clinical pharmacists, while also bringing enthusiasm for patients and staff. We enjoy the opportunity to mentor and are even hiring one of our previous pharmacy students to work full-time come January 2017.
Non-Pharm Fun
"I love spending time with my two children (a 2 year old and a 3 month old) and husband. We have been spending a lot of time at African Lion Safari this summer. I also enjoying staying active by running, playing basketball and volleyball."
What to know where else pharmacy can take you? Read more Five Years in the Field profiles.