Brad Hallman is a pharmacy manager with Franklin Pharmacy, a community pharmacy located inside a medical clinic in Cambridge.
Where they’re working:
Brad Hallman is a KW local. He was raised between New Dundee, Baden, and New Hamburg. His wife Cerene, a fellow Rx2016, is also from the area, so when Brad graduated, he knew staying local was a priority.
He began his post-grad career at Belmont Drugs in Waterloo, a community pharmacy where he quickly moved into a manager role. After a stint there, Brad joined the Fares Health Group University Pharmacy, located in Waterloo across from Laurier University, where he was the manager on a small team.
“Fares Health Group at King and University meant we saw a lot of student traffic which gave us unique considerations,” he says. “The team was most adept in treating women’s and men’s health, mental health, and infectious diseases that move through large communities like streptococcus.”
As manager, Brad filled the role of a clinical pharmacist while also overseeing inventory management and procurement, navigating drug releases with drug reps, bringing in new OTC products suited to their patient population, ensuring staff education and quality customer service, and more. COVID-19 added new responsibilities to this list such as implementing safety precautions and ensuring the store continued to run efficiently and avoid errors.
The store also supported several group homes for children with various needs and worked closely with a family doctor who has a large client base of non-English patients. They offered excellent patient service and clinical services like meds-checks, vaccinations, harm reduction counselling, smoking cessation and diabetes education.
“Opioid management and harm reduction played a large role in our clinical services at Fares,” Brad says. “Given our proximity to the universities, I initiated a naloxone distribution project, where I reached out to nearby the campus police office, a group home and the university to facilitate access to these kits.”
Supporting his community is important to Brad, not just because he develops strong relationships with the patients his pharmacy serves, but also because it enables him to build strong interprofessional connections with local health-care providers.
“I have personally had doctors in the area call the store and ask to speak with me because they were so happy with the level of detail that was provided in a medscheck,” he says. “They were so used to getting standard ‘no issues to report’ medscheck with limited suggestions and information, that when they saw my medscheck, they wanted to call me personally to discuss their treatment and express their gratitude in helping their patient.”
After four years at Fares Health Group, Brad was ready for a change. He moved on to join Franklin Pharmacy as a pharmacy manager in fall 2021. Located in Cambridge, Franklin Pharmacy is under the Lovell Drugs banner and is located inside Monark Medical walk-in clinic.
“At Franklin Pharmacy, our clientele is largely composed of elderly and vulnerable patients,” says Brad. “During the pandemic, this meant that we offered many patients virtual appointments and medication delivery services to minimize risk of exposure. Sanitation of our space during all processes has been and continues to be of utmost importance.”
Working with an older patient population means Brad and the team often play a crucial role in helping patients navigate diagnoses. This involves providing patient education both on the new condition and on any medications that come with a diagnosis.
The pharmacy’s location in a clinic provides ample opportunities for strong interprofessional collaboration, and the whole team works together with patients to determine how best to support their health. From virtual consultations to compliance packaging in blister packs, Brad’s team caters to the needs of each patient.
Alumni Answers
UW: What advice do you have for graduates looking to make a career change or advance into a senior role?
BH: Know your self-worth. Finding a new position does not always mean actively looking. Sometimes it means forming strong connections in the community with other allied health professionals and creating a strong image of yourself as a practitioner in the area. If you continue to do excellent work amongst your patients and around the community, people will start to learn who you are and refer clients to the store. Eventually, there may be a job opportunity that comes up for another company and they will reach out to you, as they have seen the work that you can provide and want that for their store. It is easy to become jaded going to the store to put in the hours then going home and doing it again the next day. Do your absolute best to make sure this doesn't happen. Approach every day with positivity and the ability to make change, and people will notice. As far as the process, keep an open mind to change. Maybe you love your position, but you never know if you will have a better opportunity. Take the interview if you are offered one. Sometimes it is exactly what you have been wanting.
UW: What do you find rewarding about community practice?
BH: Once you develop that bond with your patients, they no longer become patients, but they become the reason you are happy to go to work every day. They will show their appreciation and ask how their ‘favourite pharmacist’ is doing today. Be compassionate and provide great care; that's all anyone wants during their trip to the pharmacy. Even something small: I helped an elderly lady get a COVID vaccination when she was having difficulty finding a dose in a timely manner from clinics and stores around town. She was so thankful she came in the next day and wrote a card that I still keep in the store.
Non-Pharm Fun
“I’m usually pretty active with ice hockey and beach volleyball. I enjoy going to pubs and patios with friends around town and exploring new culinary adventures (I am no chef, but I love to cook). Currently we are raising our little golden retriever puppy Louie. He can be quite a handful.”
