Sharks RX Spring 2015 Magazine

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY r 19 States and worked as a graduate intern at a Walgreens in Fort Lauderdale. “I started out working in Florida, and one day, I woke up and I wasn’t feeling like I was fulfilling my purpose. I got a plane ticket and came back to Puerto Rico. I immediately had six interviews in different places,” said Aponte, who took a job as a clinical pharmacist in pediatric oncology at HIMA in Caguas, Puerto Rico. “I liked it very much. I had the chance to do oncology and pediatrics, and then I moved everywhere in the hospital—intensive care, renal care, respiratory care. I learned much there,” he added. After about three years, Aponte was starting again to feel that maybe there was more to accomplish, so he joined Cardinal Health as a system clinical manager. “I liked their mission. They had good intentions. At these hospitals, we were starting something new. Puerto Rico has very good, developed areas, but the health care around the center of the island needed updated guidelines to be up to the standards. “So the idea was that the pharmacy departments at the hos- pitals would act as leaders in health care. We went to hospitals and started protocols. At some of the hospitals I went to, they were not familiar as to what a Pharm.D. was, so it was my time to initiate structures that people could follow and that eventually would make health care better,” Aponte said. It was the business side of pharmacy that ignited Aponte’s passion and, in May 2011, he joined the family business. He continues to embrace his parents’ desire to have a true family pharmacy, yet he believes that there are ways to implement some modern ideas without sacrificing Farmacia Villa Carmen’s personal care. “This pharmacy is really part of the community,” said Aponte. And he continues to find 21st-century ways to connect with the community. He has implemented a computer program that creates automated refills. “It creates more confidence with transactions,” Aponte said. The pharmacy has begun deliveries to nursing homes and one of his goals for this year is to start delivery to patients’ homes. He also started a Facebook page for fans to follow Farmacia Villa Carmen, which he proudly said, has more than 2,000 followers since he started it in October 2014. “When you go to pharmacy school, it can be very clinically oriented—that is part of it. But running a pharmacy is operating a business. It’s not all about the money, but it’s the business of health care, and that is something that needs to be paid attention to, otherwise, there will be no business,” he said. Licensed as a pharmacist both in Florida and Puerto Rico, Aponte is acutely aware of the business of pharmacy and the need to be alert to all of what he said are “the many changes happening” and the new regulations. Through his many expe- riences in hospital settings and as an independent pharmacist, Aponte has relished his role as one of the more than 800 phar- macist preceptors teaching students in various practice settings for NSU’s College of Pharmacy. “I want students who come here to learn and know patient care, but also understand every aspect of a pharmacy—drug costs, how we get reimbursed. When they intern for some pharmacies, sometimes they are just shown how to do prescrip- tions or count medications. But here, they can see how the experience is different, howwe treat employees, and how everyone knows each other. They develop relationships, so that they really get to know the people they are caring for—whose prescriptions they are filling and the responsibility that brings.” He also instills in his students that pharmacy isn’t just about fixing problems that already exist in patients, and he hopes to instill in them that they need to become models for good health. “A year and a half ago, I got into running. I was a scuba diver, so I knew I liked swimming. I also liked biking,” he said. Aponte ended up participating in the IRONMAN Chattanooga last September, which included a 2.4-mile swim in the Tennessee River, a 116-mile bike course, and a 26.2-mile run. “It’s been a journey of organizing my time and training sessions, and when I have the students, something I do is take them to an outdoor activity. I have them run a 5K, or make it part of their training to be a volunteer at one of these activities. Health care isn’t all about medication, health care should be about promoting a whole and healthy lifestyle,” he said. n Pablo L. Aponte, right, embraces his parents’ desire to have a true family pharmacy in Caguas, Puerto Rico, whether he is offering personal care to his patients or working with his staff. The Farmacia Villa Carmen “is really part of the community,” said Aponte, who also relishes his role as a pharmacist preceptor for NSU’s College of Pharmacy.