“I am writing in regards to your articles about CVS. I was employed with CVS for 16 years both as a technician and as a pharmacist. During my last few years at CVS, pharmacy supervisors were constantly changing. I had been at my store during that time for about 8 years and was currently the PIC (pharmacist in charge). I had a 24-hour store where on a Monday dispensing 750 prescriptions was typical. I was maintaining the numbers and doing everything I was supposed to. I gave excellent customer service and because I lived in the area and had 6 children in the school system, customers felt comfortable confiding in their pharmacist.

One day I was called to the office and told I was immediately being moved to their slowest store which barely did 100 prescriptions a day. Rumor had it that a pharmacist from another store who liked to play teacher’s pet wanted my hours, worked her magic, and got what she wanted. My customers were so upset that they were calling me at my new store and I would tell them to call the 1-800 number and voice their opinion. There were so many angry customers that the supervisor called me and told me to stop giving out the 1-800 number. I was one of the strongest pharmacists in the district put into a store where I was useless. The supervisor refused to move me to a busier store.

During that time I became pregnant with my daughter. One day while entering information into the computer I looked down at the floor and saw a puddle of blood. I excused myself from the pharmacy to clean up and then went back to work. Within a few minutes there was another puddle of blood on the floor despite the layers of paper towels I had used to prevent something from occurring. At this point, my technician’s face was white as a ghost and I was afraid for my baby. I called the store manager and said that I had to lock up and drive myself to the hospital. I told the manager that I would call the supervisor along the way. I did call the supervisor who scolded me for closing up before a replacement arrived. My visit to the emergency room determined that I was most likely pregnant with twins and that the heavy bleeding was the result of losing one of them. My discharge papers from the emergency room stated that I should take one week off from work, and work no more than 8-hour shifts unless a stool was provided for my use. My supervisor said stools were not allowed and that 8-hour shifts were not available. Eight-hour shifts were available at my previous 24-hour store so that was a lie I was being told. I was told that, if I could not work when I was scheduled, I would need to go on early disability. I was capable of working but they refused to make exceptions for my condition. I continued to work but I hid a bunch of boxes in a corner as a makeshift stool to get me through until I went on disability. I knew that once I had the baby I was moving on to another position. CVS didn’t actually fire me but they did everything they could to make it difficult and uncomfortable for me.

My marriage was never a solid one and I had made a mistake. Several years later I filed for divorce. Because I received a higher salary than my ex, I had to pay him out. When I filed for divorce, I also applied for a PharmD program because I knew that the PharmD would be necessary to remain stable in the work force as a single parent. I didn’t want to be at risk for a lay-off or unable to find a job like so many pharmacists with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy are now discovering. So I now have student loans to repay. It’s okay. I now have my PharmD degree.

There was one other big change in my life. I began pharmacy school when my oldest daughter, Nicole, was 6 months old. I wanted to give her everything I didn’t have as a child. She saw me walk the stage at graduation when she was in kindergarten. I tried to lead by example. I did my very best to be a good role model. But it wasn’t enough. Nicole became addicted to drugs. I saw it early on and intervened. My ex denied that there was a problem and said it was a phase that she would grow out of. It was a very tough period of time with her lying and stealing from me, and my waiting up late at night wondering where she was. I was the disciplinarian while my ex was not concerned.

I received my PharmD degree in May 2017. I was on top of the world. My world crashed July 22, 2017. Nicole died from an overdose of heroin that was laced with fentanyl. Life has not been the same. I missed many of my kids’ events because I worked endless hours for CVS. My relationship with my children would most likely be different if I didn’t work the grueling shifts I did. I hope something comes about with what you are doing. I felt helpless when I left CVS.”

“In the last two years patient service/care in CVS has been declining steadily, mostly due to the lack of technician hours. Our technicians have a key role in keeping the pharmacy going, by entering the prescriptions in the system, physically counting and preparing the medication, attending the register, dealing with insurance, etc. The lack of tech hours made our work very hard, as we had to deal with a bigger workload with no help, and the situation became so hectic that, after months of written complaints to CVS management, I led a meeting of five pharmacists with the District Manager in April, 2019. Our main complaint was that the lack of technician help did not allow time for pharmacists to keep proper track of expired medication, interactions, appropriate drug and dosing, etc. We asked for a solution in order to avoid putting patients at risk. In that meeting it became crystal clear that CVS was only worried about meeting metrics (immunizations, prescriptions, etc). We were told that increasing the hours for technical help was out of the question, and that we were obligated to meet the metric scores required. When I asked how we were supposed to do so, the District Manager said that he didn’t have an answer and that that was our problem. They showed no interest whatsoever in dealing with our concerns about patient safety. I was very vocal at that meeting and it was obvious that neither my District Manager nor my Supervisor were happy with my comments. My colleagues who attended the meeting, as well as myself, immediately became persona non grata for CVS management.

From that moment on, we kept receiving pressure from management to increase the metrics while they continued cutting technician hours, and some of these pressures included write ups for some of my colleagues with the threat of termination. Finally, my time came: in late August last year, my District Manager had me come to the office, after more than ten days pressuring me personally to persuade our patients to receive vaccines (I guess there is monetary gain from it, as it is a big part of the metrics). I then challenged him when he was saying that ‘the company stresses immunizations because they care about the well-being of our patients,’ because it seems that what they really want is to meet their goals with the vaccines; and he did not like that.

On August 29th, I was out of town on vacation while West Palm Beach was under Hurricane Alert. I entered in the CVS Human Resources website and I found no access to most of my regular things on my account and a note encouraging me to apply for Cobra to cover my medical expenses…starting August 30th!! With my arrival date in Florida unclear due to the weather, I was fired and nobody in CVS had the decency to warn me. A funny thing is that the Sunday after (9/1/19) my District Manager sent me an email telling me that all my shifts for that week were covered. I guess he meant ‘next’ and all the weeks of my life because I had been fired, but not even there did he have the decency to communicate it to me.

A few days later, I received the letter of termination in the mail. The formal reason for my being fired is that I contradicted a company policy because I rang up a personal sale for myself in the register for one of my own medications (again, due to a lack of help and trying not to distract my technicians from more important work). Under normal circumstances, this would have resulted in just a verbal or written warning (our policy was that personnel in charge are to be given 3 formal warnings before letting people go). In my case, I was immediately terminated. In my case, this is a clear case of retaliation.

I mention all this because I felt very angry when I read in The New York Times article, ‘When a pharmacist has a legitimate concern about working conditions, we make every effort to address that concern in good faith,’ CVS said in a statement. This is not true. There is no concern at all, and CVS management does not like to be challenged in order to improve the quality and safety of the pharmacy service for their patients.

Obviously, they don’t want me working for the company anymore because I speak too clearly for them. I told the District Manager that I felt we were harassing patients to get vaccines and that I also felt like I was selling myself in order to meet the metrics, the goals, and ultimately, his bonus. It is disappointing that with 25 plus years of service, I was terminated this way only for trying to address something we pharmacists knew long ago: we are putting our patients at risk, and I believe it has not been a fair way to treat me or the patients.”

“In a rare public rebuke of the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain, state regulators in Oklahoma cited and fined CVS for conditions found at four of its pharmacies, including inadequate staffing and errors made in filling prescriptions.

While the fine of $125,000 on Wednesday was small for CVS Health – it paid its chief executive $36.5 million in total compensation last year and is the country’s fifth largest company – the move validated concerns raised at multiple drugstore chains across the country by pharmacists and technicians who say understaffed workplaces are putting the public at risk.”

CVS Places Consumers at Risk of Harm, And is Destroying the Profession of Pharmacy! – PART 1

CVS Places Consumers at Risk of Harm, And is Destroying the Profession of Pharmacy! – PART 2

CVS is Destroying the Profession of Pharmacy – PART 3*

CVS is Destroying the Profession of Pharmacy – Part 4

CVS is Destroying the Profession of Pharmacy: Part 5!

CVS is Destroying the Profession of Pharmacy: Part 6