Face of Caring – January 2022
National Pharmacist Day, January 12
When she first accepted her position as Pharmacy Manager of the A & E Pharmacy, Elizabeth Scott had no idea a pandemic would upend life as we know it. Yet when it happened, Elizabeth believed that she and her teammates would be ready when vaccines became available—and indeed they were.
A & E Pharmacy was created when Augustana Care and Elim Care joined together and realized residents’ needs would be better served by an in-house pharmacy. This decision proved to be a most fortunate one when the pandemic occurred. Because Cassia owns and operates A & E Pharmacy, we were able to offer vaccines to residents and staff sooner than commercial pharmacies.
“Being owned by Cassia meant we already had a relationship with our clinical teams and Cassia communities,” says Elizabeth Scott. “We could disperse the vaccines rapidly to residents and staff at each campus.”
After realizing the pharmacy had a lot of additional doses, Cassia and the pharmacy team included essential caregivers, hospice and respiratory vendors, family and others. “We were also asked by the state to go into underserved communities, where people wouldn’t be able to drive to another pharmacy,” Elizabeth adds.
All in all, Cassia has vaccinated more than 18,000 Minnesotans to protect them against COVID-19. Elizabeth was front and center in that effort.
“As the leader of the pharmacy team, Elizabeth is a steady, assured presence. This has been exceedingly important in navigating the unprecedented burden placed on the pharmacy throughout the pandemic. Despite her wide range of responsibilities as pharmacy manager, Elizabeth is not above getting her hands dirty to help the team keep up with immunization efforts and daily workload demands,” says A & E Pharmacist Dan Fleissner.
“Elizabeth is a great point person for A&E Pharmacy. Whether she is answering questions from any of our facilities or trying to implement new ideas and initiatives at the pharmacy, she energetically takes it on and completes it in a timely fashion. Her door is always open and she encourages teamwork and collaboration amongst the pharmacy staff,” says A & E Pharmacist Luke Atwood.
Cassia is enormously grateful to Elizabeth Scott for everything she has done to administer vaccines throughout the pandemic.
