This video clip includes team from UPMC Presbyterian: Matthew Lauderdale, drug store service technician; Celeste Johnson, drug store service technician intermediate, Taivion Voynes, drug store service technician, Brenda Russell, CPhT, technological manager, Nakesha Tyler, CPhT, technological manager; and also Serena Woods-Wilson, elderly drug store service technician.
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Matthew Lauderdale: I really feel as though being a specialist assisting with the injection centers was really quite fascinating. I suggest, during that time, I was not a specialist. I was as a volunteer, however I actually did value the possibility to go and also aid individuals and also have the ability to aid those in requirement, specifically when it was such a bumpy ride for a great deal of individuals. It was a little a time for everyone. So, I believe it was something that everyone required somewhat.
Taivion Voynes: I would certainly concur. It was certainly an excellent experience. And also it provided me a great deal of understanding and also things that I really did not actually learn about. Like, I really did not, I had actually never ever seen anything like that being established or simply the company. And afterwards the method the neighborhood replied to the injections and also the centers, like, it was simply an entire experience that I have actually never ever had prior to. I appreciated it a great deal.
Serena Woods-Wilson: The injection facility for me was, it was enjoyable, it was amazing. I delighted in collaborating with individuals. It was the very first time that I actually ventured out right into the neighborhood where I live. And also the feedback from the neighborhood was impressive. They were so fired up and also satisfied of what we were doing. It was an ambiance. It was actually an ambiance. I reach satisfy a great deal of individuals, made a great deal of links with other individuals and also various other centers. Operating at the facility as an experience.
Brenda Russell: Being a leader in the division—initially, allow me state it took a while arriving. Nonetheless, currently existing, having the ability to sort of see and also unwind and also view and also take a look at the daily circulation that our service technicians are can be found in and also bringing daily, having the ability to lead a team of service technicians that get on a goal. You understand, the goal is to ensure that these people obtain every little thing that they require below in the medical facility. So, I believe leading by instance, and also really having service technicians intend to experience that job course with us, after us, us opening some doors for every person that wishes to come with that drug store service technician experience.
Nakesha Tyler: For me, once again, it’s belonging of a company as large as it is, as large as Presbyterian medical facility. The inpatient drug store, a great deal of the drug stores that I have actually collaborated with formerly were smaller sized, much more, perhaps like 3 to 4 individuals. This company that we collaborate with, there’s numerous individuals. There’s numerous daily communications that you have with your elderly supervisors, with your managers and also the service technicians that we function along with of, so belonging of that element of the inpatient drug store, the management side, has actually been massive for me. Mentoring, assisting the service technicians expand and also be far better, wishing to lead their courses and also their jobs, and also also if it does not lead them to remain in drug store, however simply providing the opportunity, the possibility, something that might have not been readily available to them had they not had a African American manager. So, those are the important things that I more than happy to be a component of—damaging down those obstacles, belonging of that. So, Matt is among the drug store service technicians that functions along with of me daily. And also he did not begin on this trip, however he’s discovered a great deal and also he’s simply amazing. So, he is among the leading entertainers on my change. And afterwards, simply functioning along with of Miss Celeste and also Serena and also seeing them daily which communications with the daytime team, and also simply seeing these ladies expand and also them find out, that’s the most significant incentive for me, greater than any kind of financial worth can ever before be positioned. It’s simply to see individuals expand throughout the company and also progress. So, thanks men.
Brenda Russell: So, it sort of assisted, you understand, to understand that you men were assisting you on your trip. And also as you’re undergoing your trip, we’re including you. So, it’s much valued the manner in which you men can be found in, and also take that duty, and also simply kept up it when you’re doing your daily procedures down generally drug store. So, it’s amazing to take a look at and also see.
Celeste Johnson: What it suggests to me is getting to back and also returning what our forefathers and also individuals prior to me has actually offered. I think that we’re aiming to go in the direction of that mark. We’re not there yet. We are aiming to arrive. I such as to commemorate the truth that we’re relocating in the direction of an objective. We have, regarding I’m worried—like I have my grandchildren, I intend to rest them down and also obtain them to understand that they can make it, that they can do anything feasible. They can reach to whatever they desire to. I’ve always sat down with them and let them know that whatever you desire to do, you can do that. Because we have people that has gone before us, you know. And like, if I tell them about the Rosa Parks, or Martin Luther King, or Whitney Houston or Harriet Tubman, I just don’t say their names. I also give them the reflection of what they did to bring us to where we are today. To know that there’s other leaders, not so much back there in the 1800s, but we have people right now that we can look up to, that we can use them as a role model. You know, it’s not always about a sports person, but there’s a poet out there that’s 14 years old, maybe she’s went before the President. I mean, she read a poem. It doesn’t always have to be somebody that’s an age. You can start out as being as young as you want to be. As long as you have a voice, you can have that opinion. So, that’s why I encourage anyone younger than me, my age, older than me, that there’s a vison, and you can follow that vision, and you can explore it, as well as being a part of it as well.
Serena Woods-Wilson: I don’t view myself as being a Black medical professional. I view myself as a medical professional, that happens to be Black. I feel that I’m in a role that I can make a difference. I can be a role model. My son, now, is interested in pharmacy. He’s an IT person, but he’s now interested in pharmacy and excited about pharmacy. So, I think that being a person of color in the medical profession is representation in the medical field, that people can view in a positive way that they can strive for something more.
Matthew Lauderdale: I feel as though, being within the, I guess, the scope of pharmacy, as well as just in the medical field as a person of color, it really does make me feel as though there’s not as much of a limit as I thought there used to be. I feel like a lot of the people that I went to school with or grew up with, a lot of the people who wanted to go into the medical community, they weren’t like me. A lot of them were like, okay, I’m just here to get business degree so I can go and do this., I want to go into sound engineering, and this and that. And that’s all well and good. But, a lot of people shied away from being part of the medical community, and I was also one of them. So, I feel like now, with the forethought that I have actually developed over time, I really do appreciate being a part of the medical community as another Black person and seeing that I can also be somewhat of a role model myself.
Taivion Voynes: So, for me, being a Black person in the medical field, I feel like I’ve been alone on a lot of the things I’ve done. So, just going through school, I was 1 of maybe 3 kids in my classes, out of all of my classes, like only 3 of us would have together and we were just like out-numbered. And even then, going into certain workplaces, I noticed the same thing. Like, you’re out-numbered. So, as for me choosing this for my career, I felt like I was going to be able to help other people not feel like that. And I felt like I would be, like Matt said, like more of a role model, and I will have others look up to me and possibly want to enter this field as well.
I know, my little sister, actually, she wants to be a veterinarian. She has seen all of the stuff I’ve went through in school. She’s went through, like, the textbooks and everything. And she was still even interested, and I was surprised because some of that stuff is very hard. But she’s constantly been an animal person, and also just her love for animals and then me introducing her to the health field, she was like, I want to help dogs, I want to be able to—what did she ask me—I think she wanted to be like a nurse that delivers puppies and stuff like that. I don’t understand exactly what it’s called, maybe a vet technician. But she was looking at it. She was thinking about stuff like that. So, that kind of made a positive impact on me. I felt like I was doing something good. So, I feel like just other Black individuals being into the health care field, I think it will do the same thing for a lot more kids. And it could, you understand, influence an entire generation.
