Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
DISRxUPT is a podcast from the Cedarville University Center for Pharmacy Innovation which explores novel advances in the practice of pharmacy. From nanotechnology to unique public health initiatives, DISRxUPT will highlight stories of pharmacists who are changing the paradigm of patient care.
Tune in for new content once a month detailing how the profession of pharmacy continues to change and how the Center for Pharmacy Innovation is playing a key role in this transformation.
Welcome to DISRxUPT, a podcast of the Cedarville University Center For Pharmacy Innovation. Today on the podcast, I am talking with doctor Emmanuel Ayanjoke. Manny is the founder and pharmacist at Altev Pharmacy in Avondale, Ohio. Manny completed his PharmD at the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy and completed a health outcomes fellowship with Ohio's Hospice and the Cedarville University School of Pharmacy. Listen as we hear the story of Altev Pharmacy.
Justin Cole:Well, listeners, thanks again for tuning in to DISRxUPT. Today, I am pleased to have Manny Ayanjoke with us in the studio. Manny, it's great to have you back on campus today.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:It's a pleasure to be back.
Justin Cole:Well, we have a lot to catch up on since the last time I saw you. You've been very busy, in particular, really establishing a completely new community pharmacy down in the southwest of Ohio. So, first of all, I'd love to just hear your story of how you got inspired to become a pharmacist, and then we'll dive into Altev Pharmacy.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. Absolutely. So, I'm originally from Nigeria. I grew up in Nigeria, and, I was fortunate enough to have my dad who was a pharmacy owner and pharmacist as well and his dad was also a pharmacy owner as well. So when I was about 7 years old my dad would take me to the pharmacy and I would go there and just get to see patients, not really doing anything at that age, just running around and being silly of course, but one of the things that always stuck out to me was how we took care of people and to paint the right picture, pharmacy in Nigeria and many other under underdeveloped countries play a very huge role intake in patient care.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:So they are more frontline. If you had an illness, you went to the pharmacy first even before seeing the physician or even nurse. So we saw a lot of patients and I just remember my dad taking care of people, helping them with their concerns, meeting their health needs, and just the joy and satisfaction that they got once they got, you know, had their health concerns addressed. So fast forward to that, I realized in life when I was about 13 years old and, you know, it might be atypical for a 13 year old to think of these things, but I started to question what the essence of my life was and what all the, you know, right race was all about and what world really is this all about and I settled on one thing which was to make an impact and that's what has driven me, to this very day. So I chose pharmacy because I I was in pharmacy, I saw the opportunity to make an impact, I also knew I wanted to own a business because I I just grew up in that. I remember my dad would always say, "Hey, I've only worked with 2 people in my life, your dad and myself, which which was, your grandfather and myself," and which was always something that I, you know, just sort of valued growing up. And so fast forward, came to the states and decided to get my pharmacy degree and MBA, with the hopes that one day I'll find myself in pharmacy ownership. It's been quite the ride and so many ups and downs and so many challenges and open doors and closed doors, but ultimately, I found myself, here in Avondale, and owning my own pharmacy and getting the opportunity to impact our community.
Justin Cole:Yeah. I love your story and the fact that you're always so on mission with everything that you do, and it's clear that that drives you. So, I'm curious, what's the story behind the name Altev pharmacy? What meaning does that have to you?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Absolutely. I believe in family. That's very big to me, and I value I mean, my siblings and I... I have 3 other siblings and we all live far away from each other, far enough that we can't just, you know, up and visit each other, but we make it a point to communicate every week. And one of the things that I've stuck to is just figuring out ways to, you know, involve my family and honor and whatever I do. So all time actually came from our last name and my siblings in order of how we were born, and that's basically how it came to be. I am the 3rd of 4 kids and, you know, when I was figuring out what name to call the pharmacy, I wanted a name that stood out and a name that was very different but also meant a lot to me.
Justin Cole:Well, I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. It's definitely unique and memorable, different from other pharmacies I've seen, but the meaning behind it really makes it stick out. Do you ever talk to your patients about the name of pharmacy? Did they ever ask about it?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. I do, actually. Funny enough, though, I have quite a few patients ask because it's not an English word. It's not a word. It's just, you know, it's just a sound, I guess. And people will ask, what what does that mean? What is Altev? And some patients do struggle with pronouncing it and I just, you know, hey. Call it what it is. I I think most what's more important is people feel the right way when they interact with us, interact with our staff. So, yeah. We do have I do have a few patients asking, wanting to know where that name came from. I tell them the story and, of course, they they admire that and, that was the vision behind it.
Justin Cole:Okay. So tell us about the journey of Altev Pharmacy itself. How did the idea begin, and how did you end up identifying Avondale, Ohio, to be a place where where you could, open a pharmacy and, honestly, in a time when there aren't a lot of new pharmacies opening.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So Altev Pharmacy came to be primarily because we were fortunate enough to get an investment investment from McKesson. So at the time, long story short, we had a a McKesson employee who worked for a subsidiary of McKesson that's from Avondale, and he you know, it's so interesting because he and I... he's the pastor of a church in Avondale and he and I share so much in common. Our parents did something, we followed the footsteps of our of our dad and sort of wanted to be involved and do something in our communities. So he had that idea to figure out ways to fix things in our in the community, and part of that was realizing that there was no pharmacy in Avondale. Now Avondale is at the heart of Cincinnati. You have Cincinnati Zoo right there. UC Health is there. Cincinnati Children's is right there, yet there are no pharmacies in Avondale. So he took it upon himself to try to speak to, you know, the higher ups within McKesson and present a business case for it. So when they decided to actually do this, they sought out to find a pharmacist who was passionate about taking care of the community. So in so many ways, I like to put it simply, I didn't necessarily choose Avondale. I think Avondale chose me, by virtue of how things have worked out, and I believe there's a reason why we're there in Avondale. And there's so much work to be done and that gives me a lot of encouragement and passion because it's all about the impact.
Justin Cole:Yeah. Absolutely. And in your comments and every time I talk to you, Manny, it's clear that there are a few things that you value very highly. One of those you've mentioned is family. Another is community, but also your faith is really important to you as well. So, if you could in maybe a a few sentences here, how does how does your faith drive how you approach your work at Altev and your patients?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. My faith drives everything. And like I made mention earlier, when I was about 12, 13, I recall that was a time I made a decision to follow Christ in all that I did, because I started to wonder what the point of life is. What is all this all about? And, you know, since then, I made a conscious decision that in all that I do, find a way to glorify God with it. And he has been in in every aspect of my life, opening doors, shutting doors, even when I don't necessarily agree with them, but my faith plays a big role in what we do, in the way we treat our employees from things like servant leadership, all down to altruism and how we put our patients first. It might not be I try as much as and I'm still growing in this area. I believe that what I don't want is people to necessarily because people often have a sudden recall to Christianity, which is just what it is. And but what I try to do is instill those Christian values, which most people would agree are good values and, in the way we operate, in the way we treat our patients. And that's ultimately the fabric of how we operate.
Justin Cole:Yeah. That's great. So what are some of the training or experiences that you, had before opening the pharmacy that prepared you for it? Are there any stories or things that made you ready? You're never ready. Right? But, what helped you to to be at the point of being able to open Altev?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. Lots of things. Lots of things. You and many of them is just how I where I find myself found myself to be in life. Like, having parents who own pharmacies or were entrepreneurial, I understood the basics of business and what what is required to get a business running and understanding that at the at the end of it all, you make the final say and the buck stops with you. So I understood that very core tenant of business ownership, but, along the line of my journey, I always made a conscious decision to find myself involved in independently owned pharmacies. So when I was in in Toledo going through school, I made it a point to work at an independent pharmacy because while there's a lot of value to be gained in working at a chain pharmacy, you don't really get to see a lot of behind the scenes things that occur. So contracting, how the pharmacy gets paid, you know, what determines what we get paid for, and a lot of all those things you can't really see if you're not in an independent pharmacy. So I'd say that's been the probably one of the most important things that I did. And right after graduating, I still chose to work in an independent pharmacy as well, for that exact reason. So if there's anything, I think that's number 1 on the list as far as being prepared or being able to handle the challenges that owning an independent pharmacy brings.
Justin Cole:I think there's something to be said for experience as one of the most effective teachers. Right? Yes. You have to go through pharmacy school to be a pharmacist in the United States and get that PharmD degree. But along the along the lines, it's those stories and the experiences that you often learn some of the most valuable lessons from. So, of course, that's been your story, and I think it's a story of a lot of us as well. So another thing I wanna wanted to ask you about is this idea of pharmacy deserts. It's a term that I see popping up more and more. And here in 2024, we've actually seen over 2,000 pharmacies close across the United States, and these are community pharmacies. So if you could explain, what is a pharmacy desert, and are you in one? It kinda sounds like maybe you were. Right? And what are their impact today?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yes. So a pharmacy desert by definition, it's a little complex and there's several things, facts at play, but at the very core of it, a pharmacy desert is a place that doesn't have a pharmacy, within 2 miles, of, you know, either driving or walking. And a lot of things that play into that definition also is what is the average income of people that are there? What is their ability? Because then it affects people's ability to own a car to drive to to a pharmacy, and then you start to get a very accurate picture of what a pharmacy does it is. But by definition, it's a place that doesn't have a pharmacy within 2 miles, amongst other things like transportation needs and and all of that. So Avondale is a pharmacy desert and without us being there, there wouldn't be any other pharmacy in Avondale.
Justin Cole:Yeah. in essence, I like to think of your pharmacy as an an oasis in the desert. Right? Like, bringing much needed care to a place that otherwise access would be much more difficult. Again, you're in Cincinnati, so it's not as if pharmacies don't exist, but we want pharmacies to be where people are. They're a part of the community, and they're delivering that care at a high level where they can get to it quickly. And another thing that I'm I'm struck by is that it seems like the Western world is starting to learn a little bit more about how other countries like Nigeria have been using pharmacies for many years. We just had a few months ago, Kimberly Sonnex on the podcast from the United Kingdom talking about the Pharmacy First service, where they're trying to drive patients to pharmacies to be their first port of call for minor ailments or, things like that because they know the pharmacist is both trained and ready to help them out, and they know when to, when to refer those to other people. Right? So it's interesting that we are kind of, maybe leaning on the wisdom of others took a long time to learn. And I do see and my hope is that here in the United States, we're following suit and doing some of the same things. So it brings me to this question. So what are some of those services that Altev is offering in the community that set you guys apart, that are pushing the envelope to make your pharmacy a key part of the community?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. There's lots of things. And just before I answer that question, comment a little bit on, you know, pharmacy being, you know, "pharmacy first." And it makes sense because if you think about it, you know, a place that people go to at least once a month, you're you're going to have better relationship with with patients. Right? And that that alone is a key reason to have pharmacy first. Like, have the pharmacy be the one to triage and sort of, you know, direct people to more more complex cure if needed. But what we do at Altev Pharmacy that's different is I'll start by because there's lots of things that we have on the docket and to come in the future, but the first thing is even in how we feel prescription, that's that's quite different. We use the appointment based model and, lots of, you know, APhA and lots of other organizations like CPSN have validated the appointment based model. Well, what does that mean? It means that we are not reactive as a pharmacy, we're proactive. So we have every patient that gets transferred to our pharmacy initially gets synced up, so all their meds are lined up at the same time and then we actually reach out to them based on how often they get their meds. If they're in a 90 day supply fill, we reach out to them every 3 months, if they're in 30 days supply fill, we reach out to them every every 30 days. And what that does is it gives the pharmacist first of all an opportunity to build that relationship with the patient, but not only just that, it actually opens the door for the pharmacy to run very efficiently. So that by itself makes a huge difference because I can't tell you how many patients are, like, they're actually calling me before stuff is due to make sure that I have all I need, and that just makes patients feels like they're cared for and someone's actually looking out for them. So that's the first thing we do. Of course, the other things like immunizations. We also provide adherence packaging. So patients who are on more than 5 medications, we suggest to them to have our Deterrence package and which just makes it significantly easier for them. But more most importantly, I think the the key thing that we do that's very different now is we actually are leveraging provider status. So we all know that pharmacies are not providers and we can see patients, provide counseling, make interventions, and get paid for that time we'd spend with patients. So when I opened the pharmacy, before I opened the pharmacy, while I started getting our contracts for the pharmacy benefits side of things, I made it a point to actually get contracted, with all the managed care organizations in Ohio. So we are fully contracted to provide care for patients, and that's the key thing there. Right? Because then it gives the pharmacist not only the opportunity to do that but an economically viable way to put patients first and spend time with patients not just depend on the money we receive in dispensing a prescription.
Justin Cole:Yeah. love the model for so many reasons. Right? And I wish more community pharmacies would would latch onto that and some it's hard because it takes a lot of work upfront. Right? Which perfect segue to the next question. You're talking contracting. Right? That's one of the challenges. But what are some of the other big challenges that your pharmacy has faced as you've not only gotten it up and running, but now even started to build out services within your community?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:I think the biggest challenge is workflow. You know, pharmacy is very akin to a factory. Right? So imagine you're in a factory getting things in production, and you're constantly being bombarded and being throwing things at while you're supposed to, you know, do things efficiently and, you know, ensure efficacy in what you're doing, you still have to provide all these other services. So, our challenge right now is figuring out what works and what is the best way to organize the services that we're doing because you don't wanna be spread too thin. So, the challenge in that really is it goes into so many other things. So whether it be vaccinations or, again, pharmacy spending spending time with patients who provide clinical services, all these things and figuring out a way to organize them whereby we do them enough that patients know that they can come to our pharmacy for that need, but also do it in a way that doesn't really impede us doing the basic of providing prescriptions. Now that by itself is is a huge challenge.
Justin Cole:I know that you had experience before opening Altev and getting provider status set up and doing contracting. You were even part of some of the pilots here in Ohio in partnership with OPA and other organizations. So that gave you a little leg up. Right? Yes. And you've also got your MBA training, which I think helps on some of the business side. But I think it's important you bring up a big point regarding workflow. Sometimes even pharmacies aren't designed for optimal workflow. So even thinking about how your pharmacy is set up can be another another piece of that. So I wanted to go back to one of the things that I know you highly value, and that's this idea of serving your community. So I'd love to know, are there ways that you through Altev Pharmacy have been involved in Avondale and supporting the community? Maybe beyond just simply existing there and providing all the great services that you've mentioned.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. The biggest thing that we do, is we're very involved. So Avondale, has a community council where group of people who are live in Avondale. It's not a an official governmental agency so to speak but it's a community council and they meet monthly so I'm always there at every meeting and one of the biggest things for me right now is really getting a pulse on what's going on in the community, where the challenges are, and, you know, being a resource. So one of the things if you go into a pharmacy is we have a dedicated area in the pharmacy, that's our community resource center. And my vision for that is that anyone who is in a community, because like you know it, knowledge is power, if you don't know something you're not able to take advantage of it and there are lots of people who have different challenges from food insecurities to they can't get their bills paid, so their light were cut off, and there's so much out there to help assist people while they try to get their feedback. And if a lot of folks just don't know about these things. So what we try to do is also have that commute that resource center nested within the pharmacy so the community feels like they can come in there, get what they need, get an understanding of what's out there, because again, all these things affect health. Right? We call them social determinants of health, right. They don't have access to food, access to so many key necessary things, it does impact health. So number 1, we're very involved in the community council, getting a feel of what's going on but also being a resource to the community and also being present at community events. So we have our yearly Avondale Day where Avondale and stakeholders, provide health services. We're always there, and so many other things that we do, to show our presence in the community.
Justin Cole:Yeah. That's great. And, again, I think something so important that really every community pharmacy should be doing. Right? It's not just existing there as a business, but showing you're an integral part of it, I think, is important.
Justin Cole:So this is maybe a related question, but how do you ensure that your pharmacy remains accessible and beneficial to underserved patients within your area?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Oh, that's a very loaded question. I think the way we truly, remain accessible is by how we make patients feel when they come in there. One thing that I've noticed in Cincinnati or I would say it's not just unique to Avondale or Cincinnati, and a lot of other pharmacy owners can probably attest to this, is that, word-of-mouth is a very, very powerful tool, and how patients do share their experiences. Right? And our hope and our vision is that when patients interact with us, they leave with the thought that, wow, I feel cared for. I feel different because I went to this pharmacy. And that that is how we remain accessible because you can have a business that's just in the community, but they're not off the community. They're not actually, you know, there in the community taking care of people and making people feel cared for. So that's how I think that's how we primarily stay, you know, available for the community beyond just being there.
Justin Cole:Yeah. I love your answer. I feel like today for businesses with e-commerce and all of the other things that have grown with technology, the idea of loyalty to any one given business or organization is not as strong as it used to be because you have so much choice. Right? But if you're able to deliver an experience where a person feels like they are valued, which is what you're trying to do, that's probably the most powerful thing to help people to stay loyal to something. And that loyalty isn't just so your business thrives, although that's a a good byproduct of it. The reason is because you genuinely care for that community, and you want to serve their health needs and, elevate the community in so many ways. So I applaud you for all of those efforts and, and love how your commitment to patients, I think, is really gonna continue to make a big difference in Avondale.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Thank you.
Justin Cole:So I'm curious. What are some of the biggest joys that you have running Altev Pharmacy?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. There's so many, but, I'll never forget those a day. I had, one of my patients who an older lady, and, she just came in there and, we started to talk. And for me, I I think it's really important that I know it's important to be a salesperson. Right? As a pharmacist and pharmacy owner, you have to be able to close the deal and make patients choose to transfer their prescriptions. But for me, I just see it as an opportunity when patients come to us to just have a conversation with them, get to know them, and, I just having this conversation with her and figuring out ways that we could help her and, she just stops and pauses and she's like, "You know what? I'm really proud of you." Because people just it was it really touched my heart because she's just someone who was old enough to be a grandmother and just telling you that, wow, you know, seeing a young man like me doing what I'm doing just gives her so much, you know, pride in in in what's going on as a nation. And so, you know, I think that was definitely one of the moments.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:There's been so many other moments, from making clinical interventions that patients are so grateful for, But, I would say, you know, just being able to see someone who you just met have so much pride in what you're doing and, be there to to see you to support you also, and and and having a shared a shared, vision or shared, belief in what you're doing.
Justin Cole:Mhmm. Oh, yeah. No. It it's not often that in a pharmacy, you'll hear someone say, like, "I love what you're doing," or "I'm proud of you," from a patient perspective. That's a that's a powerful moment for sure.
Justin Cole:Okay. So I wanna turn to maybe talking about community pharmacy more generally. So we've seen that provider status has gone forward in the last 5 plus years here in Ohio, and we've seen some uptake, maybe not as much as there should be. Right? But I would love to know, in your opinion, what should the ideal community pharmacy look like today? What if you could dream it up, Manny, what would it look like?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Wow. Yeah. This dream is, ever evolving. Yep. Because as I as we try things at our pharmacy and, certain things don't work out, we we, you know, pivot and change.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:But when I sit down and think of the ideal pharmacy, I see the ideal pharmacy as a place where patients come to get care first. And I don't think that pharmacy would really be pharmacy without dispensing, I think that's still gonna be a core. I do think, however, that that's gonna change a little bit, maybe it's going to be a mix of, taking advantage of things like central fill and we're seeing this, we're seeing, you know, huge companies like, I know McKesson, Walgreens, and all of these companies want to provide central fill as a service to, you know, non affiliated pharmacies. So I think that in the future, there's gonna be a pharmacy is gonna be a mix of that, right, we're gonna be filling prescriptions, it's always either, at a central location or in the pharmacy, but most importantly, pharmacy is going to be providing more critical services in which we might see today as primary care and trying to bridge the gap that we currently have, and that just takes so many so many ways. Right? It means that the patients come into the pharmacy to get care, so, and a huge part of that is going to be the appointment based model where patients have a certain time when they come to pick their medications, when they do come to pick their medicines, they can spend time with the pharmacist to address what's going on and it's often understated how many patients go month to month, experiencing either adverse effects of medications or not even taking their medications because they don't know what they're taking and we just can't let that keep happening, we can't let the current status quo of patients not being a key role or key director of their health. So I see pharmacy in the future as playing a big role in that and if that means medication education or if that means addressing social determinants of health, but just being that space where patients go to get care.
Justin Cole:Yeah. I love that. And again, I think it really fits well with some of the movement we're seeing in other parts of the world, engaging pharmacist earlier on in care. And again, with pharmacists, we have a particular skill set that we're really good at, and there are certain things we can care for and triage from beginning to end. But we do that within the context of a larger health care system, and pharmacists are trained to know when they when a patient should be excluded from caring for themselves. Right?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yes.
Justin Cole:And so it is. It's almost like just expanding the health care team in a way that allows others to focus on the things that they need to do while also improving community health. So I would love to see all those things come to fruition as well.
Justin Cole:So with that in mind, what are some future plans you have for Altev Pharmacy? If you were to dream for your own pharmacy, what are some new things you'd love to try? Knowing you've gotta keep this entrepreneurial mindset that you've had, you're gonna try some things that don't work and then others that stick. So what are some of those things you'd love to try?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. Absolutely. So we are at that trying, that test phase. Honestly, Justin, we experiment with so many things and, part of things that we're trying to do now is that model of the pharmacy being a one-stop shop and that means we're providing key services like either be durable medical equipment, whether it be, you know, lab testing, for example, that that is what I'm really excited for. And one of the things that I'm learning now is that getting a phlebotomy license isn't as complicated as most people think, and the pharmacy can in fact be a place to collect lab, and even have equipment to provide lab tests and, you know, do a full CBC and all that stuff within the pharmacy.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:So that's one of the things. So in essence, being a one-stop shop, you know, so, you know, providing lab laboratory testing, providing counseling services, you know, the whole clinical gamut which includes a lot of things. I would say that those those are the our next steps. Now the future plan or the immediate right after that that we want to get into is, the space of social determinants of health. And we hear from payers, and even from patients that that's of high value and what does that really look like? It looks, it means that the pharmacy, let's say, where we have our delivery drivers go out to a patient's house, try to assess and identify things that might be impeding their health. So, those are, I'll say, the top three things that we have on the docket including all the things that I'm just, you know, interested in like compounding and so many other other things. But, you know, getting the pharmacy to be a one stop shop by providing durable medical equipment, also for offering lab tests into, you know, get do basic labs in the pharmacy are next steps.
Justin Cole:I look forward to seeing how Altev tries out all those things and, hopefully celebrating all the successes too. One thing that I've been thinking more about, and I'd love to know your opinion, is the implementation of pharmacogenomics. We continue to learn more in the science about where it's best used and what the actual benefits are to different patient populations. To me, it seems like a natural place for those services to fit would be in a model like yours where you know the patient. You can identify, oh, we have a patient that is on 8 or more drugs or a certain class or type of drugs that can flag to say, alright, pharmacogenomic testing might be helpful in these certain subsets of the people that we serve.
Justin Cole:And then for the pharmacy to go ahead and do the testing, most of the time, it's just saliva, so it's not an invasive sampling, and then get those results back, interpret them, and even spend time educating the patient and empowering them with information they can share with all of their providers. So I'm curious. Do you think that crazy idea is is it actually implementable in a community pharmacy today, or do you think we're just too far off? We need to learn more.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:I think the idea is very implementable because it falls in line with the other things that we're already doing. Right? We're providing clinical services and spending time with patients about their medications. You know, if it's, for example, diabetes care or spending time to counsel the patient on how to take their insulin or what's going on, with with their blood sugar, I think pharmacogenomics is gonna be a tool in that process. I don't necessarily see it as a stand alone service. I see it as something a tool that will be brought in when needed. So, you know, and a huge part that we see often is, unfortunately, mental health, depression, and suicidality, and all these things are under rise and when we have patients who are trying all these different medications to help with depression, I mean, they often have to try it for 2 months to get a benefit and sometimes that's not just a drug that works for them. So potentially a patient who has depression and suffering from different depressive bouts is gonna go potentially 6 months without any way of knowing what actually works. So pharmacogenomics is gonna be a critical tool in that part to say, oh, yes, this is what how you metabolize drugs, this is why this won't be an option for you, you should rather try this. So I see it as a tool that can be brought in when needed, but in in retail pharmacy, I'm not too confident it's going to be like a stand alone service where anyone will just get pharmacogenomics testing. I think as we learn, we'll get a better understanding of who and what subset of population will benefit from it, and even what drugs, right, would need to be probably be more better to test up front and say, hey, this is how you metabolise this, these class of drugs. You shouldn't be taking this. Right? So as we learn and more research data comes out, that that would change things, but I really believe it's gonna be a tool, amongst all the tools that we have in the pharmacy.
Justin Cole:I think that's a perfect mindset for it. Yeah. It's not something that everybody needs, but in particular people, it might be a key tool that gives you just a little bit more information to tailor their own medications to them. So I think you're right on in terms of how to think about that within the pharmacy. So that's great.
Justin Cole:So a couple more questions I have here. So what advice would you give aspiring pharmacists who want to start their own business and maybe even community pharmacy even in a time when it's a little bit more difficult? What advice do you have?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yeah. Absolutely. The first advice I often I always say is, what I've learned in life, nothing is truly as good or truly as bad as it's made to seem and so always understand there's always nuances, it's never that way, and also understanding that you have to learn to take calculated risk... not just taking risk, but calculated risk. There's, you know, always gonna be a chance of failure and that's a reality, but you have to be able to, you know, look and say, okay, this risk I'm taking has a certain chance of panning out in my favor versus not. And pharmacists are really not risk takers and I found out and I know with my experience, I just I was just fortunate that I grew up in an environment of business owners, right? But, I think taking risk and being able to just look at things and face value knowing that what appears in front of you or how things are presented to you is not really the full picture.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:I would say if you have that urge to want to take care of your community, I certainly would, it would be a miss to you... I'll take a step back. I see life when when I approach things in life, my vision is that I think that I would have more regret in not trying something than trying something and failing. I think failing is an okay outcome. It is okay to fail, within reason, right, with certain things and part of that is, you know, with a business and that's okay and be comfortable with that reality that it's a risk that could not turn out your way but, still take the calculated risk. I think that that's top of mind.
Justin Cole:Yeah. Those are great pieces of advice. I fully support those. Yep. So where can our listeners go to learn a little bit more about Altev Pharmacy and how could they find your pharmacy?
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:Yes. Absolutely. We are on all social media platforms. We're on Facebook and Instagram, and we're also, we have also have our website, www.altevrx.com. And, I mean, if you Google, pharmacy in Cincinnati we should come up there, we're pretty strong in search engine optimization. So you can learn about us and if you wanna just call us and see ways that we can properly partner or, you know, be involved, if you're based in Cincinnati or you wanna share ideas, we're accessible and I'm also accessible, I'm on LinkedIn so just look me up, you know, connect, follow. I believe in collaboration and sharing thoughts and ideas and, no man is, no single person is a connoisseur of all knowledge.
Justin Cole:Yeah. That's great. And for listeners, that's spelled a-l-t-e-v , Altev. So just make sure that you are searching the right terms there.
Justin Cole:Well, Manny, it's always a blessing to be able to talk with you, and you're always such an encouragement to me. Thank you for that. And listeners, I hope you learned a ton about how community pharmacy can really make an impact in the community. So, Manny, thanks again for joining me today.
Emmanuel Ayanjoke:It's an honor.
Justin Cole:You have been listening to DISRxUPT, a podcast from the Cedarville University Center For Pharmacy Innovation. If you enjoyed listening today, please subscribe and share this podcast with others. Thanks for listening.