Community Connected: Engaging a Hispanic Population

Mariela Silva, a clinical pharmacist at Lino's Pharmacy, encourages other community pharmacies to consider having at least one staff member who can communicate in basic Spanish. The CPESN® Texas pharmacy is located near the Mexico border and serves a large Hispanic population. With Spanish as the second most common language in the U.S., Silva says there is opportunity for most pharmacies to engage their Hispanic patients which can help expand services.

Making the Effort to Speak the Customer's Language

Vito Colombo, a first-generation Italian, is co-owner along with his pharmacist wife Elaine of Colombo's Pharmacy in Queens where they are members of CPESN New York City. Colombo says he learned from his father the value of greeting customers and making an effort to understand and speak their language. His Middle Village pharmacy is located in a walking neighborhood, rich in its ethnic mix of Italian, German, Irish, Albanian, Polish, and Spanish-speaking people. His tip for other CPESN pharmacists: Using Google Translate to help a customer feel comfortable and understood goes a long way in building trust.

CPESN® USA Luminary Paula Miller Talks About Providing Services to Disabled Patients

Paula Miller, a CPESN Kentucky Managing Network Facilitator, shares her personal passion for providing healthcare services to disabled patients. She is co-owner of Ruwe Pharmacy with three locations in northern Kentucky, and her pharmacy works with local agencies to deliver pharmacy services to patients living in group homes.

Community Connected: Multicultural Pittsburgh Pharmacy Serves Arabic-Speaking Patients

Chris Antypas, a CPESN® USA and Pennsylvania Pharmacist Care Network or PPCN (the CPESN network in Pennsylvania) Luminary, shares how Asti's South Hills Pharmacy in Pittsburgh cares for several hundred patients with Arabic as their primary language. The pharmacy has modified some processes to be sensitive to culture and religion, and added a pharmacist who speaks Arabic. Antypas says expanding services to meet community needs benefits the pharmacy as well as its patients.