This month, we are joined in the pharmacy by Sandy Saleh, a fourth-year pharmacy student from The Ohio State University’s College of Pharmacy.

Sandy will graduate in May 2021 and will then take the test to become a registered pharmacist. Sandy will be with Meghan, Tayler, and the staff throughout December, so please stop by and meet her while she is in the store.

Here is what Sandy tells us about herself:

My name is Sandy Saleh and I am a fourth year College of Pharmacy student at The Ohio State University. I am currently a student pharmacist for the month of December at Plain City Druggist.

I was born and raised in Westerville, Ohio with eight other siblings! I am very family oriented and I knew I wanted to stay in Columbus around my family for college. I chose to attend The Ohio State University for my undergraduate degree.

I decided to go the pharmacy route my first year of my undergraduate study. My father was actually the one to recommend pharmacy because he knew I was interested in the healthcare field. He works alongside many professions and thought pharmacy would be a good fit for me.

I began by taking science related classes and got a job as a technician at a pharmacy. I enjoyed the work I did as a technician and was impressed to learn the behind the scenes career of a pharmacist. That led me to continue on to get a Bachelors of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences and right into pharmacy school after graduation.

I enjoyed working at a community pharmacy all throughout school and I initially wanted to continue on as a community pharmacist at my current location after I graduated. However, during my last year of school doing rotations, I got to experience many different types of pharmacist careers and I am now undecided on where I want to end up after school.

One rotation that stuck out to me was at Charitable Pharmacy. I built amazing connections with underserved patients, and had the ability to help patients understand their own healthcare, as well as be their advocate.

No matter where I end up in my career, I know that my main focus will be patient care for the underserved.

As a future pharmacist, I know that I want to help all patients as much as I can. Pharmacists are the front line of healthcare and they are more accessible than other forms of healthcare. Most people on medications have multiple doctors that do not thoroughly communicate with each other. This can lead to misunderstandings that can confuse a patient. When patients do not understand their own health or medications, this can lead to dangerous problems that affect the patient. Not only is it dangerous for a patient’s health, but also ends up costing money and time for all of healthcare. This is where pharmacists can make a huge difference. People may have many doctors, but they usually stick to the same pharmacist or pharmacy.

If given the time and resources, a pharmacist could keep up with the most accurate medications, providers and insurance list for their patients. Pharmacists should also be more involved with a patient’s treatment. Many “symptoms” that a patient has could be due to a medication or if a medication is not “working” that could be due to misuse or adherence barriers. A pharmacist has the right tools to recognize these and advocate for the patient.

I want to help shape pharmacy into providing better healthcare to all patients, especially to underserved patients with less health literacy and lack of access.