Westminster Pharmacy Services Team Members Certified As Pharmacy Technicians

Westminster Pharmacy Services now has two additional registered pharmacy technicians among its team members! Congratulations to pharmacy billers Michelle Burris and Mayra Lucas de Gomez on their recent certification.

Burris and Lucas de Gomez completed a six-month program offered by the Florida Department of Health and passed the State of Florida Pharmacy Technician exam, making them licensed to perform and assist at Westminster Pharmacy Services as pharmacy technicians.

“The certification has opened up a lot more things I can do,” Burris said. From data entry and packing medications for pharmacists to review, to preparing deliveries to residents at all our communities, the certification licenses both team members to become more versatile and contribute to many other parts of our Mission of service to older adults. That’s on top of their responsibilities for billing and coordinating with insurance companies in their current roles.

The team at Westminster Pharmacy Services acquired the certification program to develop additional pharmacy technicians coming out of the global pandemic.

“Staffing is challenging for all areas right now, pharmacy included,” said Phil Layman, RPh, CPh, Director of Pharmacy Operations and preceptor for the certification program. “We became registered with the state of Florida to become a certification site and be able to do on-site training partly for that need. Our own team members are some of the best candidates that we could have.”

“Finding good, dedicated individuals is hard, especially after the pandemic,” said Dominick DeSarro, Vice President of Pharmacy Services. “What this opportunity allowed us to do is utilize the talent that we have within and refresh their experience and educational base with this new component.”

Burris and Lucas de Gomez are already familiar with many medication names, dates of supply and directions for prescriptions, on top of knowing the ins and outs of the billing process. The online training course covered areas they were not already experienced with, such as drug classification, data entry, drug calculations and how to complete fillings.

The long-term benefit is not only to the team member and pharmacy services team, but to the residents they serve.

“It’s important to know more to help the clients and residents more,” Lucas de Gomez said. The pharmacy technician certification has empowered her to better assist residents with their medication, and avoid transferring their calls to another team member to complete. “This is really important for us, and important for me personally. It allows me to help my community and help me do my job.”

The 25 team members at Westminster Pharmacy Services have been serving residents in Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care and Nursing Care, providing consulting, nurse liaison, and pharmacy services to residents at all Westminster communities for 15 years, a milestone they celebrate this month.

“One of the things that we’re extremely proud of is that, as part of the family of Westminster Communities of Florida, our margin goes back to the communities, so it’s continuously feeding and supporting the communities that we serve,” DeSarro said. “We serve them twice. That’s truly our Mission.”

Congratulations to Michelle and Mayra on their certification and to the team members at Westminster Pharmacy Services for 15 years of dedicated service to our residents.

To join the team at Westminster Pharmacy Services and find the opportunity that suits you today, follow us on LinkedIn @WestminsterCommunitiesFL, on Instagram @WestminsterCareersFL, or on our website at http://www.WestminsterCommunitiesFL.org/careers!