by Seth Humble, Digital Content Specialist

A pharmacist's life involves precision. It requires meticulous preparation and accuracy. A steady hand, a measured approach and attention to detail — these are essential traits. For Jane Jones of PCCA’s Clinical Services team, these traits are what has allowed her to not only be a successful pharmacist, but also a tremendous cook.

“I love to cook in the Southern style,” she says, after I ask her to tell me something about herself that folks may not know. “My husband of 25 years is a pediatric neuroradiologist, but also a Georgia Southern boy, so I love cooking fried chicken in Crisco. Food ... well, cooking is an important part of community. Of family. I love to cook for my husband and our three children. I’m a good cook, and I think that’s because I’m precise.”

“What is the meal you like to make when the whole family is at home?” I ask. “What is the go-to Jane special?”

Her voice rings with excitement when she replies. “Oh, it has to be steak, potatoes and apple cobbler.”

As our conversation deepens, as we talk about what pharmacy compounding means to her, it becomes clear that cooking isn’t just about the recipes, preparation or execution. To Jane, cooking is an act of love for her family. And family means a great deal to Jane, it is a feeling directly tied to the events early in her life.

Jane’s story is one that is common in the American cultural landscape, and yet no less remarkable. Her life began in one country and ended up here because her parents hoped to provide a life of greater opportunity. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Jane’s parents took the long way to getting to the United States of America: Due to a three-year waiting period required for her father to obtain a work visa, they spent 10 years in Paraguay first. Jane is the daughter of an engineer, whom she describes as dedicated and hard-working, willing to provide her a life that allowed her to start her career in pharmacy. That’s where our conversation turns next.

“I was a retail and hospital pharmacist for 10 years,” Jane says of her career before she joined the PCCA team. “I worked at a drug store for my first job. That quickly became boring because it felt like all I was doing was pill-counting. I moved on from there to a children’s hospital because I thought I would get a better chance at patient interaction. That’s what I was interested in. But it was more of the same — count out prescriptions, rarely get to talk with the people the medications were for.”

“Was making medications the most virtuous aspect of that time?” I ask her.

“Every day, pharmacies are making medication,” she says. “There was a time, some years ago while speaking with a Canadian member, I was able to assist with a diaper rash formula for a very severe case, where all other conventional therapies failed. That was meaningful. It helps me remember how important formula innovation is. I also help lots of members with veterinary compounding questions. Vet compounding is a much larger patient group than most people realize.”

“You’ve worked at PCCA for 15 years. What does that 15 years mean to you?”

“I love my job. I am happy,” Jane says. “Lots of people say that, but I truly am. I love talking to our members every day, some of whom I talk to daily! I get excited to log on and really invest myself into the lives of patients and pharmacists.”

“Fifteen years must have come with some challenges, I would imagine,” I say.

Jane chuckles at that. I can hear in her voice the deep, happy sigh of someone who knows their job is difficult, but loves it too much to ever give it up.

“There are always challenges to everything,” she says. “There are little things, like catching the phone on the weekends. We want to be there for our member pharmacies, and sometimes that means weekend work, sometimes even after 7 p.m. But it’s important to be available. Many of us have deep relationships with their technicians, pharmacists and the owners because those pharmacies are helping people get better. Every day, they are helping people get well. Being a part of that makes a little work on the weekend worth it. Without question.”

Jane’s bright, jovial tone is infectious. I find myself smiling so much that the edges of my mouth are starting to ache. It is a good feeling. “Overcoming so many challenges, having such a rich experience in life and family — what would you say has been the most important notion that has kept you working in pharmacy?”

“Providing the right medication,” she says. “The right ingredients, precise ingredients. The right dosage. Those things help a patient. The patient is at the end of a long chain, and even though we may not get to interact with them, our members do. So it is so important to remember that there is always, always, always a patient at the end of each phone call. And the patient matters.”

This is Jane Jones.

She’s a loving wife to a Georgia boy and mother to their three children, who loves to cook food in the American fashion that she learned from her mother-in-law. A daughter to brave immigrant parents who exemplify much of what is best about the country we live in. And she is a part of PCCA’s Clinical Services team, where she represents 25 of the over 500 years of collective pharmacy experience her team brings to bear on any and every challenge. PCCA is proud to call her one of our own.