This Profiles in Personalized Medicine highlights Steve Branch, RPh, and Cherise Kutac Branch, APRN, FNP-BC, FAAMM, owners of Central Drug Compounding & Wellness in Victoria, Texas. They have been proud PCCA members since 1988.

What’s your favorite Principle? Why?

Serve Always. I’ve always said that I am in the people business and as a compounder, I have the ability to provide solutions that at times feel out of reach for patients and that is very gratifying.

How do you live these Principles at your compounding pharmacy?

Principle #4 – Listen Actively

Listen to understand. If I know where you are, I can better serve you.

Principle #18 – Have Each Other’s Back

Owning a pharmacy, especially a PCAB-accredited sterile facility, is a full time job. We have to be at our best every day, from the time the doors open until closing. Cherise has a full-time functional medicine practice, and we have a 10-year-old 4th grader that happens to be an excellent gymnast. It takes honest, open, discourse. It takes trust that each of us will pick up the slack so that the others can succeed; we trust that it will be reciprocated.

Principle #27 – Take Care of Yourself

I have always worked. I received a hardship driver’s license at age 15 so I could go to work. I worked the oil fields and drilling rigs to get through college. Work is what I do; I’d put dreams and desires on the back burner until the work was done (and it never was).

I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Hospitals were closed then and I had to wait and wait — which gave me time to think about the things I’d been putting off. I am fortunate to live on Texas coast and I love to fly fish for redfish. One of my dreams was to become a licensed sea captain and a fly fishing guide. So, after my surgery and during my recovery, I took my Coast Guard-approved classes and passed all of my exams and guess what! On my days off and weekends I get to push people around on my skiff and let them catch redfish on a fly rod surrounded by all the beauty of the Texas coast.

When it comes to “Meaningful Appreciation (#25),” when was the last time a patient thanked you and why?

I have many ‘treasures’ that patients have given me throughout my 30 years as a pharmacist, from handwritten notes to old pharmacy bottles. The one I cherish the most is a mortar and pestle given to me by a mom whose son was born with a cleft pallet (that was eventually fixed). But at the time, we had to find some creative ways to deliver his medications. What makes it so special is that she never forgot. She brought me the gift several years later. I knew she did not have the money to buy me gifts — she should have been using it for food, but she made that sacrifice because she was so appreciative.

As a “Lifelong Learner (#13),” what’s your favorite PCCA education program or event and why?

My favorite PCCA event would be International Seminar because it has so much to offer: lectures, workshops, innovative ideas and networking. I can learn, grow, meet new people and connect with old colleagues.

How do you “Keep Things Fun (#28)” at your pharmacy?

While I always stress patient safety and remind everyone that we are the last person to touch that medication before someone swallows it or rubs it on, we try to have fun. We keep a radio on, oldies of course, listen to the Astros and celebrate birthdays. Just overall, we try to make it a fun place to work.

As you strive to “Deliver Results (#24),” what’s been your most satisfying patient experience or toughest patient problem? How did you resolve it?

My favorite story is one about a little autistic boy; his mom brought him in because he would not take his medicine. Mom said he liked lemon flavor, so Jenny (my lab tech) and I went to work in the lab. We finally got the taste right, but then it became a consistency thing. We continued working and, when I thought the consistency was good, I sat on the floor so I could be eye level with the boy. This kid was non-verbal, but the instant everything came together in his mouth, his eyes and facial expression seemed to shout, “Thank you!”

As a member of PCCA, what’s the biggest “aha” that’s come from “Being Curious (#10)”?

An eye doctor asked me several years ago to combine a couple of drugs into one bottle for better compliance for his patients, who were using two or three bottles with multiple drops throughout the day. So we went into the lab and started mixing preparations to see if one could work. We were challenged by the precipitant; we changed the order or mixing but were still getting the precipitant. Finally, I sent a sample to Eagle for potency testing and was able to determine the precipitant was less potent in the solution. I wondered, “How can we remedy this? Why does this happen?” A few weeks later, the answer came to me in a dream. It was the solution — we were trying to dissolve everything in this one solution. Jenny and I went to the lab the next morning and tried a new solution and bingo, it worked! No more precipitants! I sent it to Eagle and all the potencies were good and I knew we had it.

What’s your favorite PCCA base and why?

VersaBase® Cream because it is so versatile.

Listen as Steve describes why he’s a compounding pharmacist.