Today we’d like to introduce you to Trupti Patel.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Trupti. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We moved from New Jersey to Lubbock, TX in 2010 due to my husband’s job. In 2014, after a break from my career for five years to raise my kids, I felt, it was time to restart my career. This time, however, I wanted to start a business of my own so I looked into the franchise as well independently owned small businesses. I called friends and relatives who owned businesses to get the ideas and advice. One of my friends owns and operates multiple pharmacies in West Texas area. They opened their first pharmacy in 2009 and within five years, they were successfully operating five pharmacies.
Their success motivated me to look into the pharmacy business. While I was searching for the opportunity, I found a pharmacy in Dallas for sale. The seller was willing to stay on board to mentor and help me learn the business. Besides, I felt Dallas would be a great place to raise the family. I enjoyed Lubbock but were missing that feel of metroplex in New York-New Jersey area. Dallas would certainly fill that missing part. I drove to Dallas to check out the pharmacy and the same day, we made a deal. I didn’t have a pharmacy background but was ready to work hard and learn the business.
It was challenging as I solely relied on the existing employees. I had to work remotely and make trips back and forth from Lubbock as we started wrapping things up in Lubbock. Finally, January 1st, 2015, we made Dallas our home. I could now go to the pharmacy and oversee the operation on a daily basis. There was a learning curve to understand the business. It is much more complex than it seems from outside. I realized the challenges of “being your own boss”. The previous owner was there to help until now but he decided to pursue other opportunities. I felt I had to work harder to get the grasp and control of the business before it is too late.
I got my pharmacy technician trainee certificate and involved myself to work on every aspect of the pharmacy operations while also playing the role of manager, administrator, payroll and HR, marketing and accountant. In the process, I made mistakes and learned from it and moved on. I met wonderful people and lots of support from the community and the patients we serve. I have worked in the customer service oriented retail independent businesses for extensive time and I felt the pharmacy is a very similar operation. I love working with people and serve their needs.
Beyond that, in a pharmacy, I feel good about taking care of patients, understand their problems, and creating solutions to overcome challenges they face in the process of getting their medications and staying compliant throughout the course of their treatment. People face multiple challenges with their medications including transportation, financial barrier, lack of education about appropriate use, side effects and drug interactions of their medications. At Safemed Pharmacy, we take pride in our work and always ready and willing to take care of our patients with compassion.
We provide free delivery of medication in entire DFW metroplex. We reach out to the drug manufacturers, copay assistant programs, and foundations that help patients to make drug therapy affordable and accessible. We proactively contact healthcare providers to get refills so that our patients do not go without their maintenance medications. Putting our patients first and taking care of their needs has earned us their trust, loyalty, and referral to grow our business to the next level.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It was never easy to get where we are now but I enjoy the challenges and never afraid of working hard. I made mistakes and learned from it. I am still learning new things from my peers in the industry on a daily basis.
My challenges were more of a technical nature. I had to learn the medications, third-party insurances and the reimbursement mechanisms, supply chain management, and regulatory requirements. It was a steep learning curve to overcome these challenges. Beyond that, the competition is fierce with chain pharmacy at every other corner of the metroplex.
Please tell us about Safemed Pharmacy.
Safemed Pharmacy stands for its customer service. We work by our motto of Care with Compassion. I tell my employees to ask themselves; “How would I handle that prescription if it was for my parents or for my kids?”. We operate on that question.
We treat our patients with same respect and care. Unlike the major chain, we try to fill prescriptions fast-in less than ten minutes for most of the times. If the patient cannot wait for the prescriptions, or if the patient is a senior or homebound or for any reasons, they cannot make it to the pharmacy, we deliver medications to their home at no cost. There are patients taking eight to ten or more medications a day and they have a hard time keeping track of it. For these patients, we provide compliance blister pack with medications organized by date, day, and time so that they do not miss their dose.
We specialize in taking care of the patients with HIV and Hep C. Patients, especially with HIV, have unique challenges. We try to help them overcome the barriers they may face to stay compliant with their treatment so that the viral load remains undetectable and the CD4 level can be raised for them to long healthy life. It makes us proud to hear from our patients when they tell us that he/she is now undetectable. One at a time, we want to get all our HIV patients to achieve that goal and it feels good as we are a move towards that goal.
What sets us apart is our willingness to go beyond traditional practice and take time to speak with the patients beyond their medications. There are lots of things in their personal lives that impact their mental and physical health. Safemed Pharmacy provides me the platform to connect with my patients at a personal level and we try to assist them in whatever way we can. There are patients who struggle with housing, food, transportation, employment, medical services, insurance and many other things.
We try to identify resources and connect patients with those organizations whenever possible. These things are beyond the scope of the pharmacy business but when I see the need, I cannot hold myself back.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
There is no better time to start your own business. I fail, I learn from my mistakes and use that wisdom to get up and keep going.
Be prepared to work hard. Your business becomes your life and you forget about meals and lunches as you put your work the most important priority before anything else. That’s the only way; There is no shortcut to success!
Contact Info:
- Address: 6300 Samuell Blvd, Ste 118 Dallas, TX 75228
- Phone: 972-412-7373
- Email: admin@safemedpharmacy.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/safemedpharmacy/?rc=p
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/safemed-pharmacy-dallas
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