President’s Page

LET’S PLANT TREES TOGETHER

Cheri Schmit, RPh

IPA President Senior Manager, Product & Solutions Marketing, Cardinal Health

2022 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Watch President Schmit’s introductory video before you read her address!

Hello, and good afternoon. Thank you for being here to help me celebrate today, especially my husband, Mike, and my son, Jake. As you saw in the video, it’s been a busy week for our family. Our oldest son, Drew, got married last weekend, and we added a daughter to our family. It was a beautiful wedding, and we are still on cloud nine remembering the day and how much fun it was. Drew and Maddie are on their honeymoon, so they can’t be here today. They are with us in spirit, and I hope relaxing on the beach with a cocktail in hand.

My younger son, Jake, is here today. He is a senior at Coe College, just down the street, and took time out of his busy life to be here today to support me. And since he’s my only son here, I get to spend a little time bragging on him, which I’m sure will embarrass him. I am so proud of the young man he has become, and one of my greatest joys is being his mom and watching him grow from this cute little boy with a mischievous grin that I could never stay mad at into this amazing young man. He is a physics and computer science major and a pitcher on the baseball team at Coe. He is smart, talented, thoughtful, responsible, funny and so many other wonderful qualities, but his greatest quality is his kind and compassionate heart. We used to joke that he “collected stray cats” because he always seemed to find and befriend those kids who needed one most. His example has often inspired me to be a better person, and he would have been a great healthcare provider because he has always been able to empathize and put himself in someone else’s shoes. Jake, I hope you know how proud I am to be your mom and how much I love you.

And then there’s my husband, Mike. Many of you may think that he is Snuffleupagus and does not exist, so this is a rare sighting! As I said in the video, work/life balance would not have been possible without him. All the times that I was here, he was holding down the fort at home, shuttling the boys to all their activities, washing uniforms, coaching their teams, and making sure they were fed and homework was done. He has always been supportive of my career and professional involvement and picked up the slack when I dropped the rope. He seemed to know when I was extra stressed at work (probably because I was not very nice to be around) and would go out of his way to take some task off my plate at home. He has patiently listened to healthcare issues and complaints, even though half the time he has no idea what I’m talking about. Some of my best ideas were advice from his perspective outside of healthcare. He truly is my partner in every sense of the word, and I am blessed that he is my husband and father of our children. Mike, I love you, and I don’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you and how thankful I am to have you by my side.

Now that I’ve introduced you to my amazing family, let’s talk about my other amazing family – all of you, the members of the Iowa Pharmacy family. I want to share what IPA has meant to me over the years, including mentorship and friendship. You got a taste of that in the video, but here’s a few things that weren’t in the video.

To talk about what IPA has meant to me, let’s go back to why I joined IPA in the first place. I was about to graduate from Iowa, and IPA was holding a ‘Welcome to the Profession’ reception. I’m not sure what I expected from this reception other than free drinks and appetizers and some type of sales pitch to join, but instead, I met Tom Temple. Tom walks up to me with a smile that lights up the room and a twinkle in his eye and introduces himself to me. He then proceeds to ask me all kinds of questions to get to know me: where I was from, why I went into pharmacy, what my plans were after graduating. And this was not small talk. Tom was genuinely interested in me, and instead of telling me all the things that IPA could do for me (which have been numerous, by the way), Tom told me how much he would love to have me involved because of all the things he thought I had to offer IPA. I’m not even a registered pharmacist yet, and he thinks I have things to offer!? How could this be? And how could I not join this organization and get involved when I just met such a genuinely kind and authentic person who wanted to hear what I had to say and thought I had value for this profession. Tom makes everyone feel special and inspires us to believe that together we can accomplish anything. I will never forget how Tom made me feel on that day – important, valued and welcomed.

Speaking of mentors, this day would not be complete if I didn’t mention Mark Nessen. Mark was the pharmacist in Corydon, Iowa near my hometown and the reason I am a pharmacist today. After interviewing Mark for

a class, I asked to work for him for free. He laughed and said anyone who offers to work for free is hired. I started working for him in high school, running the cash register, stocking the Hallmark cards and wrapping the giftware purchased off bridal registries. Over the years, I graduated to putting away the order, doing his accounts receivable, filling OPUS cassettes for nursing homes, and becoming his student intern.

He had the traditional community pharmacy on the town square, provided meds and consulting for the area nursing homes, and contracted the service at Wayne County Hospital. While I learned so much about pharmacy and had such a diverse experience of different practice settings, what I learned working for Mark Nessen was that pharmacy was about people. As the IPA saying goes, “If it’s right for the patient, it’s right for pharmacy.” Mark meant so much more to his community than just being their pharmacist. He was integral to the fabric of the community, caring for his patients cradle to grave, generation after generation, putting others first, planting trees to make his community a better place in years to come. As I said in the video, I have always been passionate about pharmacist-led patient care that improves patient outcomes and provides value to the healthcare industry, and this all started at Nessen Pharmacy with Mark’s mentorship and friendship.

You also heard about my first job at Hartig Drug in Dyersville. This mentorship story does not just include Dick Hartig. Dick believed in me and not only let me create my dream pharmacy, but he offered me the position of PIC of the pharmacy in Dyersville STRAIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE! This gave me quite a bit of anxiety. How could I be a PIC when I didn’t even have experience being a pharmacist yet? Could I really do this? Was I ready?

Before accepting the position, I messaged Dr. Gary Milavetz, my advisor. We met for lunch, and I don’t know if he remembers this conversation but I will never forget it. I shared my pros and cons, concerns and anxieties with him, and he patiently listened and asked questions. At the end, he told me that he thought I had more experience and was more prepared for this role than I thought. He said he believed in me and that the college would be here for me even after I graduated. He also said that Dick Hartig clearly saw something in me that made him believe I would be successful, and that Dick is a pretty good businessman so I should trust that and trust myself but not be afraid to ask my mentors for help and advice. One of the pharmacy rules: if you don’t know, don’t guess. Instead, go research the answer. Learning never ends.

While at Hartig Drug, I attended an NCPA conference and brought back some one-page patient care documentation forms that were created so that pharmacists would start documenting what they were doing and sending it to NCPA. NCPA would start to tell the story so we could eventually be recognized and paid for it. Because as we all know, if you didn’t document it, you didn’t do it!

I started documenting every patient interaction. This was around 1994, and Randy McDonough came to visit me as ICPC (Iowa Center for Pharmaceutical Care) was being formed. I pulled out my filing cabinet drawer full of documented forms, and Randy said, “You need to be part of ICPC.” I was thrilled but also intimidated by this awesome group of pharmacists that were assembled for this very important mission for pharmacy. But I need not worry as Randy, Jay and all the pharmacists participating worked collaboratively to share ideas and strategies to move the needle and help us all succeed.

Are you starting to see a theme for mentorship? Believing in, encouraging and giving confidence to the mentee and helping them see the qualities and potential that you see in them. And working collaboratively for a shared passion and vision.

While I would have stayed at Hartig Drug and been happy my whole career, Mike’s job was transferred, and we moved to Ames. I worked for Ken Hampson at Clinic Pharmacy in a building with 200 physicians who might just tap you on the shoulder at any minute to ask you a question. Here, I had a chance to be mentored not only by Ken but also by the physicians, nurses and other providers in the clinic. I learned how to interact with other healthcare providers and how we all wanted what was best for the patient. And if we kept that central to our conversations, we could work together collaboratively and have better patient outcomes than if we worked independently.

After Ken sold the business, I met John Forbes and became a Medicap pharmacist. John gave me free rein to run the pharmacy as my own, implement patient care services, collaborate with other providers, and get involved within the community. Again, John believed in me, trusted me, and supported my vision of what the Medicap in Ames could be for the community. I had already developed great relationships with local providers while working at Clinic Pharmacy, and two big things

happened while at Medicap in Ames. First, pharmacist immunization authority was granted; and second, OutcomesMTM was born, and the city of Ames was one of their first clients. I was elated! I was finally able to get paid for providing and documenting patient care, which I had been doing since the Hartig Drug days for FREE!

It's now 2001, and I am documenting patient interventions on paper Outcomes forms and getting paid. And I’m providing influenza immunizations, which quickly grew to shingles and pneumonia to our now fully expanded scope. You saw some pictures of me giving immunizations, which is one of my passions.

One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the broad recognition by the public, payers, providers and other stakeholders of the pharmacist’s role in healthcare. We are on the cusp of changing the profession of pharmacy forever with expansion of pharmacist scope of practice and payment for pharmacist-led clinical services. Here in Iowa, you may see legislation to modernize the Pharmacy Practice Act, as was just debated in the House of Delegates. The time is right, and we need to be ready to perform when the opportunity arises.

John eventually sold the Ames Medicap to Greg Johnasen, and I became a Medicap GRx pharmacist. Greg grew GRx to the point where he created a corporate office staff to support the stores. Greg and Karen Merrill gave me the opportunity to create my dream position. I said I wanted to help other pharmacies provide clinical services, and they told me to put pen to paper and show them the business case and how it would help the company. I will forever be grateful to John and Greg for my time at Medicap. I have told them both that you can take the girl out of Medicap, but you can’t take Medicap out of the girl. The lessons I learned and the trust and confidence they gave me allowed me to develop into the pharmacist and professional I am today and to keep my passion for advancing the profession alive. Now at Cardinal Health, it is my goal to strive for this for pharmacists, not just at Medicap or in Iowa, but across the United States and Puerto Rico.

I have been fortunate to work for and with these amazing leaders and mentors who have been supportive of my role with IPA and my vision and passion for pharmacist-led patient care. I never saw myself as a leader, and I never imagined I’d be standing in front of you today. I am humbled and honored to serve as your next IPA President and do not take that responsibility lightly. I look at those who have held this position, most recently Chris, Diane and Connie, and I know I have big shoes to fill.

Our profession has some very real issues that keep you up at night. I want to engage with all of you to hear your ideas, your challenges, your anxieties and your successes. I do believe that working together, anything is possible.

My 2003 Speaker of the House address to the delegates was around the Aerosmith lyrics, “Life is journey, not a destination.” While we might feel like kids on a road trip, just wondering, Are we there yet?, I shared my hope that our profession would never be “there” yet, as that would mean the profession has stopped growing and evolving. I think we can say that we are definitely not “there” yet! There is still work to do, and I am looking forward to the journey! As my walk-up song said, “Put me in, Coach, I’m ready to play!”

When I look around this room, I see mentors, and I see friends. To me, one of the best things about IPA is the networking and the friendships I have made. I can’t name everyone but I do want to call out a few. Starting with my professors at Iowa; Dean Letendre; Dean Chestnut; all the Drake staff I’ve worked with; the pharmacists I have worked for and with throughout the years; the students I have precepted who have now become colleagues, like Brandon Gerleman; and those of you I have had the fortune of working and serving with at IPA, like the current IPA staff led by Kate Gainer or former staff, like Jen Moulton and Anthony Pudlo. Some of you could have been “competitors,” but we never saw each other that way and instead were collaborators, like TJ Johnsrud and his staff, or the CPESN Luminary group of Lindsey Ludwig, Matt Osterhaus, Randy McDonough, Bob Greenwood and Ryan Frerichs. And I can’t forget my “conference husband,” Bob Stessman, who was my plus-one while Mike was home holding down the fort. And so many others! My point is that I look around this room and I see friends: friends who have helped support me, who have given me confidence, inspired me, enlightened me with their different practice views of pharmacy and helped to mold and shape me into the person and the professional that I am today. And all of that started because I met Tom Temple, and he inspired me to join IPA.

I have tried (and often failed) to follow Tom’s example and be a mentor for others. Anytime I go to a pharmacy event, I look for the students and sit at a table with them and get to know them. I am not Tom Temple, but if I can make one student feel the way Tom made me feel, I will consider myself successful.

The future of our profession lies in those new graduates entering the profession, but we can’t just turn it over to them and say, “Good luck!” They need nurtured and shaped. We need to help them believe in themselves and become confident leaders. We also need to share the rich history of our profession, the journey we’ve been on, who we are, what we stand for, and those who planted trees before us.

Iowa Pharmacy is a revered leader, and many pharmacists are jealous of Iowa for a reason. That reason is the collaboration that happens in this state between all stakeholders of the profession and how we speak with one voice. IPA is the compass that guides us and reminds us who we serve – the patient. IPA is also the scale that balances the tradition and history with the innovation of moving the profession forward. This balance improves the profession, while not losing our identify and mission.

In closing, I have a challenge for all of you here today.

I challenge you to pay it forward and be a mentor, the type of genuine mentor that follows Tom’s example. Take time to get to know someone here this weekend. Learn their story. And for the next IPA event you attend, invite someone to attend with you. Maybe it’s a new graduate. Maybe it’s someone that is a member but hasn’t attended anything recently. Maybe it’s someone burned out who needs to find hope and joy in the profession again. I challenge myself to do the same.

To end, I’ll share a quote by Carl W. Buechner: “They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” I know you will forget what I say today, but as I interact with and get to meet more of you over the next year, I hope that I can make you feel special, valued, important, inspired, and welcome like Tom made me feel. And I hope that you feel my passion and optimism for the future. Together, let’s plant trees and leave the profession in a better place for the next generation of Iowa pharmacists.

Thank you! ■