Cousins, best friends and now pharmacists at Geisinger
Gabrielle Hayward and Sierra Smith, acute care clinical pharmacists at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, unknowingly grew up living an hour away from each other and had many things in common. They were cousins and didn’t discover it until just before entering their freshman year of college at Wilkes University Nesbitt School of Pharmacy.
Sierra tells the story, “I was at a relative’s funeral and my aunt asked Gabby where she was going to college. Gabby said she was going to Wilkes University and my aunt replied, ‘my niece is going there!’” As a result, the ladies became Facebook friends, met up over the summer and then requested to become roommates for their first year of college. They remained roommates and inseparable the following five years.
“During college we traveled and competed together with the Wilkes University Speech and Debate Team,” Gabby says.
Both pharmacists say they were drawn to work for Geisinger because of their exceptional experiences working for the organization as pharmacy students. “I completed several rotations with Geisinger my final year and felt that I was at home during the time I spent at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital,” Gabby says.
Sierra agrees, “I really loved all of the people in the department. They were so fun and easy to work with.”
Sierra and Gabby even completed their clinical rotation as students together there in 2018.
The ladies graduated from the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy in May 2019. They both began their work at the hospital in the summer of 2019. “We are excited to be able to add to our story (while working together at Geisinger)!” remarks Gabby.
Gabby and Sierra are thoroughly enjoying their professional time with Geisinger. Gabby says, “I love that I have the opportunity to focus on the areas of pharmacy that I enjoy most while still getting to experience and stay on top of other areas of inpatient pharmacy.” She continues, “for example, I always envisioned myself being an internal medicine clinical pharmacist, but once I started training here, I learned I also really enjoy being the IV/chemo pharmacist. My supervisors designed my schedule so that some days I get to work on the floors as an internal medicine pharmacist and other days I get to be the IV pharmacist.”
Sierra mentions, “I love so many things about my job. Being able to round with the different healthcare professionals with the same goal of helping the patient is one of my favorite things about working at Geisinger. Sierra continues, “Geisinger really pushes employees to do our best for the patients. Our care revolves around the patient.”
Gabby also remarks, “The most rewarding part of working for Geisinger is that there are always new opportunities for me to grow as an individual and a professional. I recently took on the leadership role of being our department’s Flu Captain and will be offering to administer flu shots to our staff. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to volunteer at Geisinger’s booth at the Mifflin County Youth Fair where we talked to parents and children about medication safety at home and keeping medications out of reach of children.”
Geisinger pharmacists like Sierra and Gabby do much more than safely and efficiently filling prescriptions. In addition to completing a comprehensive education, meeting state licensing and holding special training in selecting and administering medicine, our pharmacists work with patients and their care teams to determine the best medication plans. Additionally, Geisinger pharmacists go on rounds with doctors, monitor complex drug therapies, provide medicine consultation services and work closely with physicians to manage the health of our patients.
Sierra tells the story, “I was at a relative’s funeral and my aunt asked Gabby where she was going to college. Gabby said she was going to Wilkes University and my aunt replied, ‘my niece is going there!’” As a result, the ladies became Facebook friends, met up over the summer and then requested to become roommates for their first year of college. They remained roommates and inseparable the following five years.
“During college we traveled and competed together with the Wilkes University Speech and Debate Team,” Gabby says.
Both pharmacists say they were drawn to work for Geisinger because of their exceptional experiences working for the organization as pharmacy students. “I completed several rotations with Geisinger my final year and felt that I was at home during the time I spent at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital,” Gabby says.
Sierra agrees, “I really loved all of the people in the department. They were so fun and easy to work with.”
Sierra and Gabby even completed their clinical rotation as students together there in 2018.
The ladies graduated from the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy in May 2019. They both began their work at the hospital in the summer of 2019. “We are excited to be able to add to our story (while working together at Geisinger)!” remarks Gabby.
Gabby and Sierra are thoroughly enjoying their professional time with Geisinger. Gabby says, “I love that I have the opportunity to focus on the areas of pharmacy that I enjoy most while still getting to experience and stay on top of other areas of inpatient pharmacy.” She continues, “for example, I always envisioned myself being an internal medicine clinical pharmacist, but once I started training here, I learned I also really enjoy being the IV/chemo pharmacist. My supervisors designed my schedule so that some days I get to work on the floors as an internal medicine pharmacist and other days I get to be the IV pharmacist.”
Sierra mentions, “I love so many things about my job. Being able to round with the different healthcare professionals with the same goal of helping the patient is one of my favorite things about working at Geisinger. Sierra continues, “Geisinger really pushes employees to do our best for the patients. Our care revolves around the patient.”
Gabby also remarks, “The most rewarding part of working for Geisinger is that there are always new opportunities for me to grow as an individual and a professional. I recently took on the leadership role of being our department’s Flu Captain and will be offering to administer flu shots to our staff. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to volunteer at Geisinger’s booth at the Mifflin County Youth Fair where we talked to parents and children about medication safety at home and keeping medications out of reach of children.”
Geisinger pharmacists like Sierra and Gabby do much more than safely and efficiently filling prescriptions. In addition to completing a comprehensive education, meeting state licensing and holding special training in selecting and administering medicine, our pharmacists work with patients and their care teams to determine the best medication plans. Additionally, Geisinger pharmacists go on rounds with doctors, monitor complex drug therapies, provide medicine consultation services and work closely with physicians to manage the health of our patients.
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